Saturday, April 27, 2013

Sustainable Saturday - Living on The Ledge

What could be more sustainable than taking wasted space on your sunny windows or even sunny walls (in a bath enclosure, for example) and growing herbs, lettuce or even beans? 

Are you tired of knocking over plants on your kitchen windowsill when you use your sink? (I am). Do you wish you were the perfect waterer so your window ledges would never need repainting? (Or, as with so many of our windows, we have a tiny window sill and you wish you just had room to put plants on them, period)?

Before I start sounding like an infomercial, my usual disclaimer:  no, I am not receiving any compensation for this post - and no, I have not used what I am about to blog about myself.  Although I'll be thinking strongly about that, perhaps come fall.)


We were out and about this morning, going to several local nurseries to plan our plantings for this year, when we saw this display:



When I saw the planter with pole beans thriving inside of it, I had to talk to the woman tending the display.  We ended up having a pleasant conversation.

This woman is is the inventor, and told my spouse and I that this product was made locally, here in the Triple Cities of upstate New York. 

She demonstrated how you can get her "living ledge" to "stick" (not quite the right word, but it does assemble easily and firmly, yet causes no damage to anything it is applied to) to your windows. 

If you go to her web site (yes, you can purchase this online) you'll get a better idea of how it works.

If it works as demonstrated, this would also be a wonderful way for apartment dwellers in big cities to grow some of their own herbs, or lettuces, or even air-cleaning houseplants.  You can bottom-water easily with these units, too.  How I would have loved this when I lived in New York City!

I have a soft spot for female entrepreneurs (my grandfather was a small business owner, but the gene skipped me) and if they are trying to enrich the local economy, so much the better.  I wish her the best.

Do you grow small plants like lettuces or herbs indoors?


9 comments:

  1. I wish I had the green thumb gene but alas it skipped me. Sounds like a great way to grow veges etc though!

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  2. Sounds like an interesting idea! I am trying to get some plants started for the first time in forever myself. :)

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    1. Good luck with your plants, Carrie. I hope you can do it, and that they give you pleasure.

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  3. Nice idea, I keep growing herbs all year by using the windows in my house.

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    1. We would like to grow herbs year round, too. For some reason I haven't spent much time (or effort) experimenting with herbs in the winter. We have enough of them outdoors for the summer, so why stop when the growing season ends?

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  4. This sounds like an excellent idea, but the price might be of some concern. I have grown herbs on the windowsill--mostly mint for our tea.

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    1. Mint would be nice! Our only successful herb has been rosemary - which we grow outdoors in the summer and indoors, under lights, in the winter. I agree that the price would be of some concern.

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  5. Wow! That really is innovative! So are you going to try it, Alana?

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    1. I don't know. As Francene Stanley correctly points out, they are a bit expensive. I will have to think about if I would get enough benefit out of it to justify the cost.

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