🎁 5 Random Homegrown Christmas Gifts For The Window Sill

Bright Lights Chard in a Pot — The Showstopper

This is a bit random, but... forgot a gift? Or just want to give something a bit more personal than another box of biscuits?

Grow one. All it takes is a pinch of seeds, some compost, and whatever pots you already have in the shed. Yoghurt pots, old mugs, that chipped terracotta — all work a treat. That's the messy way.

And it’s cheap because one packet gives you 20+ gifts.

**Seeds:** Swiss chard ‘Bright Lights’ / Rainbow Mix is typically £1.50 to £4 a packet in the UK depending on brand — a packet gives you 20+ windowsill pots, so just pennies per plant. Use any spare pots or yoghurt pots you already have.

This is the one that stops people in their tracks. Those pink, orange, red and yellow stems glow on a windowsill. Looks like a £15 houseplant, costs pennies to grow.

Sow in a blue or terracotta pot, keep on a sunny sill, water. Ready to gift in 4 weeks. Just add a little tag: “Snip and come again”.

Four small white pots, sown a week apart. Gives them fresh leaves all through January. Perfect for kids or new gardeners — they can watch them grow bigger each week. This was a random experiment last year and it worked brilliantly.

Three terracotta pots on a wooden windowsill — one chard, one parsley, one lettuce. Instant kitchen garden. No need to buy new pots — use what you’ve got.

That old copper pot or tin? Perfect for micro-greens or cress. Sows in days, not weeks. Ideal last-minute gift when you’ve forgotten someone. Random, but works.

Sow broad beans thick in a pot in December — the shoots are delicious in stir-fry in January. No one expects it. Free gift from a packet you already have.

How To Make It Look Like A Proper Gift

* Tie with garden twine + a little wooden label

* Add my free “how to water” card — link to your care post

* Water lightly before you gift — no one wants a muddy car seat!

My Honest Take

I’m not going to tell you this costs £2 — because if you have to go and buy pots it won’t. But if you’ve got a bag of compost and a few old pots, a £1.50 to £4 packet of rainbow chard seeds gives you gifts for half the street. That’s pennies per plant and a lot more personal than plastic.

That’s why I love these random little windowsill gifts.

Got a favourite homegrown gift you give? Drop it below — I’m always nicking ideas!

— Dave, The Messy Gardener, Tonbridge

P.S. Want to grow them as houseplants all winter? My full guide to 10 edible houseplants you can eat is here: [LINK TO YOUR EDIBLE HOUSEPLANTS POST]