Yes, you sure can grow herbs indoors this winter! That's when we appreciate the flavor of fresh grown herbs the most And with a little effort now as we swing through the golden days of fall, you'll reap a small but steady harvest for months to come.
I've found some really helpful information on just what to do, too. You're bound to find something good in at least a few of the links below; there's stuff here for beginning with kids right up through life-time gardeners.
To find your herbs to grow this winter, you have some options. You can dig up plants from the garden (Potting Up: Bringing Herbs Indoors provides some nice instructions and photos on how), start cuttings, or purchase end-of-the-season nursery specials and repot them. You could start seeds, but that's a bit slow at this time of the year. You can recycle container plants from your summer garden and overwinter tropicals such as lemon verbena. With a minimum effort game plan, you can even get a jump on next spring!
So where to begin? If you need a bit of a primer on herbs in general, try this pair of articles. Together, they provide a quick run-down on a variety of herbs (in alphabetical order) and give some cultural guidelines which will be helpful for both indoor and outdoor growing. Some herbs are included on one list, some on the other list and some on both lists, so do check both as it seems two different gardeners wrote them.
If you haven't guessed it already, gardening is so idiosyncratic that every gardener has a fresh viewpoint and is worth hearing out -- you never know, it might work for you, too.
If you already have some herbs and want to bring them indoors, even if you've been growing herbs successfully for years and years, you MUST READ Conrad Richter's fabulous article Growing Herbs Indoors: How To Have The Flavors Of Fresh Herbs Throughout The Winter -- it is in-depth, complete, and truly authoritative. His cultural hints will help you with newly purchased or started plants, too.
If that article seemed a bit intimidating, try these. Disney provides an inspiring little piece on herbs in containers for kids. It is aimed at kids and is unfortunately a bit simplistic in horticultural terms, but it does give a nice reassuring intorduction to what's going on when you Grow an Indoor Herb Garden. (Grown-ups can read it, too.)
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