This is You Won't Regret It, a new weekly column featuring recommendations, tips, and unsolicited advice from the Mashable culture team.
Growing your own veggies or plants can be a total pain, especially if you only have a limited amount of space. Even if you're a city dweller who somehow managed to get lucky and score a backyard with your place, making sure the soil is healthy enough to grow plants from is another obstacle to overcome -- especially if you live in a major city where lead contamination might be a problem.
But you shouldn't give up hope if you want to exercise your green thumb. There are plenty of alternatives to getting around these hurdles -- the easiest of which is creating a herb garden on your windowsill.
Aside from aesthetic appeal, creating your very own windowsill herb garden is a great litmus test to see whether or not your apartment can handle more than just herbs. Since these types of greens are a little more manageable, you can totally grow a bunch and have a solid bunch of herbs to cook with.
How to start your own garden
According to the DIY Network, starting your own window sill herb garden is actually pretty easy and kind of similar to growing a potted plant. You'll pretty much need the basics: herb seeds of your choosing, containers that support the needs of specific herbs, potting soil (not garden), and of course, access to sunlight.
Once you have all of these things at your disposal, you're pretty much good to go. As for figuring what herbs you should grow, some that do well indoors are basil, bay laurel, chives, mint, and oregano according to Gardener's Supply Company.
Most of the suggested herbs do well in "loose, fast-draining soil," since these guys normally don't need a ton of water to survive, and over watering can actually cause more harm than good (root rot!) Also Gardener's Supply Company suggests using a houseplant fertilizer on the soil at least once or twice a month to keep it nice and rich.
To help make sure your herbs grow up to live a long and healthy life, it's highly recommended that you give each herb their own pot to grow in. Containers that have drainage holes on the bottom accompanied with a waterproof saucer to prevent big messes are a godsend, and work perfectly for herbs.
There are tons of starter pots available for purchase online, like this Herb Garden Starter Kit from The Sprouted Gourmet that comes with three reusable and biodegradable pots made from bamboo, including drainage holes and saucers. Or if you want something more aesthetically pleasing, this silver Farmhouse Decor Tray Set also makes an excellent choice that also meets the criteria for a proper herb pot.
Once you have everything set up properly, you're pretty much good to place your new herb babies on the windowsill to soak up some sun. Fair warning though: during colder times of the year, make sure that the herbs aren't too close to the window, otherwise they'll get too cold and start dying--especially if there's still water in the soil that can freeze up which can cause further damage.
Other than that, you're all set to bask in your organic plant fantasy.
What do you get out of it?
Once you have plenty of herbs at your disposal, you'll have a tons options for adding spice and flavor to your meals. And since you're growing them at home, you don't have to stand at the supermarket choosing from wilted herbs grown thousands of miles away.
Growing anything requires plenty of research, and a lot of trial and error. Some herbs are going to have more specific needs than others, and sometimes random mistakes -- over watering; placing your herbs in too cold an environment; placing them too close to a fan and coming back into the room only to find everything you've worked for spilled all over the floor -- are going to occur. But don't let that discourage you from becoming the plant parent you always wanted to be.
But if it all goes well, you might even push your boundaries and start growing other kinds foods. We all start somewhere, and herbs are great jumping off point for beginner gardeners who want to eventually start a larger veggie patch.
And if things go wrong, just visualize the pesto you'll make from your very own basil leaves when you finally get the hang of indoor planting.
