You may think that growing kitchen herbs from seeds is only for those with a very green thumb, but with the right herb growing kit, even a novice gardener can cultivate plants. The Window Garden Rustic Charm Herb Trio Kit provides everything you need to start a prosperous kitchen garden. We tested this kit, which includes chives, basil, and sage seeds, in our own kitchen to see how easy it really was. Read on for all the details.
Setup Process: Add water and mix
The instructions were easy to follow and included photos for each step of set-up. The Rustic Charm Herb Trio Kit comes with three fiber soil compact disks, which you place in a dish and expand by adding water. We found that we needed to use more than the recommended ½ cup of water per disk, but it was easy to add water a little bit at a time until the soil was fully expanded. The second step had us fluffing the newly expanded soil disks with a fork, but we found that using a spoon was actually easier. We then put the soil into the pots and spread seeds over the top, pressing them into the soil gently as instructed. Most other growing kits recommend covering the seeds with a thin layer of soil, but the Window Garden instructions did not. We were worried that this would impact germination, but the seedlings were growing with no problems in just a week.
Ease of Use: Germination bags provide moisture
Window Garden’s herb growing kit stands out against others on the market as it includes plastic bags which encourage germination. After an initial watering, we put one plastic bag over each planter and watched as moisture from the air accumulated and fell onto the seeds over the next few days. We took the bags off to check on progress, but we found that most days we didn’t need to provide any additional water. We waited to label our pots until after we removed the germination bags, and if you do the same thing, we recommend taking a photo of your unlabeled pots with the slate markers next to them to remind yourself which is which. After the seedlings had a good start, we took the bags off and continued to water them as needed, and that’s when their growth really took off.
Included Tools and Accessories: Everything you need to grow herbs
The terra cotta pots are both functional and aesthetically pleasing as you can grow herbs from seeds all the way to mature plants ready for harvesting. The pots are sturdy enough to support grown herbs but not too big for most windowsills: Each pot measures 3.75 inches tall with a base diameter of 2.75 inches. Each comes with its own 4-inch diameter tray, as well, but we found these overflowed with water runoff. We put a towel down to protect the windowsill and didn’t have any issues after that. The kit includes three seed packets: chives, basil, and sage. The seeds are 100 percent non-GMO, which is an important distinction to many home cooks who prefer to work with organic ingredients. The kit also comes with three slate markers and a soapstone pen so you can mark your pots.
Results: Fast germination and growth
The growth of the seedlings will depend on how much sun they get more than any other factor. We put ours on a sunny windowsill and saw tiny green sprouts within a few days. The sage did take longer to germinate, but that’s not unusual. Once we removed the germination bags, our seedlings quickly transformed into larger plants. We were able to start picking herbs for cooking in about a month and our plants were fully grown at roughly two months. Window Garden’s instructions don’t mention thinning out the weaker seedlings, but we knew that doing so would encourage the strongest plants to grow even more. If you’re not confident in your green thumb, this should give you a little peace of mind: Window Garden is so committed to your success that they’ll send you additional seeds if your first batch doesn’t grow.
Price: Good mix of value and quality
This herb trio kit strikes just the right balance between price and quality. Less costly herb garden kits may not include pots that are able to be used with full-grown herbs while more expensive kits we’ve seen don’t provide much more than this one. We think the $35.99 price tag is reasonable for what’s included. Window Garden also offers single versions of the pot, if you want to spend less money and still get a high-quality planter. Just note that the individual pots don’t come with seeds.
Competition: A good mid-price, high-quality garden kit
We loved how easy it was to germinate seeds with the Window Garden Rustic Charm Herb Trio Kit. The decorative pots looked nice on our windowsill and we appreciated not having to transfer our seedlings to new pots once they’d grown.
