Take a look at the ContainerSeeds site. I have ordered a few varieties to include as part of a preplanted Container Veggie Garden Christmas gift for various friends for Christmas. The Broccoli was not mentioned as a candidate for indoor growing, but since it is technically not a fruiting plant, even it might make it with cool temperaures and supplemental light. I've included my own notes for the selected varieties, but there were many other choices available: Small Miracle Broccoli Hybrid. 6- to 7-inch, dome-shaped, tight heads on 1- to 1 1/2-foot plants with abundant side shoots. Can be placed as close as 8" apart. 12" deep, 12" in diameter, or larger. Vendor grew three plants in a 14" diameter container. Cool Breeze Cucumber These 5' vines produce numerous 4-5" Fench Cornichon type cukes that are great for making sweet pickles or slicing fresh into salads. This is a all female variety, and will set fruit without pollination. So would be good not only for small gardens but also in a greenhouse or in a brightly lit window. Days To Maturity: 45-49 Recommended Container Size: 1 to 2 plants in a 5 gallon container Red Robin Tomato Early-Season Open-pollinated cherry tomato. Determinate, stocky, 1- to 2-foot plants are good for containers and Can still set fruit under fairly low light conditions, for example on a sunny windowsill in winter. Probably more fruitful with supplemental indoor lighting. Days To Maturity: 55-68\ This is a prolific bearer, and is best grown in a a 10 inch pot. Does not seem to like an open garden environment, and is ideal in a pot on a patio or similar. Very sweet and very hardy plant. Comes back true to type each year from seed taken from ripe fruit. Sweet Pickle Pepper Ornamental and edible, too! Upright fruits of red, orange, yellow and purple cover compact plants for a rainbow of color. When the plump, 2 inch fruits ripen to scarlet red, they are very sweet with no trace of heat or bitterness. Excellent for pickling and also great for eating fresh. A true miniature pepper. The little peppers, in shades of red, orange, yellow, and purple (simultaneously), make this a very ornamental little plant. Unlike most ornamentals, these peppers are sweet* Good for growing indoors in winter, using natural sunshine plus supplemental fluorescent light. Will have peppers approximately 75 days after transplanting outdoors, a little longer indoors. *NOTE: ContainerSeeds vendor warns that their hot/sweet varieties may have gotten mixed up, so if you want to be sure you are getting the sweet variety, order elsewhere. Enjoy your winter garden and let us know how it grew for you. J Here is a link that might be useful: ContainerSeeds

I'm not sure what lighting you have but I would try sunny windowsills and/or extra lighting. The plants you choose all like sun so for indoors growing I would give them all the light you can. With the mint, I would cut back on the water. Too much water can damage plants - yellow leaves is one of the hallmarks of too much water. I find it much easier to kill a plant with too much water than to kill a plant with too little. If ever in doubt, err on the side of too little water. Droopy leaves or other visible signs of stress will tell you if you are too dry. Learn from that and adjust your watering to be a little more often. With indoor plants about once a week watering should be good unless you have very dry, hot conditions. As an aside, I see herb plants sometimes in the produce section of my local market. On a whim I have bought a plant or two...or maybe more!....this way. They have *never* faired well. All died in short order - I've been a plant person long enough to know it was not my care or lack there of. Some plants have had bad treatment/care and it is hard for the average person to overcome that once they bring the plant home. I'm not sure where you got your mint but it is possible that it was reacting to conditions and care it received before you bought it. Mints are tough so with a little care and love you should be able to nurse it back to health. FataMorgana

If it is not absolutely essential to have fresh basil leaves in all your prepared foods, may I recommend that you make a simple pesto of olive oil and fresh basil instead. Upon searching the subject on the web, the idea that worked best is placing the pesto in plastic bags. Then you flatten them out and freeze them. I use this simple pesto as a seasoning only. Whenever I make a tomato sauce I just break off a chunk and add it in. You don't need much, as it is extremely strong. And when I make pizza, I just add a little to the garlic and olive oil mixture which I brush on the crust before adding the other ingredients. I would imagine that, if you wanted a traditional pesto, then you could thaw it and add the remaining cheeses and pine nuts. Since you are able to grow a large number of plants, a good stash of pesto would go a long way to reduce costs during the winter months. You would then only have to purchase a smaller amount of fresh when you absolutely need to sprinkle a few fresh leaves on a dish. When growing basil, keep pinching it back to keep the plant productive and bushy. Ideally, try to keep it from flowering. Usually when it starts to try blooming, I harvest it at this point. Parsley should do well for you, but it's at its best in cooler fall weather. My heat zone is a little cooler than yours, and I've harvested it well into November. With regard to rabbits, just buy a roll of that galvanized fencing which has smaller squares near rhe bottom and that should help. If in a garden area, I just purchase 3/4 inch PVC tubing, cut it in half and use it to prop up the fence. Or you can cut the fence to size to make cages for your plants. When used for seasoning, you can also make a simple parsley pesto as well, freeze as above, and use the fresh only when needed for garnishing. In addition, a quick search on the web also resulted in an oregano pesto. However, my inclination would be again to keep it simple using only the herb and oil and save it for seasoning purposes. Perhaps you could connect with an area farmer to grow the additional herbs you need. Happy cooking and much success to your restaurant!

'Tombrooklyn', I'm growing Genovese Basil indoors right now. It's the first herb I've tried growing and I'm glad I did. It's still only about 4" tall but it has a really nice spicy fragrance. I think I'll always have at least one herb growing from now on. It's that nice to have around. And once the plant gets big enough I'll start using the leaves. Hope this helps. BTW, I'm just growing tomatoes, sweet peppers and basil under a couple of 4-ft shoplights with CFL's hitting the plants from the sides. It's working halfway decently for me. Jeff