Unless you get a grow light set up, you will have trouble growing herbs indoors. Almost all of them need full sun which means six hours of outdoor light or sixteen hours under a grow light.

Absolutely true.. I start tomatoes and peppers from seeds indoors and have 4 foot 2 light fixtures with two bulbs each 160 watts total, for nearly 20 hours per day. They still don't look as healthy as outdoors. About the only stuff that goes well indoors is seeds for sprouting only, and are used in salads.

Sorry, but this is absolutely not true. I routinely grow basil, sage, thyme, chives, oregano, parsley, mint, rosemary, calendula, savory, dill, fennel and other herbs in addition to leaf lettuce, peppers, tomatoes, spinach, radishes, beets, carrots, and more during the winter.


For the last few years I've been lucky to have a heated, enclosed wraparound porch with full east & south windows; however, I've also grown all of the above plus in south-facing windows. If you have the room, cucumbers are also possible if you use a parthenocarpic variety.

Jeannie, if you have a south window and room for pots, start any herbs you like and give it a try!

If you have plenty of sunlight, then yes, they will grow well. Indoor herb growing is a hit or miss, and if you have no sunporch or room where sunlight is present many hours per day, the plants simply will not thrive. What really affects the most is the flavors are not usually as stong if grown indoors. Obviously if the room has lots of sunlight and is heated during winter, it will grow better. Here, I have mininal sun indoors and because of the size of my standard windows, I can't get more than a few hours from any location. Not everyone is fortunate to have a lot of outdoor exposure.

I hate killing plants, or even letting them die a natural death for annuals. With that, I brought in a wide variety of plants, knowing the two choices were in my unheated, northwest facing front porch (I live in a Philly, so the shadows from the neighbors' rowhomes across the street only give our porch about 5-6 hours of sunlight per day in winter) or underneath an old fluorescent lamp that I propped up with our two chairs we use in the garden.

Amazingly, the parsley (a biennial) AND a brocolli plant (I know it's not an herb, but, even though it's not produce anymore, it still had beautiful flowers, followed by pods of seeds, and blue-green huge leaves, so is still fun to watch) survived the winter out on the unheated porch.

The only herb to survive the winter upstairs under the fluorescent light was my bay, and that didn't do anything all winter -- including grow or dying, so I was just happy it survived. The majority of the plants brought in didn't survive winter (or me, I'm not the greatest gardener in the world), however, we did have cherry tomatoes straight off the bush for Thanksgiving, Christmas AND New Years. (Had a single stalk of home-grown brocolli for Christmas, too. LOL)

Living in a rowhome, we have windows only on two sides of the house, but, for a variety of reasons, the only ones available were the northwest ones out in the unheated porch. We improvised with the fluorescent lamp, by keeping it on and the ceiling light on for 12 hours per day (or night, if we forgot to turn it on in the morning.)

If you don't have the proper facing windows and you can't afford the speciality gro-lights and plant stands, regular fluorescent propped up on the back of chairs (with plants on the chair's too for balance) worked for us.

The only thing I'd suggest before going with whatever you want, is to do some research on the plants' needs and ultimate size. For instance, yes, you can grow dill on a window sill in a pot, but watch out when it's time for it to bloom - they shoot up to 4-6 feet high and get quite top heavy, especially when it sets seed. Dill smells good, but is probably annoying if it keeps tickling you as you're trying to do the dishes. LOL

Also, realize, unless you have the magic touch, not all will sprout or make it in your environment.

valentintbear, that makes me think of the year I planted 5-6 leftover Brussels sprouts in pots. I potted them up late (like you, I couldn't stand to toss'em) and they weren't quite "there" when the weather turned that fall, so I carted them all inside and lined them up in a south bay window. Not the prettiest houseplants, but it was so great to be eating sweet, fresh Brussels sprouts at Thanksgiving!

Also, for indoor dill, try Fernleaf. Lots of foliage, slow to bolt, and only grows to about 15"-20" high.

You most certainly can grow these indoors. I have done so for many decades. (I even grow my own sage) and you can grow various vegetables as I am sure you know. Many years ago when we left our native land and came to colder climates I had to adjust and learn how to grow my herbs. I just did it until I perfected it. I like to see young people with enough gumption to do what everyone says can't be done lol.

Here is a link that might be useful: About Me

I encourage you to try to grow your herbs. Last year on a window with pretty nice sun I grew all of our lettuce for the winter, sage, thyme, basil, cilantro. Rosemary is fairly fussy regarding sun and water so I don't bother anymore maybe you would have better luck.

For fun I tried beets and they grew too.

To me it's hit or miss, and I get a lot of bugs... specially in rosemary. I always say try it though, all that can happen is you fail, and then you learn something.

I've never seen bugs- I'll have to look for them this year. My only caution- make sure you will use the herbs or you will have more than you'll ever be able to give away. I planted parsley which we occasionally use and it grew so well I now HATE parsley but cilantro now that is another matter- I can't get enough-even our dog loves it. she takes some nibbles every now and then and once ate a whole pot! Same thing with sage- I grew it and loved it but couldn't find enough recipes to use it so I won't bother this year.

Thanks for all of your insights and suggestions?
Is there an online catalog you could recommend ordering from?

I think I will primarily try to grow basil, mint and coriander from seed.

Thank you!