In article
,
"FarmI" ask@itshall be given wrote:

"Birmingham1981" wrote in
message
I am completely new to gardening but would love to hear a few tips as
to how to start growing a few things in pots.

We are absolutely keen to start growing some herbs and perhaps a chilli
plant, but the problem is that we live in the heart of Birmingham in a
new flat. There is no balcony and nowhere we could put window boxes (we
tried!) or hanging baskets. We are on the waiting list for an allotment
but this isn't coming any time soon!

We do however have two huge windows (with generous windowsills) that
get the morning sunshine and light all day.

I would like to try growing some basic culinary herbs (rosemary, basil,
coriander, thyme, parsley) and a chilli plant. I understand the herbs
are straightforward to grow from seed in a pot indoors, but what about
the chilli? Can we grow it from seed or buy a small plant and grow
that?

Also, is there anything else we can feasibly grow indoors? Perhaps a
flowering plant? We do already have some bog standard houseplants but
would like to have a few more colorful additions!

If anyone has any ideas at all, I'd love to hear about them since we
have no idea how to start our indoor garden!

Really it's a bit of a hard ask to expect culinary plants to grow indoors
and especially rosemary. My advice would be to get some 'indoor' plants
(and no plant was every really an indoor plant anyway) and learn on them
about watering regimes and light etc and especially since you are about to
go into winter - that is not a good time to try and grow any plants from
scratch because the light levels are so different from summer.

The reason why I say this is that if you new to gardening then you are
starting from a low base of knowledge and even the plants that will live
reasonably well indoors will teach you some valuable lessons. Once you get
your allotment, you will have a much better chance of having healthy and
productive culinary plants and won't be discouraged from having your plants
die on you.

If you really must have a go, try some coriander as it germinates easily
from seed, prefers to grow in the cooler weather and you might even get it
to produce enough leaves to add to some Thai style soup.

Sorry to pour cold water on your enthusiasm, but you could always spend the
time doing what most of us gardeners do in winter and that is to become an
armchair gardener and seed catalogues and lots of books on gardening. As
the Army knows, time spent on reconnaisance is time well used.

I don't know about the last sentence, but the rest of FarmI's
recommendation seems quite sound. If you become a gardener, you will
find that you take more of an interest in the success of your plants
than you expected. If they are harmed, you will want to know who did it,
and how do you can stop it from happening again.

You will kill many of your plants through stupidity. Learn from a
forgiving plant, first.
--
³When you give food to the poor, they call you a saint. When you ask why the poor have no food, they call you a communist.²
-Archbishop Helder Camara

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