The Three Pots Everyone Should Start With
Ines picks the three containers she would give any absolute beginner, explains the compost and drainage mistakes that kill most first plants, and sows a pot of basil live.
North-Facing Window, Manchester
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Show notes
North-Facing Window, Manchester
Gemma Whitlow has one windowsill, no direct sun, and a flat that drops to 14 degrees in winter. She has killed two basil plants and a chilli. Ines takes her through what will genuinely grow in those conditions and what to stop attempting.
- Plants that tolerate low light: mint, chives, parsley, pea shoots
- Why basil was never going to survive on that sill
- Using a cheap grow light for four hours a day
- Microgreens as a quick win while the slower pots establish
Gemma will report back in three months. Ines also answers two short questions from the inbox about yellowing leaves and fungus gnats.
Transcript
Hello again, Ines Cabrera here, and this is Balcony and Bucket. Today is our first phone-in episode and I am talking with Gemma Whitlow in Manchester, who has exactly one windowsill, no direct sunlight, a flat that gets cold in winter, and two dead basil plants on her conscience. I love this kind of problem because the answer is not to try harder with basil. It is to stop fighting the window. We will go through what genuinely grows in low light, mint, chives, parsley and pea shoots, how a cheap grow light for four hours a day changes everything, and how microgreens can give Gemma a harvest in ten days while the slower pots settle in. Then two quick questions from the inbox about yellow leaves and those little flies in the compost. You are listening on Witspeak Podcasts.
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