Growing Herbs Inside

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HappyDaze
Posts: 4186
Joined: Tue Oct 15, 2019 11:11 am

Growing Herbs Inside

Post by HappyDaze »

Does anyone grow herbs indoors - say on a sunny windowsill, etc.? Did you start your herbs from seeds, buy a kit, etc.? This will be a "new to me" venture if I decide to go for it - and I appreciate any hints and how-tos.
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SandiSAHM
Posts: 2263
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 11:46 am
Location: Oklahoma

Re: Growing Herbs Inside

Post by SandiSAHM »

I've done it in little terracotta pots on a south-facing kitchen windowsill - rosemary, chives, basil, a little bit of dill that I eventually moved to a bigger pot outside because dill, wow, becomes a beautiful large fluffy amazing-smelling bush. As do some varieties of basil; you have to look for stuff that's meant to be grown indoors versus outdoors.

Now... it's the southeast facing window of the - don't judge ;) - master bath. There's a big soaker tub in there we'll never use with a big window and a big ledge by the window, so... It's bigger pots now than it was in the kitchen, too, because we use basil and dill year-round (chives were awesome but I had limited use for them; now I'm thinking about lemongrass, I need to research). When the dill gets out of hand I cut it off, process and freeze it for addition to soups and start new seeds. Outside of a couple succulents (they were cute at the start but propagate too fast, I SO wish I'd left them where I found them) and an arboricola, every plant we have is edible.

If your windowsill is warm and sunny you shouldn't have a problem. Soak your seeds and test-start a few if you're not sure how old they are. If you know it's going to get really cold, at night move them away from the window and then put them back when it sun hits it and warms the spot up again. Use sterilized soil that's meant for indoors, you're less likely to get pests that way (not that it doesn't happen, there are sticky things meant to deal with flying bugs that nest and lay eggs in soil).

If you have indoor pets be sure everything they might get into is something that can't hurt them. I have no idea what's hazardous to cats.
alliesmama4
Posts: 8591
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:10 pm
Location: Southern IL

Re: Growing Herbs Inside

Post by alliesmama4 »

Sandi not sure about growing lemon grass in the house. I grew some outside a couple of years ago and it turned in to quite a large clump of grass very closely matted together and difficult for me to cut. Maybe I did not manage it as well as I should have.
Janet Alliesmama
alliesmama4
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Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:10 pm
Location: Southern IL

Re: Growing Herbs Inside

Post by alliesmama4 »

I have a bay leaf tree in my kitchen near the deck door. Started out as a couple of leaf's on a couple of twigs and now about 3 ft tall. The tree was taller but it was looking rather scraggly so I cut it back. I use the leaves fresh but also clip them and dry them for using in soup and chili.

Sheila if you have any room to put a terracotta pot near some sun try planting the tops of turnips. One year my SIL's neighbor gave her some turnips from his garden but she did not have time to prepare them so she gave them to me. Out of curiosity I stuck the cut off tops, with some of the turnips greens clipped off, to see if they would sprout and grow more turnips.. Nope but the greens began to sprout and I clipped them every so often and added them to my salads. They added a nice fresh turnip taste to my salads.
Janet Alliesmama
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Jackielou
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Joined: Tue Aug 25, 2015 7:51 pm

Re: Growing Herbs Inside

Post by Jackielou »

I am going to move this to the gardening folder if that is okay with everyone.
Jackie
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alliesmama4
Posts: 8591
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:10 pm
Location: Southern IL

Re: Growing Herbs Inside

Post by alliesmama4 »

Jackielou wrote: Sun Mar 01, 2020 8:25 am I am going to move this to the gardening folder if that is okay with everyone.
Thanks Jackie for giving us a heads up.
Janet Alliesmama
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