How to grow herbs indoors in winter

Sometimes winter is wonderful! Sometimes winter is not so wonderful! One of the ways that I have always dealt with having no ability to garden outdoors is to garden inside. Growing edible herbs indoors when it is cold outside is one way to keep the winter blues away. It is also so wonderful to have fresh herbs that taste amazing in the comfort of your home.

 

In my life, if I am not growing, I am most likely to be found in the kitchen. There is nothing better than to enjoy the wonderful aroma and flavour of food cooked with fresh herbs. Not all herbs are suitable for growing indoors, but there are many that are really quite easy to grow. If you are new to indoor gardening, grow herbs that you will use to enhance the food that you like to cook. Secondly, try to grow those herbs that are compact in size so they don’t get too large for your growing area.

 

Most herbs are sun worshippers. The light in our homes – even if you place your herbs in direct sunlight – will not be sufficient to promote healthy growth. You will have to provide supplemental light for your herbs. There are many options to supply adequate light for production growth. Many economical LED light fixtures are now readily available and use minimum electricity. Ensure you do some research on what works for your space as the light will need to be adjustable to ensure any plants get enough light throughout their lifespan. Be aware that the amount of foot candles or lux (both common measurements of the brightness of light falling on a given area) hitting your plants decreases substantially with the distance the light is away. Ideally you never want to have your lights further away than about eight inches from the lowest leaves.

 

Although light is the most important factor for success, soil or media also has importance. Herbs almost always like good drainage, so ensure your soil or media mixture will drain quite quickly. Feed your herbs once a week while they are actively growing and water less often and more thoroughly. If you wait until the soil is dry to the touch, you will ensure that you do not “drown” your herbs before you have a chance to enjoy them. 

 

Many of the herbs you may wish to grow are readily started from seed. Basil, dill, oregano, cilantro and mint are all easy to grow from seed. Other herbs like rosemary, lavender and lemon verbena need to be started by taking cuttings. Cuttings are a type of asexual propagation that is also referred to by some as cloning plants. Each part of a plant will be genetically identical to the parent plant and will not display the diversity that occurs when growing plants from seed.

 

General directions for taking cuttings are to select a healthy plant to take a cutting from. If possible, take a four- to six-inch piece of stem with the leaves attached ensuring there are a number of nodes present where the current leaves are growing. Use scissors, secateurs or a sharp knife that is clean and remove all but two of the leaves at the top of the stem and gently pinch back the very top leaf or tip of the cutting. Removing the apical meristematic tissue (the top leaf or point of growth) will cause a number of internal processes that will help the plant to more quickly grow new roots and to then continue growing stems and leaves. By removing the lower leaves, the nodes where the leaves were once located are usually the easiest point for new tissue to develop.

 

Place cuttings in a damp soilless mix, vermiculite or peat moss. Tent some plastic over the cuttings to retain the humidity and place the cuttings in bright light. Monitor the cuttings until you see roots and new growth. Gradually remove the humidity tent and if necessary plant up in growing media.