The Windowbox Allotment

Useful tips on how to grow & enjoy fruit & veg. from your windowsill !

At the beginning of 2009, I started making my first windowbox allotment, not sure at first how well fruit and veg. would do growing together, particularly in such a shallow depth of soil, or for that matter whether my efforts would be frustrated by vandals and drunks pulling up or pinching my plants!

Having said that I had seen a whole series of fantastic troughs planted up with a variety of fruit and veg. whilst visiting Talinn, so knew the idea wasn’t completely unheard of and could work..

After trialling my first windowbox for three weeks, with the plants still very much alive and untouched, I ventured further by building another two troughs to sit directly on the pavement - one planted up with herbs, the other with a mix of fruit and veg.

Since then all three containers have done really well, allowing me to harvest a whole variety of produce over the year (OK in small portions, but contributing something pretty much every day) and giving a consistently attractive display – frequently commented on by people passing by, surprised at seeing such an unusual use of windowboxes and troughs! … And despite my cynicism none of my plants have been touched by anyone! (Touch wood!)

I’ve now set up this site, to pass on some of the lessons I’ve learnt and hopefully encourage more people to think of doing a similar thing – I hope you find it useful and if you have any tips or comments you’d like to pass on then look our for the Gardener's Journal icon on each page to send me your thoughts!