South facing kitchen window, currently a standard casement, and the quote to swap it for a garden window with the little shelves came back at more than I expected once installation was in. All I actually want is basil and parsley that do not die in November. Has anyone lived with one long enough to say whether it grows anything.
I have had one for six years on a south facing wall and the truthful summary is that it is a lovely thing to own and a mediocre place to grow herbs. It swings from too hot to too cold faster than any other spot in the house, so in July the basil cooks against the glass by mid afternoon and in January the shelf nearest the pane runs close to outdoor temperature. What genuinely thrives there is seed starting in March and April, and cuttings. If growing herbs is the actual goal, the money buys you a lot of shelf and light instead.
Every cold morning, on the inside of the glass. It dries off, but I would not put anything wooden and unfinished in there.
The temperature swing is the thing nobody in the showroom mentioned. Do you get condensation problems too?
Mine leaked, and it leaked because I let a general builder fit it rather than a window installer. The failure was at the head flashing where the projecting box meets the wall, it took two winters to show up as a damp patch inside the cupboard, and the repair cost roughly what the window had. If you do go ahead, ask specifically who does the flashing detail and get it in writing.
Disagreeing with the framing rather than the maths. A garden window is a house decision, not a herb decision. If you want one because you like the look and you are keeping the house for a decade, get one and enjoy the herbs as a bonus. If you are justifying it with basil, you will resent it the first time you see a water stain on the plaster under the sill.
Herbs need light hours, not a bay of glass. A shelf and a grow light gets you winter parsley for the price of a takeaway. Spend the window money on the window if you want the window.
@seedstart_sim · 3w ago · 2 replies
Price the two options as what they really are. A garden window is a hole in your wall being made bigger, so most of the cost is labour, flashing and making it watertight, and the unit itself is often the smaller half of the bill. A clamp on windowsill shelf plus a decent full spectrum LED bar on a timer costs a tiny fraction of that and will out grow the garden window in winter, because your limit from November to February is day length, not glass area.
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@leafspot_lucia · 3w ago
Day length rather than glass area is the point I had completely missed. A window cannot add hours to a November afternoon.
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