Congratulations on your herb garden. I've been growing several varieties of basil in a bay window in my kitchen for a little over a year now. It actually does well for me in terra cotta pots though they need daily watering in the summer heat. I now have some chives growing there as well but most of the window is taken over by plastic pots with various seedlings since things sprout good for me there. The basil has been manageable for me there cause I use a lot of it so am always pinching to keep the plant short and the variety of basils in terra cotta pots make the window look very nice. I found that plastic pots stay wet too long there and some plants don't like that. I do tend to overwater though and have to watch myself. Herbs are really fun to grow and your cooking will taste so much better than using dried herbs from the store. I'm still pretty new at this myself but growing herbs has been very rewarding for me. Ania

Outdoors will be problematic. If you were in Durban it'd be much better. However, there are agricultural frost cloths you can use to protect plants. These may not prevent leaves being burned by the cold. If the plant gets set back/dies back but survives it will sucker prolifically. You'll end up with a not so tall thicket. This can also happen if they dry out too much or get damage on the trunk. If you could grow it against a north facing wall (masonary or concrete) that retains heat and put a cover over it during cold nights that might work. But I still think you'd get a lot of leaf damage that would look unattractive for long periods. In a pot you could always cut the top off when it gets too tall and then just grow the suckers on until they get too big. Plants don't really adapt, not like people. And people really only adapted by wearing animal furs, lighting fires and living in caves when the weather was bad. Plants aren't at that stage and need us to that sort of thing for them.

Julie, this is an old thread and not quite the right forum either. Not too likely you will get your answer here. You might do better on the seed or plant forums or, there is one ( I think) thae is about sources. check toe list of forums. donna, it was fun reading this and seeing so many names we don't see much any more. Wonder where these folks are BB

Just fyi the staining quality of beets is usually irritating, but is occasionally useful. Beet juice is a decent home substitute for red food coloring (red #40). I use it, for example, to make char sui red and therefore "lucky" in the Chinese context. One of these days I will make some red ice cream. Anyone know other ingredients that can be easily used to color foods? I found this list on wikipedia. I've used tumeric and paprika, their coloring effect is rather modest. Grinding up red beetles is a little beyond me. What's a good blue - like, if one wanted to make blue french fries? "Caramel coloring (E150), made from caramelized sugar Annatto (E160b), a reddish-orange dye made from the seed of the achiote. Chlorophyllin (E140), a green dye made from chlorella algae Cochineal (E120), a red dye derived from the cochineal insect, Dactylopius coccus Betanin (E162) extracted from beets Turmeric (curcuminoids, E100) Saffron (carotenoids, E160a) Paprika (E160c) Elderberry juice Pandan (Pandanus amaryllifolius), a green food coloring Butterfly pea (Clitoria ternatea), a blue food dye"