Light

Herbs will grow best in a sunny south-facing window. For optimal growth, herbs require 6 hours of sunlight each day or you can use fluorescent lights, keeping them on 14 hours a day, 3″ above the plants.

Containers/Soil

Start with 4″ or 6″ containers (depending on your windowsill or shelf width) that have drainage holes in the bottom. Fill them with a high quality potting soil that has good drainage. An optional idea is to fill the top 1″ of the container with seed starting soil which is less likely to contain fungus or disease pathogens. Thoroughly moisten the soil by sprinkling on water or preferably by setting the containers in a tray of water, so they can absorb it from the bottom.

Sowing

Once you have the soil thoroughly moist, sow the seeds according to directions on each packet then cover the containers with clear plastic to retain consistent moisture. After the seedlings have emerged, remove the plastic.

Watering

Once plants are established, err on the side of letting the pots get a little dry between waterings.

Feeding

If you used a potting soil that contained fertilizer, your herbs may be just fine without any additional fertilizer for months. Herbs have the best flavor when grown ‘mean and lean’, so they don’t need a lot of pampering. If they do start to get a bit pale, you can add a light dilution of fertilizer every 2 weeks or so.

Growth and Care

The growth of indoor herbs may be a little slower indoors than outdoors, which you may enjoy if you just like a little snip here and there for some fresh flavor in the kitchen. You can also trim the plants from time to time to maintain a compact shape. Snip off any flowers that appear — when herbs put energy into producing flowers, they may become less flavorful or bitter. If the herb stems become woody (i.e. basil, sage, thyme), it’s time to transition them outdoors (if weather is warm enough) into a larger container or the ground or toss them in the compost pile and start fresh plants from seed.

Some herbs for a long-lasting indoor herb garden include:
Basil, chives, cress, garlic chives, lavender, lemon balm, marjoram, mint, oregano, rosemary, sage, shiso, thyme, watercress. You can grow these varieties indoors for months and harvest leaves as needed, letting the plants re-grow in between.

Herbs that would be happier outdoors (due to long taproot or desired maximum growth for flower production) include: Borage, chamomile, clary sage, cilantro, chervil, fennel, feverfew, lovage, and parsley.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 22nd, 2010 at 12:22 pm and is filed under Herbs, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.