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Growing Herbs Indoors

DoctorShavegood

"A Boy Named Sue"
Anyone have luck growing herbs like, thyme rosemary, basil, and cilantro indoors. If so, what's your methods?

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I've tried, but it was kind of a one and done thing, as I couldn't grow enough to be used in more than one or two recipes. I was a bit space constrained, though.
 

Alacrity59

Wanting for wisdom
I always have some growing in my window I have an ability to kill things off pretty regularly yet I persist as I like fresh herbs.
 
If you have a window with a great great deal of sunlight you stand a chance otherwise tall and spindly.

Had pretty good success with microgreens in a less then ideal window.

dave

edit; I was under the impression that perhaps thyme and rosemary might be outdoor year 'round harvestable way down there in Austin. Thyme always makes it through the winter here, use it as a ground cover and have had rosemary make it through but more often then not treat it as an annual. Rosemary you might be able to move in and out through the year.
 
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cleanshaved

I’m stumped
I don't have much inside but have played with some over the years.
I buy as seedlings and re-pot with a good potting mix. Don't forget to water them.
Now that sounds easy but I have killed many a basil plant. They seem fussy on the spot they go, they want sun but not too much and they don't like the cold. This one I have had for a few weeks and it growing well.

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I have mint in the garden. That stuff will grow anywhere and if not contained will spread out all over the place.
There is also thyme in the garden. This is robust and just grows wild.

I have grown coriander ( cilantro ) inside from seeds. Easy but it went to seeds when the heat got really hot. That's ok I used the seeds for cooking.

The price of fresh herbs from the supermarket is insane and sometimes they don't have what I want. :thumbdown
I'm thinking of a making a raised herb garden to go just outside the back door.
 
Herbs in pots outdoors is real easy and you can move them to follow the sun as the season progresses.

dave
 
Just recently picked up some aerogardens. Basils & dill are doing great. The parsleys need a trellis, but the contraption that ships with the thing is useless--there's one in the second picture, but it only attaches to the top part of the telescoping light rod, which is now raised higher than most of the plants. Mint barely came up--which is odd because it should grow like a weed--and it doesn't seem to be able to stand up straight, which might be a shortcoming of the design of the pods--too small for the roots to get a good hold of. Only one chive came up at all--could be defective seeds, but I hear they need to be started in darkness, which I didn't do. Anyway, chives need to be done in a large flat bed to have enough of them.

Need to spend a bit of time to reorganize the plants and set up some kind of trellis or something for the weaker plants. Thinking the 9 planter thing can skip every other hole and keep the basils in back & dills in front, and maybe have room for a couple parsleys/cilantro. The other gets the parsleys and smaller plants. Have a third real small aerogarden to play with, but the max height is only 12".

Anyone have any good basil recipes?

2 months
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6 weeks
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ya... I have to go back and learn the bonsai of Aerogarden... I've got three 6's and one tall 7. turn the entry hallway back into a humming sound barrier... They are lovely in promise and like everything else need a practiced hand to keep in order.
 
I wish I were more help here but I have to suggest Aerogarden also. We (usually) spend summers and early fall in New England, and the rest of the time in Florida, so it is always growing season and I do my herbs outside. However, when we did live in the northeast full time, the aerogarden method in the winter and it worked well.
 

TexLaw

Fussy Evil Genius
I was under the impression that perhaps thyme and rosemary might be outdoor year 'round harvestable way down there in Austin. Thyme always makes it through the winter here, use it as a ground cover and have had rosemary make it through but more often then not treat it as an annual. Rosemary you might be able to move in and out through the year.

I have no trouble keeping my rosemary, thyme, and marjoram going through the Winter in Houston (although I will move them into the garage when a hard freeze is coming). They slow down, but they don't die.

I have no experience with the Aerogarden, but I know that just trying with a window is tough business unless that window gets a lot of sun. Herbs love sun and room. Aaron, if you have any sunny area where you can place potted herbs, they will do much, much better.

As an aside, I've gotten to where I nearly dedicate my garden to herbs. When it comes to quality difference and bang for the buck, herbs are where it's at!
 
I have a sad story about a marvelous rosemary bush I had when we moved into a new home in 2008, This guy was 6 foot across and I could strip 1-foot sections of new growth off anytime I wanted without slowing him down. Then, I had to redo the driveway down to the boat garage, and that involved workers standing on it. After experiencing the sadness of his later years, I put him out of his misery by removing him; building a generator pad where he and a huge lavender (who brought forest butterflies right to my kitchen door all year long) had been. Brown(black?) thumb that I was; neither survived an attempted transplant - I blame (possibly imaginary) residual chlorine in the soil from the pool.
 
The moral of the story is...

don't swim near Rosemary

...but... she's just so damn HOT! how could I not?

(actually, by that time, the pool had been covered and left to it's own luck for a couple of years... an even longer story - if you ever wanna hear about what a sinkhole pools can become... )
 
I read blogs, instructions, really anything I can. I plan, I build, I study, I plant, I kill. I've got to be the worst gardener ever, and I really hate it when people make it look easy!!
 
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