Growing Herbs Indoors or Out in Your Garden or Yard -Growing herbs indoors or out – they look great, they smell great and they taste amazing. And they are good for the environment too. Growing herbs is easy and fun and an easy way to enhance your green living. If you like cooking and enjoy the benefits of fresh tasty organic food from your garden, grow herbs - it’s a great way to supplement your diet. Most culinary herbs are rich in nutrients as well. Growing herbs indoors is possible with a good many varieties, depending upon where you live and what you want to grow, so it's not even essential to plant a herb garden. Many herbs also have therapeutic properties which make them ideal natural remedies. For example, mint is a "digestive", that is, it aids digestion and thyme has anti-bacterial qualities. Health herbs are to be found amongst many of the common herbs in gardens. Simple herbal remedies can be made from herbs grown at home. Click here to see good books on growing herbs. Click here to go straight to the information on individual herbs. Growing herbs indoors and out: Why is growing herbs good for the environment?Many herbs attract beneficial insects such as bees and hoverflies. Some herbs are also useful companion plants which make growing vegetables so much easier without harmful sprays or poisons. If you are growing herbs indoors, you may notice that some of them help indoor air quality. Some even have a reputation for deterring houseflies. Growing Herbs Indoors and Out: Starting a herb garden
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme – called to mind from the famous folk song - are all easy if you have a garden in a temperate region of the world. Mediterranean herbs such as marjoram and basil are not difficult either. Rocket and chives are more easy choices, especially for growing herbs indoors, as they are relatively small. Chives like cool conditions, so avoid direct sun. Most small herbs can be grown in containers - or even inside the house, especially if you have a sunny and well lit space. Plants grown on windowsills can become leggy and weak because the light is insufficient. Container gardening is easy and rewarding. See Designing a container garden for more on container growing. Growing herbs indoors and out: Soil preparation for growing herbs outsideFor best results, dedicate an area of your garden close to the kitchen to grow herbs. It’s nice to know that there is a place where you can find something tasty at any time of the year to uplift your cookery! If you are planning on growing herbs indoors for some of the year, a small container garden of herbs in tubs and pots can be a workable solution. The soil does not have to be especially rich. Many herbs grow well in quite poor sandy and stony soils in their native settings. So choose somewhere sunny but close to the kitchen and don’t worry too much about soil quality, as long as the ground is well drained and there are no problems with the soil (such as pollution). Place woody herbs such as rosemary where there is plenty of space. Keep border areas for small annual herbs. Select a separate space for dominant herbs such as mint or tarragon. Growing Herbs Indoors and Out: Sowing herbsBuy good quality herb seed or use herb seeds from a friend's garden. I find it’s easiest to start most herbs off in seed trays. That way you can keep a close eye on them and they don’t get lost in weeds when you get busy with other things. Make sure you sow the herb seeds thinly enough so that they are not overcrowded as they grow. You may need to do some thinning to create enough room for your growing crop. Larger thinnings can be washed and used in salads. Buy good quality seed, organic if possible, and follow the instructions closely. Below you will find instructions and tips for a few of the commoner useful culinary herbs to get you started. Some of the herbs detailed below are also valuable as medicinal herbs. Not all of the herbs below are suitable for growing indoors. Growing Herbs Indoors and Out: Some good choices of herbsParsley(Petroselinum hortense)For growing herbs indoors, parsley is not a bad choice. Parsley is notorious for being slow to germinate. It can take three weeks to come up - or even longer. Once you have your seedling crop, plant it out when it’s about 1-2 inches high.
Keep them well watered. Once they have established themselves in the herb garden they require no special help. If they tend to run to seed, just cut their heads off. You can also grow them in pots but you need to buy reasonably deep ones as they develop long tap roots. If you want parsley available right through winter it is a good idea to start more seeds off in summer or autumn. At the end of the growing season let one or two plants run to seed and you will have plenty of seed to start again. Even easier, just let them seed without hindrance and you will have dozens of new plants in the spring with no trouble at all! (You may even end up weeding them out as a weed crop.) Obviously, this method can be a bit hit and miss compared to sowing using a carefully-watched seed tray. If you prefer, flat-leafed parsley is a good choice as it is easier to germinate. It also self-seeds abundantly and has a lovely fresh taste in cooked dishes and salads. It doesn’t taste quite like curly leafed parsley, though so you won’t get that traditional taste when you cook fish pie with parsley! Parsley will grow indoors for short periods of time. I've not tried to grow it from seed indoors, through to maturity. Sage(Salvia officinalis)A sage bush is a valuable addition to any herb garden. They can grow quite large and sprawling, so put them towards the back of your herb collection and prune them in summer. A sheltered position in the sun is best. Sage keeps going all year round, hence the traditional turkey stuffing at Christmas. Sage does not set seed well, so buy one from a good garden centre and when it is mature, take cuttings to produce new plants. Purple sage is good and you can find some other colours as well as the traditional grey-green leaved varieties. Sage can be nice chopped finely in salad. Even if you aren’t keen on the strong, rather medicinal taste, a sage tea is great for sore throats as a gargle. The flowers are quite striking with their blue spikes and they are an absolute magnet for bees. Growing herbs indoors? Sage is a fairly large plant which might manage in a container if you can provide cool conditions. I've not tried this yet.
Rosemary(Rosmarinus Officinale)Rosemary is another absolute must for any garden. It yields a delicious, aromatic herb which transforms a plain meat dish into something special. This woody shrub is probably a bit too large for the average herb garden, so plant it anywhere you would plant a medium sized shrub. It grows about a metre tall and can spread out quite a lot too. You can prune it to keep it in bounds of course. Even if you have only a tiny garden, it creates a stylish and attractive display. Again, it is not one to grow from seed. It is easiest to buy one, or beg a cutting from a friend to start. It is another sun loving herb but is pretty hardy and will be available all winter long for those delicious winter stews and roasts. As regards growing herbs indoors, this is not an easy one. You need a large planter and a good, light and airy space available. For most people, this is one to keep outdoors if you can. See How to grow rosemary for easy planting and growing instructions. Tarragon(Artemisia Dracunculus)Tarragon is a versatile herb which is also very easy to grow.. The easiest way to start is to divide a bit of root from a well-established plant. Alternatively, you can take cuttings or just buy a young plant. Give it a fair amount of room as it likes to spread. Tarragon grows each spring and disappears in winter as it is perennial. The best pickings are from the tips of the plant. The flavour develops as the summer progresses - it may be rather bland in spring. You can use it in almost any dish but it goes especially well in egg dishes, with white fish and with chicken. It has a mild but distinctive flavour and can be used instead of basil in many recipes. Try it in omelets and flans. It is also excellent raw in salads. You can also steep it in vinegar for year-round use. Tarragon can also be dried in paper bags for winter use, or frozen in freezer bags or ice-cubes. Freezing it is probably the easiest method. It keeps its flavour quite well that way. There are two common varieties: French and Russian. French is far better for culinary use. It is not especially suited to indoor herb growing as it is a tall plant which likes a sunny, sheltered spot. I've not yet tried growing it in a container. If you are keen on growing herbs indoors and have the space in a sunny conservatory, for example, this might be one to try. See Drying Fresh Herbs from Your Garden for more on drying methods Thyme(Thymus vulgaris)Thyme is a pretty little miniature shrub, a bit like heather in size and shape. There are creeping varieties, too. The flowers are a beautiful lilac-blue and attract the bees.
The leaves are available all year round, though there are more fresh green ones available in summer. It has a strong slightly medicinal scent as it contains thymol, an antiseptic much used in medicine. You can grow thyme in spring or you can grow it from seed. There are also other varieties available. Golden thyme is a pretty, variegated variety and lemon-scented thyme is a good choice. For growing herbs indoors, thyme is quite a good choice if you have the patience to go through the softening up process. This is a kind of reverse hardening-off. Plant the thyme in a pot a few weeks before you are going to bring it indoors. When it is happily growing in its pot, start increasing the amount of shade. This gets it used to growing in reduced light levels. After a wee k or two of lower light, bring it inside for a period each day, gradually lengthening the time spent indoors. If you do this, you are more likely to have success with growing herbs indoors. Thyme can be used in moderation in soups and stews and it can add a clean, fresh edge to salads. Moderation is the key, as the taste is quite powerful. Mints(Mentha)There are many different mints available, so it’s nice to experiment with a few of the less common ones, such as pineapple mint or ginger mint. Mint is a hardy perennial, so you need to buy or be given a plant to start you off. Once in the soil, this herb is an absolute thug, so you may want to pen it in by planting it in a large planter, or in a bed dedicated to it. Another way is to sink a large plant pot into the soil and plant it in there. It can escape even this if you’re not watching it carefully! Mint has such a wonderful smell and so many culinary uses that I don’t mind its predatory behaviour as long as it stays in just a couple of sectors of the garden. Use it in salads and to make cordials, tea, mint sauce … the list goes on. It is very easy to grow – just try stopping it! It likes moist fertile soil but will manage practically anywhere. You can grow it quite easily in pots provided that you water frequently; you can bring a pot or two inside to extend the growing season into winter. It's also quite easy to dry for winter use. If you have room for only one mint, peppermint (Mintha piperita) is probably the way to go. Mint can be brought indoors for the winter but it is not the best of herbs for growing indoors. For growing herbs indoors it is important to give plants time to acclimatise to the warmer, drier conditions of a house. Marjoram(Origanum)Marjoram, or Oregano, is another Mediterranean herb that grows quite well in more northerly climates. It can be sensitive to cold, so you may need to cultivate it as an annual, depending on where you live. Here, in the south of England, it has taken on the status of a weed in my garden! It is a great herb, with many uses, and in the garden the bees find it irresistible. Sweet marjoram (Origanum majorana) can be sown indoors and planted out after any frosts have finished. Lavender
The flower heads can be dried and used for scenting drawers and for pot pourri. The scent in the garden is divine and bumble bees are very happily employed amongst its flowers. It can get a bit straggly, so a good trim from time to time is required. I haven't yet tried to grow it indoors. Lovage(Levisticum officinale)If you have room, try this dramatic plant. It is excellent for flavouring soups and stews. The taste is quite strong, so it is well to be stingy with it. It can grow to more than two metres tall in the right conditions. Once established, it should return year after year. Establish new plants from seed, or by dividing the root in spring. I've not tried growing it indoors as it is a bit big. Basil(Ocimum basilicum)If you like tomatoes you will want to grow basil. It is not quite as easy as most of the other common herbs, (at least here, in northern Europe) but it is just so wonderful it’s worth the effort. It is a soft and tender annual plant which may become a little shrubby in hot, dry summers. Sow it on a windowsill once the day time temperature is reliable, say in May or the end of April. Keep the seeds moist and covered until the first seedlings appear. Prick out and grow on in roomier quarters as soon as you can. Small pots or a deeper tray will do for this. Punnets from supermarket fruit also make good seedling nurseries. Be careful to hold these tender plants by the leaves when transplanting them, never the stem. Make sure that there is no danger of frost before you put them out into their beds. They grow well with tomatoes and may help deter some insects as they are quite aromatic. Although basil is not such an easy to grow herb, its superb flavour and role as a companion plant make it a must! Basil is a relatively easy herb to grow indoors to maturity. You just need enough warmth and light. You can also grow it as a seedling crop - straight from the seed sprouter to the table. If you are growing herbs indoors, always check for signs of aphids. In my experience aphids can be more of a problem indoors than out as you have none of the natural predators to help your cause. Growing Herbs Indoors and Out: This is not a complete list of herbs which are suitable for growing at home. It is simply a small common selection to introduce you to the pleasures and benefits of growing culinary herbs, if you have not already experienced this way of greening your diet and lifestyle. Growing herbs indoors and out for culinary use can be a great hobby and has many benefits for your health - and your budget. Fresh herbs are expensive in supermarkets and greengrocers so having a ready supply at home is well worth the small amount of effort needed. There are many, many more fabulous herbs that you can grow which will enhance your garden and your kitchen.
Here are a few good books I've found which are a great help when growing, using and appreciating herbs. She gives a lot of therapeutic uses for herbs and details of ethnic herb use. She did lots of testing natural remedies on herself and her animals and was an acute observer. She was a great believer in herbal health cures - nature's medicine chest. Herbs & Spices: The Cook's Reference Little Herb Gardens: Simple Secrets for Glorious Gardens--Indoors and Out I'm sure you'll agree that growing your own herbs has huge benefits for your health, well-being and enjoyment of foods and your garden! It's also possible to grow herbs for their therapeutic qualities. Grow herbs to contribute to a green lifestyle too, as many of them attract bees and butterflies. Also grow herbs because they are a valuable addition to your diet and you are saving on food miles by not buying them from the supermarket. So growing herbs indoors and out is good for your health and for the environment. You can also grow herbs for their powers as natural dyes and you could also grow them as companion plants. You can also grow herbs just for their scent... or even, grow herbs just because they look nice! While growing herbs indoors is a great way to help your diet during the winter, for me the best way to grow most herbs is outdoors where they can enhance the garden and grow to their full potential.
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Be careful not to let the roots become bare when you ease the seedlings out of their seed tray. They do not take well to drying out. Growing them in soil blocks or small cells will prevent these difficulties. 
is a brilliant book for the kitchen.
has plenty of detail on how to grow herbs indoors and out.
