Cilantro does not need too much light, and so it should be good for a window. You can also grow dill and parsley without too much light. For me, these are winter herbs, as they grow too quickly and bolt if grown in the summer, unless I can find a shady spot for them, and they may do this for you as well when you transplant them. When my cilantro bolts, I save the seeds and use them as coriander - an essential ingredient in making pickles.

Rosemary and mint are extremely hardy, but I think they do better in more light. They are two of the few herbs that I grow in the ground, as I have terrible soil and grow all other herbs in pots so that I can give them better soil. They are perennials and will grow without bolting.

When trimming cilantro, you can put the stems in a glass of water if you do not want to use them right away. I have also frozen cilantro when I had massive quantities of it. I wrapped the leaves in butcher paper and then sealed them in foodsaver bags. When the plant is small, I try to trim the oldest leaves first.

Be sure to rotate your pots daily so that both sides will get light - this will help the plants grow more evenly.

Lars

Be very careful about your potting soil. I have a garden window, but I chucked my pots outside because of pests that arrived with the bag of soil. Nothing you'd mind outside, but not what I want in my kitchen. Basil is another one that doesn't like full on sunlight all the time, but wants some direct sun. It should like your window.

With all indoor plants, the first rule is benign neglect. Don't fuss with them. Better to water a day late than a day early. A lot of people kill their plants with root rot from overwatering. When you do water, use enough so that it runs out the bottom in a good flow. That helps prevent the buildup of minerals. Feed once a year. Don't repot until they seem overcrowded. For herbs, pinch off the flower starts, unless, like Lars, you're collecting seeds. When they're in flower, all the yum goes to the flowers and away from the leave. Benign neglect above everything else.

Thanks for the responses. I'll give them haircuts tomorrow & freeze what I don't use.

For those of you who don't have a lot of window sun light, you can get some silver metalized reflective Mylar to drape behind to plants to double the sun light. You can use Velcro to drape the Mylar so that you can remove it quickly if you need to.

dcarch

To kill any pests that come in the new soil or in a new pot, place them in the oven at 200 for about an hour. You have now sterilized them both. Pots can also take a bleach washing.

Be careful with the rosemary. They are very suseptable to molds and fungus when kept indoors. Good air circulation is critical. You can take cuttings from it and root more in water and then plant them.

Mint in the garden can become highly invasive, so you may want to keep it in a pot, even outdoors. And be sure to trim off any seed heads to stop the spread.

I've never hear that! Thanks! It makes a lot of sense, and I'll do that next time.

A microwave will sterilize soil as well...needs to be a bit damp to create a hot steam. Just read about it since some of my starts, one tray, has some fuzzy soil. i I jumped the gun and did not sterilize properly. The old tray i bleached but thought the bag of starter soil was fine.

The NEast can be tricky. Hit or miss with herbs as they each need different requirements. I put mine out in full sun after the last frost...that can be end of may-first week of june. And then boom, we get some very hot weeks right away, so i have shade trays if that happens for tender leaf herbs like cilantro and most salads. Last year i had salad/herbs all summer by watching the weather. Cilantro needs some shade in July, basil thrives in the heat and full sun, most years. Chives are the easiest. I've got millions of them. Thyme is my lawn, easy.

Cilantro i sow a dozen seeds every week for a dozen weeks and get an ok crop. Hit or miss. It can bolt in a weeks time so i just let it go on and collect the seeds like lars for coriander. In 20yrs gardening trying many things, it is not an easy one.

If you like and use celery, i grow a leaf celery that grows like parsley...you just cut the leaves with a bit of thin stalk. It does very well in the NEast. Cut and it keeps coming back all summer. Lovely fresh celery flavor. celery.aspxhttp://www.johnnyseeds.com/p-8219-cutting-celery.aspx

Oh, forgot. I love your window! Probably the best thing for your herbs since they will get all day long care. The sink is the most used spot, in my home anyway. Any needs are quickly tended to. Just don't overwater. Let them dry out and show a bit of minor drooping, then set them into a bowl of water in the sink to soak up from the bottom for 15min. They will perk right up. Over watering is probably the most often killer of our edible seasonal plants. 10 days of rain and cloudy skies we suffer. I usually get lots of wind with that so it helps...but .every year is different.

I admire your beautiful window and I have a question very much off topic if you don't mind. My window, sink and counter are configured just like yours and I'm wondering how you clean the window. I used to put a pillow on the counter, stand on a stool, and lay my knee on the pillow while leaning forward, My husband was the spotter. I now live alone and have developed arthritis so it's no go on the stool/pillow thing. I know there must be something out there to take care of such problems.

I appreciate all the tips. I made coconut curry chicken today & look forward to a sprinkling of my fresh cilantro when I serve it up.

JoanEileen, I do love working at the sink with the big window. It's raised high enough so it rarely gets splashed or streaked. Installing an effective vent means less film sets on them, so they don't need as frequent cleaning. My technique is similar to what you did, only sans pillow or spotter. I just kneel on the counter in order to reach the top of the panes. My eyesight is going but, so far, no arthritis. However, I should consider a safer method. I'll think on that and post back if I come up with a better plan.