Jen, the way I understand it, Rosemary is the easiest herb to grow..isn't it supposed to dry up so you can use in cooking?
I think keeping it cool is one secret. And trimmed.
I know they sell kits w/these herbs but have neer tried it..Toni

Rosemary, as with most other Mediterranean herbs, is difficult to grow indoors. Thyme is easy indoors. I'd try different varieties than just your run of the mill English Thyme- like Lemon, Lime and others. You may be able to get away with growing Lavendar indoors. But, remember, it likes full sun, just like Rosemary.

Another thought- what about lemon balm or mints? Neither require full sun to flourish. Mint is invasive, so you'd have to make sure to keep it in a pot all by itself. Parsley is another good choice for indoor growing.

Good Luck, Jen. You have some possibilities for that sunny window!

GH

I had an apartment a few years ago with a backyard completely overrun with some kind of mint. It was great! We never had to mow the lawn, and I loved doing my studying out there - it smelled so fabulous... Although I'm glad it was a rented yard, and not actually mine :)

Anyway, I dug up some of that mint and potted it up for a friend of mine to have as a houseplant. It did pretty well for her, even though it had very little direct indoor light through the window. It got really straggly in the winter, but came back the next spring. I don't think she still has it (she and her husband moved out of the country), but it was doing pretty well for the two years that she had it.

Shelly

I've tried rosemary- and it burnt in the sun on me! Tried to grow chives and chamomile, from seeds, and those wilted. This was all last fall.

currently, I'm attempting a bay leaf plant and a mint. I actually had bought 3 mints- they were so big, I divided them into 2 pots each. So I had 6 small pots of mint- killed 5 of them lol, and now I have one pot left- of applemint, I think. The bay is doing ok so far.

I have thyme seeds which I will try out when it gets a bit warmer.

I guess we don't have much of a green thumb, do we notanataural, lol! Keep trying, practice makes perfect. Plants are a renewable resource!

Toni, rosemary isn't supposed to dry up when it's alive. It is not an easy plant to grow inside, but wonderfully easy outdoors in full sun. You should try some. And use it FRESH in your cooking. It's much better that way.

Jen, some folks may have luck trying to grow herbs inside, but sunlight (and humidity) seem to be limiting factors for success. If you decide to try it, start with very small plants, perhaps cuttings that you've grown inside from the very beginning.

I just had to put down my Rosemary Topiary. It was doing fine up until a few weeks ago, it was even blooming indoors. Then we had a guest with some really bad karma and negative energy and I swear she killed my Rosemary. I swear one day half of it had shriveled up and died and within a week of her last touching it all of it was gone.

I'll try it growing it again in the spring or maybe I can find another on clearance at that garden center like I did last summer.

I'm going to try some lavendar as a houseplant. A friend of mine mailed me some seeds from CA. and they smell so wonderful that I just have to try to get these to grow. I'll let you all know how I fare. Wish me luck and I hope I don't get someone with that bad karma, mrbrownthumb!!

Hi. This is my first post here, but probably not my last. I used to live in Toronto and now I live in Montreal so that should give you a sense of the climate I'm talking about.

I've tried a lot of different ways of growing herbs indoors. This all started because I had a house with great light in the garden but not so great light indoors. I could grow all sorts of herbs in the summer: basil, oregano, lavendar, cilantro, thyme, mint...you name it basically...but when it got to be wintertime everything I had either died or went to sleep for the winter.

Because my place didn't get mught light I set up a couple of GE gro & sho tubes on my kitchen counter and placed some long pots full of different herbs about five inches underneath them. These lights were tucked under the kitchen cabintes and I stuck foil up above the lights for extra reflection.

From this setup I had a lot of success with parsley, greek oregano and mint. These three all grew enough that I could pluck some now and then through the winter and use it in my cooking. I also managed to keep a basil alive but I never plucked any leaves because the basil got quite thin...but it lived! The cilantro I tried died an early and horrible death.

Part Two:

I have since moved to Montreal and I have been living for the last year in an apartment that gets direct sunlight for more or less the entire day (the sun moves around the building and hits different spots). In a window that gets solid light from about 11am through to 6pm in high summer I have grown basil, lavendar, and oregano with varying degrees of success. The oregano seems to be ok no matter what. Montreal gets a lot less light in the winter but the oregano kept on growing and growing. The basil barely survived the winter and never quite recovered this year...but, again, it is still alive after more than a year. The lavendar is pretty happy...I've even divided it a couple of times.

To make a long story short: there's a lot you can do, depending on your circumstances.

Adam.

Hi -- I just brought in a 2 ft. Lavendar bush that is well established in a terra cotta pot. It did well this past summer. I was told it would have a tough time outside in the winter in the pot (Northern NJ) that is why i brought it in. Hope it will be ok if I water it sparingly and keep it in a big sunny window. We keep our house cool--about 63 degrees. Does anyone know what my chances are?

I have sage growing in a south window since June - it grew so much I had to cut it back twice, as the stems were waaaay too long and curving. It is still going strong and smells wonderful! It needs to be watered almost everyday, though. I had oregano as well, but it didn't survive the summer. I would like to try one of those herb kits, but not until next summer..

Eileen

the big sunny window is the best thing going for it- as it is an herb that thrives on full sun. You can google "growing lavender indoors" to see what other information there is on this particular herb. Good Luck,

GH