Growing Herbs Indoors Successfully

Growing Herbs Indoors Successfully
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Larry_L._Taylor]Larry L. Taylor
Like all plants, herbs are natural outdoor plants. However, with a little care and thought as to their growing conditions, growing herbs indoors successfully is perfectly possible.

Light is Essential
The most important thing you need to grow herbs successfully is light. Most herbs are sun-loving plants, and light filtered through a window is less intense than light outdoors. The ideal situation for indoor herbs is a sunny south-facing windowsill, as that will give them the most light. You'll have to make sure that they get enough water, however, since this situation can get warmer than they want, especially during the summer.

If your herbs get less than four hours of direct sunlight per day, you may want to try additional lighting. Grow-lights are ideal for this.

Watering Indoor Herb Gardens
If you find your herbs keep wilting, try putting them in larger pots or in self-watering containers. The larger the pot compared to the plant, the longer the soil will take to dry out. While herbs like being a little drier than many plants, if they are wilting regularly they are much too dry. Plants that are kept in pots that are too small will dry out extremely quickly in hot weather, and may need to be watered once a day or even twice.

To fix this problem, you need to repot them into a larger pot. When repotting, it is good to do a little pruning, especially if the plant is starting to look straggly. As we are talking about herbs here, try drying any of the material you've pruned off that you don't need for cooking in the next few days.

In the winter especially you have to be concerned about the opposite problem: over-watering. It is very easy to over-water plants, and herbs tend to really dislike over-watering. Soil in herb gardens should be moist, not bone dry or soaking wet. Whatever you do, do not leave herbs standing in water for days. This will kill them.

Indoor Herbs in Winter
While there is plenty of warmth indoors for herbs over the winter, the shorter days combined with the reduction in light intensity of being indoors tends to lead to slow growth. Don't expect your herb plants to grow as fast as they do outside during the summer.

Good Herbs for Indoor Gardens
Pick herbs that you will use regularly in cooking. This way you will get the most out of your indoor herb garden. That said, some herbs adapt better to the indoor life than others. Here are some specific varieties that are recommended:
creeping savory
dwarf garden sage
blue boy rosemary
vietnamese coriander (not a true coriander, but works better indoors)
broadleaf thyme
greek oregano
spicy globe basil
english mint (compact growth habit)
fernleaf dill (dwarf form, more resistant to bolting than most dill)
grolau chives

 

Herbs where the desired products are seeds, such as dill or coriander, are not good choices for indoor growing. They usually don't set much seed under indoor conditions, so you are better off growing them outside or buying them. If you really want them, try the varieties suggested above, which are supposed to be better for indoor growing than regular dill or coriander.

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Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Growing-Herbs-Indoors-Successfully&id=7527373] Growing Herbs Indoors Successfully