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Indoor Herb Gardening
Indoor Herb Seed Starting
Just so I don't have to rewrite the entire process, let me tell you that starting herb seeds indoors is exactly the same as starting any other seed.
As an aside, taking herb cuttings is the same, as well.
Indoor Herb Gardening Tricks of the Trade
You're going to be growing plants in containers so the same rules hold true as for any other plant (indoors or outdoors) and here's a bunch of articles on container growing.
Indoor Herb Conditions
Annual herbs: The deal here is that you're going to require light to grow herbs inside. Without grow lights, no amount of winter sunshine (south exposure or not) is going to grow a great herb plant. They require full hot sunshine to grow properly. Use your grow lights and keep the bulbs 8-12 inches from the top of the foliage for best results.
Sow annual herbs every 6-8 weeks (like basil) to keep a new young and leafy crop coming along.
Perennial or Biennial Herbs: (parsley shown in January) This is tricky stuff because most perennial herbs want or need a dormancy period of 8-12 weeks - a resting period - so they'll start growing again. What most often happens is that you bring the herb indoors and it simply fades away over a few months and then dies before you can put it back outdoors. They want the colder outdoor temperatures and rest - and they're not going to produce leaves in this condition.
My advice. Forget about trying to grow perennial herbs indoors over the winter. Grow them, dry and use them in traditional ways.
Biennial Herbs
Biennial herbs such as parsley can be dug in the fall, (get as many of the roots as possible and use a big enough pot to hold them all) potted up and they'll produce leaves right up to Christmas for me. I keep them cool in the sunroom and clip off the leaves as I need them. Then I throw out the old plant (a biennial wants to go to seed the second year anyway) and start fresh again with new plants in the spring.
The picture is taken in January. I'm about to cut off the remaining leaves and toss the plant into the compost as it has stopped growing and producing new leaves.
Do you have a question about Indoor Herb Gardening?
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