Basil and Cilantro should start nicely from seed for you. You can try directly in your potting mix, or I've started in pots with 1/2" of seed starting mix on the top of the potting mix too. Oregano can be more difficult to start from seed, and if you're looking to get a harvest from the plant this year, I would recommend purchasing a starter plant instead of seeding. Thyme grows a little faster than oregano, but again, you'll get a harvest much faster with a start over seed. I am not familiar with that type of soil, but you'll want to make sure it drains well for the thyme and oregano. I mix a succulent or bonsai soil into my potting soil for those, plus rosemary, lavender, and bay. As far as fertilizer, with fresh potting soil, you shouldn't need to fertilize right away. I wouldn't fertilize cilantro at all-it's rather short lived, and I let mine seed into coriander. The basil you might choose to fertilize after a couple months if it's still going. Oregano & Thyme after about 3 months. I use a liquid fish-based fert on my herb pots-I think it's a 4-3-3, and I mix it on the weak side. I go monthly during the growing summer on those that have been potted for a while, then every 2-3 months during the winter when they're more dormant. When I have worms again for vermicompost, then I top dress the compost, or make tea and alternate with fertilizer. manure will have to be properly composted before use.

Indoor plants that aren't rootbound only need water about once a week and only enough to where a little water appears in the saucer. I have houseplants that are over 20 years old that have never been watered more than once a week, and some Fridays I forget to water so they wait until the next Friday or until I notice they are drooping. I haven't grown herbs indoors, but they can stand quite a bit of neglect outside. I've overwintered huge pepper plants inside, and I just water them once a week too. Good luck!

Batya- Thanks for the info on molokhia! I try new stuff every year. Some things work out and some don't. My climate is about as far from yours as you can get so we'll have to see how it fares. But for the price of a pack of seeds, I can experiment. (If anyone is curious, I got my seeds here.) I saw sesame seeds for growing at the same place, Kitazawa Seed, I got the molokhia from. I was curious about it but figured that would be a miserable failure in my relatively cold, wet, and short growing season. Here's their sesame page. Renovating gardens do take forever. I've spent 10 years trying to rejuvenate and improve the vegetable beds. The previous owner was a huge gardener. It was her passion and the garden beds are numerous and huge. But she was from a different generation and a fan of chemical fertilizers to make things grow. The soil in all the gardens but especially the vegetable garden was poor. I've spent 10 years adding compost to the vegetable garden. Earthworms were almost completely missing from the vegetable garden when I started. Now they happily churn through the veggie beds in great numbers. They tell me I'm doing something right so does the increased veggie yields. It's a slow process, but you'll get there! FataMorgana

Have you gone over some of the old threads on this topic? Indoor herb gardening is a topic that comes up frequently and is much discussed. It might be interesting for you to read some of the old posts, while gathering your information. Forgive me if you've already done this search, but I thought I'd attach a link to some old threads for you. Here is a link that might be useful: Click here!