apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I think it's important to use containers that are large enough. Personally, I'm not sure herbs grow as well when you pack them into shared containers. They look great but they don't seem to grow as large. When shopping, I always see cute herb pots sold as sets, but they're always tiny. Herbs need space to grow to their full potential. If it rains a lot, nutrients drain from containers so it’s critical to fertilize. We’re having a dry summer so regular watering is necessary, especially for tender herbs like basil. Mine gets droopy but perks right up again after watering.

Other: I grow rosemary, oregano, dill, cilantro, parsley, thyme, sage outdoors in my garden and I buy basil and others at Farmer's Markets.

My tip: don't baby the herbs. They're pretty hardy and don't need too much looking-after.

This year, I'm growing some in my garden, plus some I buy, and some I get from a friend's garden.
I'm growing: basil, curly parsley, chives and thyme
I'm buying: flat-leaf parsley
I'm getting from a friend's garden: mint, cilantro
Next year, I'll grow some mint, but in a big pot so they don't invade the whole garden. Indoors - don't have much luck, but I suppose I'll bring the outdoor herbs indoors but a bit, as long as they will last for me (no green thumb here!). My guess: place each herb in a pot, place in kitchen window and hope for the best!? What about lack of sun in the Winter? Although that Aerogrow looks like a good idea, but $50 seems high.

I mentioned this in the original thread, but . . .
get a cute lamp and put a grow-bulb in it. Make sure the cute cute lamp can handle whatever wattage your growlight is -- some IKEA fixtures are only meant for 40 watts.
I winter over stuff every year -- I had a freakish crop of Habanero peppers this spring in my bedroom window!

Other herb growing tip - pinch them. Don't wait for the plant to get large to use it, it will grow fuller if you pinch them back whether you are using it or not.

Leeds, why the heck are you growing curly parsley and buying flat? They grow the same . . . and (cough) curly is an abomination. We're already friends, so I feel I can speak freely about that . . .
: )

My 5 year old is growing parsley in an egg shell on my kitchen window sill. It will soon be time to re-pot it, but it certainly was an easy, space-saving way to get started!

Guido, it seems as if many of the bulbs for sale online may not actually fit into a standard light socket - do you remember what brand of grow light you bought? (I have to buy online because most of the indoor gardening shops in my city are not focussed on growing the herbs that you eat)

I grow basil, parsley, lavender, and lemon balm in pots on my balcony. For cooking, the only fresh I use regularly are basil and parsley. I plan to winter them indoors with a grow light. They need very little extra care, just water every day when it's really hot, and regular pruning/harvesting keeps them producing leaves.

I don't buy fresh herbs much at all. Maybe once or twice a year, when I need something that I don't grow.

I have the Aerogrow and it's growing basil like a weed. The rest of it has salad greens but next planting I'm going to do all herbs.

Hi Guido! ha, yes, I know, curly is not so good, agreed!! In my defence, I started late this year & the nursery only had the curly one in stock. Next year, watch out! :) Thanks for the indoor growing hints, will try IKEA for the cute lamps--can you share which lamp you have that you use for the herbs? I'm trying to picture how it'd work. I do tend to panic 'cause I'm a bit clueless about plants, but I resolve to de-mystify this herb garden thing! Especially when the cold weather comes in & I still want some herbs! Thanks!!

k2
I get the kind that look like a flood light -- although the same brand in lower wattage is smaller. I don't have the box in front of me so I can't tell you the brand, but they look like these
http://www.1000bulbs.com/search.php?search_data=plant&cat=&x=0&y=0

and I *thought* they were available at most hardware/Lowes/Home Despot stores . . .

gadwooks, look at all this info about growlights
http://www.littlegreenhouse.com/guide3.shtml
no wonder people think they have to be ugly . . .

Thanks guido! Unfortunately, they are not at the home depots around here and all the online stuff on grow lights seems to be made up of the acronyms and numbers with very little actual English, so I'm glad to get a little help.

These look pretty idiot-proof to me - and only a little ugly - I'm very tempted!:
http://www.littlegreenhouse.com/accessory/lights.shtml
http://www.amazon.com/Glentronics-PL-1-Intelligent-Plant-Light/dp/B0007CXXB4/ref=pd_sim_dbs_ol_2/103-8455601-1495858
http://www.amazon.com/Watt-Dayspot-Plant-Grow-Light/dp/B0001NKGGY/ref=pd_sbs_ol_1/103-8455601-1495858

Just the bulbs, k2, and let them keep their fugly clip-on fixtures!

The pendant lights I got at IKEA aren't on the site for some reason, although I saw them a month ago in the store. Anyway, something like this
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/40028281
although these are only rated for a 60watt bulb.
The grolights are 60 or 100 watts, depending
(if I am remembering correctly)

I'm going to have to do some research about flourescent growlights . . .

Leeds,
you could still get a packet of Italian flat parsley seeds
:)
soak them overnight
stick them in a pot of dirt, according to the package
and keep the dirt a little damp

These kind of plants are totally *not* rocket science. As someone said, a little benign neglect works well (plenty of people kill plants by overwatering them)

Parsley takes around three weeks to sprout, so they won't come up until after you have despaired. When it's up, use ruthlessly. It will help it to grow more.
And it'll be ready for your window in the fall . . .

Guido,
yikes, from seeds? that sounds so advanced...
OK, might look for seeds this weekend. Good to know that it'll take 3(!) weeks. You green thumb types--you're cool!
The lamp you linked is a nice one,of course a hanging lamp.
Have never grown anything from seed. Do you grow all your herbs from seeds?

Leeds you should totally grow your herbs and salad leaves from seeds its so cool! And really not difficult. Cheaper too. I did cheat and buy a pot of lemon thyme this year tho; the bees in my yard are happy! Guido what's a grow lamp/bulb? Is it one of those UV things you use (so I'm told!) to grow, um, more "recreational" types of herb?! Did you really have Habanero chillies in you windowsill? I'm jealous!

My herb update - I bought a pack of Italian parsely seeds, soaked them overnight as kindly instructed & placed them in soil this morning with lots of water. Can't wait to see how many little plants come up. Thanx for the encouragement, Guido, & tin_angel! Using it won't be a problem, I love the stuff. I'll be thrilled when this works out!!

I don't know if I did the wrong thing - I used all the seeds in the packet. My container is 12x5 inches. I'm thinking maybe I should have used only half the seeds in the packet. Oh well, I'll soon see what happens.

Leeds, even if you put in too many seeds, probably not all of them will germinate. If you see that there are too many coming up, just thin them out to the desired number. Congratulations on this endeavor!

Guido, this seems to be the most common CFL grow light, and there are also a bunch on ebay:
http://www.ecogrow.com/index.cfm?product=751&special=monthly

You do need an adapter to plug them into 'normal' light fixtures. (I think it's a mogul-type fixture?)

During the summer I grow herbs from seed on every possible windowsill in my (tiny) apartment. Right now I have 7 kinds of basil, anise, epazote, chives, flat parsley, russian tarragon and epic amounts of sage. The sage seems to be the best bet for my apartment -- even with a little neglect I have more than I could ever think of using.

But once the cold kicks in and the dry heat goes on in my apartment, the herbs have little hope. So i did break down and try the AeroGrow. And it was great. The salad green kit was sort of anti-climactic -- we got maybe two salads and some sandwich garnish from it, but for the rest of the winter I grew the different herb kits and had fresh herbs until Summer. It was nearly worth the fact that it took up most of my counterspace.

My only problem with it is that you have to use the propietary pods -- so the choices were limited. No cinnamon basil or that sort, jsut the basics in each category.

I think last month's Dwell magazine had a round up of indoor planters.

Foiegirl, I'm really excited to hear you like the AeroGrow. I've been tempted but have been resisting for months. I think my cats have a vitamin deficiency because they always have their noses in the plant dirt. They make a mess and damage any little plants. They totally turn up their noses at the grass I bring home for them. I'm hoping the dirt-free growing medium won't tempt them.

Everybody go buy one. If lots of people use them, they will increase their plant selection.