Starting an Indoor Garden

Getting started with an indoor garden takes a bit of planning. If you have never had an indoor garden before, it is probably the best idea to choose plants that are easiest to work with. As you become more experienced, it is easy to move into more difficult plants and alternative grow methods like hydroponics.

Sunlight and Water:

The first thing that should be determined is the location of where you can provide enough light for your indoor garden. For herbs, you should have at least 5 hours of sunlight. Depending on the plant, more sunlight would be required. We will talk about that in a future post. Generally, a south facing window would be suffice for most climates. However, in northern climates, winter hours may need to be supplemented with artificial lighting.

Most herbs like to have lots of water, however, they do not like to be saturated and proper drainage is critical. More plants die from too much water than under watering. In fact, it is good to be a bit hard on your herbs to maximize their flavor potentials! Once they are growing well, letting the soil grow completely dry for a while will not cause too much strain on them. All in all, herbs are typically resilient and are pretty hard to kill.

The soil should have a high content of sand and/or vermiculite to ensure good drainage for the plant. Since sand and vermiculite tend not to hold much nutrients themselves, fertilizer is typically required. Even in a premixed potting soil, the nutrients will eventually dissipate and will require some added nutrients. At home and garden centers, you should be able to find fertilizer for edible plants. Once a month, it will be necessary to add these nutrients to your plants.

If you are new to indoor gardening, using individual pots for each plant is the best starting point. 6" pots are a good size for most people as this provides a sufficient amount of harvest potential while still allowing the herb to recover and regrow for additional harvesting at a later time.

Best Herbs for the Indoor Garden:

Here is a list of herbs that tend to do well in an indoor herb garden:

1. Oregano takes care to get started from seeds, however, once going putting them in a south facing window will help them continue to thrive.
2. Basil starts well from seeds. Placing in a south window is best as it likes a lot of sun and warmth.
3. Chervil starts well from seeds and also grows well under lower lighting conditions.
   
4. Chives love lots of light and are an excellent indoor herb.
5. Bay Leaves are perennials that require lots of air circulation to thrive. You can put it in an east or west facing window by itself for optimum yield.
6. Parsley likes full sun, but is capable of growing either on east or west windows as well. More sunlight equals better yields.
7. Rosemary is a personal favorite of mine and can be started easily from a cutting in an existing plant. Keep the cutting in a moist paper towel until it roots, and plant. South facing windows are best.
8. Sage grows well in dry environments and is a sun lover. Keep in the south facing windows for best results.
9. Thyme is a versatile plant which will do well in lower light conditions, but prefers south facing windows to optimize its yield.

This should be enough to get you started on the joys of having fresh herbs grown right from your home! Later we will talk about harvesting, alternative growing methods, and vegetable growing.

Have fun!