Growing Herbs indoors.....

[zachweiss]

I know alot of people do it.....

What type of herbs do you grow indoors?

What herbs do you use the most?

What herbs grow quickly?



any info would be appreciated!
ZW

[rockymtngirl]

Parsleygrows pretty fast. I use a lot of basil and sage as well as chives. I've had success with all except the chives - they seem to grow better outdoors - even through the winter here - they don't mind the cold. So I just leave them out there. Thyme also grows easily anywhere.

[hardscrabble]

Anything you can grow outdoors you can grow indoors. You just need the proper lighting and enviroment. For basic indoor growing i like flourescents. Tube type or cfls are both good, use little power and will grow decent plants. I would reccommend a 400 watt Metal Halide grow light. This size of light will grow a 3 foot x 3 foot garden or there abouts. The effects of this light is similar to the sun. Keep the light about 1 foot off the plants. Use a small fan to circulate among the plants it encourages strong stems . I have grown just about every vegtable indoors at one time or another, many herbs as well. My grow room is the best place in the house, its always mid july in there :)

Keep your powder dry

[bee_pipes]

Good post on grow lights and a seed starter rack. We built one along the lines of HumBug's design:
Grow Lights? (http://www.backwoodshome.com/forum/yabb/forum.pl?board=flo-farm-garden;action=display;num=1198723588)

Regards,
Pat

[rivahmom]

The herbs I grow indoors are rosemary, which I use the most. Plant division is the fastest way to aquire it. Mint is my next favortite and most used. Again, I just grab a plant with roots and it takes off with no fuss. Lemon thyme is good to have and like the above grab a plant with with roots. Most people grow the annuals indoors like basil, cilantro, dill, etc. However, I personally have not had much luck with starting them from seed. I am debating about trying it with a homemade hydroponic system. I'm hoping that will give me better results quicker.

[cookfor4]

I have basil, parsley, mint, lemon balm, thyme, oregano. I'm looking forward to many more next year!

[harvester]

Soon i will be adding much more to my indoor gardening. I have bought some mini bell pepper seeds that grow peppers about 1 1/2 inches across, thought these would be great for stuffing and broiling. Also some miniature tomatos, the plant is tiny and self standing and grows the little cherry toms. great for the same reason.
through the winter i grow an indoor salad garden that i harvest over and over a hundred times through the winter. its just a mixture of lettuce types.
I bring in a plant or two of sage from the herb garden in the fall to grow all winter in the house, and the same with thyme. I use these the most. I tend to harvest enough dill each year to dry and keep my dill shaker full through winter. I plant garlic chives and grow them indoors in winter too, again a continual harvest over and over of them.
this year id like to add garlic to the outside garden and try some inside as well.
my inside winter garden will expand greatly next year to include a full size tomato plant, green onions, the lettuce, the herbs, and im going to try a blackberry bush, as well as some of the miniature blueberry bushes, and a pot of strawberries.
the entire north end of my kitchen is all window and everything flourishes there, next year im going to fill those windows up with edible plants through the winter and see what happens.

[Gwynyvyr]

Harvester, those mini-bells are great to stuff! They taste a bit sweeter to me than regular sized. They are also the perfect size to put on a *kabob* for grilling, along with some pearls onions and other veggie goodies.

I live in humid, darn near tropical South East Texas....plenty of outdoor growing time here! I did have some indoor herbs and such over the past winter...chives did fine for me, as did basil and thyme.
I will be moving north next year, so I suspect the ease with how everything can be grown here will not be the same...lol!

[harvester]

Harvester, those mini-bells are great to stuff! They taste a bit sweeter to me than regular sized. They are also the perfect size to put on a *kabob* for grilling, along with some pearls onions and other veggie goodies.



omg that sounds good! i didnt think of the kabob ones and i love kabobs!
I got my micromini tomatos yesterday and promptly planted those for indoor growing.
now im gonna have to find some pearl onions to grow and ill have a kabob garden in my kitchen!

[Wyzyrd]

Most of my herb and veggie gardening happens indoors - I only have about 5 sq.ft of "outside" and anything that gets planted gets trampled by the local "yard apes" anyway.

In my converted entertainment center, I have had pretty good luck with a base of cheap 18' 'undercabinet' fluorescent
fixtures and walmart clip-lamps holding 'sunlight' CFL bulbs

http://www.vpl-labs.com/harlock/lazy-k-gallery/lazy-k-slides/garden1.jpg

It's a start, anyway

(if you can find "Cuban Oregano" plants - it's delicious in food and you REALLY have to work at killing them indoors :) )

[rAcErRicK]

Nice, and I like the "Excalibur" hanging on the wall as well. ;)

[Wyzyrd]

LOL - the bokken by the front door has been more useful than the wall-hanger Claymore :)

[Anon001]

Wyzyrd, I really like that.

[harvester]

Nice, and I like the "Excalibur" hanging on the wall as well. * ;)

just in case the plants get out of controll.
can never be too prepared ya know.. ;D

[Gwynyvyr]

just in case the plants get out of controll.
can never be too prepared ya know.. ;D

Harvester, my neighbors herb garden across the street got WAY out of control (our general climate plus Hurricane Ike helped!), so now half the neighborhood doesn't mow grass...we mow basil and thyme, lmao!
You outta smell our neighborhood on Saturday mornings when everyone is mowing the yards!
:D

[harvester]

hahahhahaa! seems someone could profit from that. like a weekly "u-pick" herb garden..ahhahahha

[Wyzyrd]

LOL - Perhaps a "Tom Sawyer" approach - an unattended stand with an "honor jar", a couple machetes and a sign reading "All the fresh culinary herbs you can cut in 15 minutes - $5.00" :)

[Wyzyrd]

Another indoor-growing question:

Has anyone messed around with low-power LED lighting for growing indoor plants?

Last December, I bought up a few after-xmas-discount LED red/green/yellow/blue Xmas light strings, and cut them up for experimentation (my job has precluded building anything yet , but still interested) The color assortment is pretty close to the 50-buck-a-pop LED grow lamps. They are not superbright LED's but, then again, on 26 DEC, they only cost $2 for 50 socketed LEDS....

Has anyone else been playing with soldering irons? I'd love to cut down my power bill :)