Start a windowsill herb pot
Fresh herbs, one step from the stoveOne sunny windowsill is all it takes to have basil or mint a reach from the pan. Starting is mostly about three things — light, drainage, and not drowning it — and a forgiving herb makes the rest easy.
1
Start with a forgiving herb
Basil, mint, or chives bounce back from beginner mistakes. Pick one from a nursery start rather than seed for your first pot — it's faster and far more forgiving.
⚠️ No drainage hole, no herbs — This is the one that kills windowsill herbs. A pot without a hole in the bottom traps water, the roots sit wet, and they rot within a week or two. If your pot has no hole, drill one or use it as an outer cover for a plain nursery pot that does.
2
Plant it in potting mix and water once
Fill the pot with potting mix (not garden soil — too heavy). Settle the herb in at the same depth it came, firm it gently, and water until it just runs from the hole. Then stop.
3
Put it in your brightest window
Herbs want a lot of light — six or more hours, a south-facing sill if you have one. Too little light is why supermarket basil goes leggy and pale.
4
Water only when the top inch is dry
Check with a finger, don't water on a schedule. Dry to the first knuckle means water; still damp means wait. More herbs die from too much water than too little.
5
Pinch the tops to keep it bushy
Once it has a few sets of leaves, pinch off the top of each stem just above a pair. It looks backward, but it makes the plant branch out fuller instead of tall and spindly.
