I once grew parsley and other herbs successfully in a very cold enclosed porch under 48" fluorescent lights supplemented by 4 incandescents. That was years ago. Typically a sunny window doesn't provide enough sun in winter. I have thyme and rosemary in my SW living room window now. The rosemary is ok but the thyme looks light starved and unhappy. I have 2 250 w fluorescents supplementing them, but it is not enough. On top of that it is too warm for them even though I keep the heat around 65.

I am in Zone 6 and even though I have a garden I try to bring some herbs indoors for winter. I have had rosemary, marjoram and lemon grass in containers that I leave outside in late spring and bring back indoors in early fall, for about 4 years now. I also plant garlic cloves for indoor use almost all year round. 5-6 cloves from grocery sotre garlic stuffed in potting mix in a 6-8 inch container will yield fresh garlic chives in 10-15 days. I used to have Thyme and Lavender too, but those didnt survive beyond two years. My guess is it is the uneven heating /cooling and drafts that get these plants more than anything else. Hope this helps.

I have a room in my garage that hold 4 400W MH/HPS grow lights. In that room I grow my winter herbs, tomatoes, greens and other things. I also over-winter my rosemary off to the side. They are doing great, but it takes a lot of light. Also, remember things like Basil love the heat while Cilantro not so much. You have to balance light and heat, which can be hard in a small room. Windows don't work, they can get too cold and not enough light. If you must use CFL, do so in a bathroom or bedroom, away from windows. Try and keep them warm. If you look on craiglist in your area, you can usually find a used grow light (MH or HPS) cheap (under $100). Many times youngsters buy the expensive ones to grow marijuana and it doesn't work out, so they sell the lights. A nice by-product of grow lights is a lot of heat. My 10x10 unheated garage space stays 85 degrees by sealing in the heat from my three lights.

Thanks, Flora -- I really appreciate your thoughts here. Yeah, I just don't know what's going on. The leaves of the outdoors basil plant that I took these cuttings from were all were perfectly formed, not puckered or gnarled. It's only the plants grown from the stem cuttings that have leaves that way. And many of the leaves on these indoor plants are fine, but a good number of them look eaten and gnarled. The puzzling thing is that there are NO insect eggs to be seen on the underside of these eaten-up-looking leaves, either the arugula or basil. Every time I see one of these leaves I check it, but there's nothing to be seen. Here's a photo of one of the eaten-up-looking basil leaves. It certainly does look like insect damage but I just don't see any evidence of insects on the leaf. I know nothing about this, but I imagine it is possible that slugs or snails could have somehow made it into my house and up the stairs to the second floor, but...? I'll check under the pots tonight. Thanks for the info that basil, thyme and oregano grow in the wild in alkaline soils. I hadn't been aware of that. So your guess is that pH 9.1 water should not pose a problem for growing the domesticated versions of these plants? I'm as puzzled as ever, and learning a lot through the adventure.