Southern exposure is the best... and cross your fingers! The basil might croak, it's usually kept as an annual.

LOL. Croak. THanks Heathen1!

Actually, I'm ok with the Basil dying. I purchased it late in the season and it feels...sticky and looks unhealthy. Is 3-4 feet away from the window ok? The table doesn't get all day light, but if I place the containers next to the window, or on the steps, they will definitely get all day sun.

:o) Well, where you live, I think it will be better for the plants to be close to the window. Touching the window, they may get frozen to the window, but they need a lot of light. I am not very good at keeping them alive inside during the winter, even here, they get mealies and are just plain unhappy. One thing though... the sage, oregano and thyme would be happiest in seperate pots or together, away from the more water loving basil and mint.

i know you can bring basil in for the winter..i did last year..and planted in a whisky barrel when spring arrived..not sure about oregano..i would like to know..i brought in rosemary and it died.

I am also in z6 NJ and have many of the same herbs as you sujewel, but they are planted in a border right by the house. I don't think you need to bring them in at all, actually, except maybe rosemary. I even harvested in small amounts. Or if you need a lot of fresh herbs over the winter.

Oregano (mine is Greek, I think) will grow like a weed after the first year, once established. Mine did not grow much its first year, and died back over winter, but grew tremendously this summer.

I have sage, thyme and lemon thyme, all survived and grew beatifully in spring. I cut them back in early spring.

I have two varities of rosemary, upright and prostate. My understanding is that the prostrate variety is hardier and mine actually survived in a small (6") pot last winter. The other also survived, but I did have to trim away a lot of what looked like dead leaves in the spring.

Basil is a true annual, that is a plant designed to go through its life cycle during the growing season and then die. So I don't think it would last indoors very long anyway. You can try.

Mint is a very vigourous plant and you should put it in a pot by itself. Also, as someone else already noted, it needs a lot of water, unlike the other herbs. There is a mint patch near our community garden and it comes back every year.

heathen1, why are you trying to overwinter indoors in z10? Things can grow outside year round there, since there's no frost. My sister in Southern California has a rosemay bush 3 or 4 feet high and it flowers beautifully around Christmas when I go visit.

:D You have plants in the house when you live in an apartment.... but mostly I don't know about growing indoors much, except for tropicals.... and now, most of my tropicals can live outdoors.

heathen1, thanks for the clarification. I had much less space in our last place, too. We were on the second floor of a house, so no yard. I still grew basil on the balcony, though!

Thanks Desert Cat, Zuniform and Heathen. I really appreciate all the info. I read on another post that I can cut mint, reroot it in water and then plant so I could have two plants. One that stays outside and one that stays indoors.

Will I be able to do that for Sage, Thyme, Greek Oregano and Parsley? I love to cook and nothing is better than cooking with freash herbs, which is why I'd like to bring them in. But now I'm scared they are all going to die. Like Heathen, I'm not all that great with plants indoors - except for Orchids. Everything else, it seems, I kill or condemn to a slow, painful death.

You can root sage, thyme and oregano.... I don't know about parsley, I've never grown it. They are not as easy to root as mint, you'd have to keep them on the warm side. I have had good luck rooting salvias in perlite...keeps it the right dampness.

Last winter was so mild and wet on the East coast that all my herbs over-wintered. The only herbs I don't grow are cilantro,parsley, and dill, because they hate the cold here anyway ,but I can generally find them in grocery stores.

I'll try to reroot everything I've got and keep the rest outdoors on the deck in the sun. Cross your fingers and toes for me. And thanks again for all the help.