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do you have a problem with your herbs planted indoors being weak and spindly plants? my outdoor herbs are nice and strong plants, the indoor ones are spindly...

Here, north of Boston, I grow herbs indoors all winter in a sunny window. I start them outside in the spring and let them grow unpicked during the summer - I use other plants for picking in the summer. By autumn, they are vigorous plants, and I bring them indoors. I particularly love bay, rosemary and thyme which flourish indoors and are very useful in cooking.

Basil, we always say, is the Diva of the herb family. It doesn't love central heating - you come home at night and the plant is completely collapsed and looks like it's nearly dead. Water it, and it revives quickly. So it's worth trying indoors.

I also keep parsley and sage through the winter outside in raised beds which I cover with a white fabric I get at the garden store, and that's usually enough to keep them going. I have often brushed snow off the cover, lifted it and picked parsley from underneat. If it's really a brutal winter, it will die eventually - but not until January or February.

i can't read this article because of all the ads on top of the print.

me too, aeh

Same problem! Those ads are obnoxious!

ditto the ads.
question: i planted herbs in a pot right outside my eat-facing window. the basil, chives, and rosemary are thriving. the thyme died a quick and nasty death. what up with that?

eat-facing window? east i meant to say.

It's really hard to kill rosemary, anyone should have success with that.

Basil gets really big. When you see it start to flower snip the crown off. Once basil flowers it changes the flavor.

You can put a peeled garlic clove in some soil and eventually (some of mine took a month, but some only afew days) it will spout into a garlic chive which is very flavorful for cooking with, or you can leave it to grow and it'll eventually have a pretty purple flower.

Why do you have advertisements that don't allow readers to see your actual editorial content?

ARGH! I want to reeeeeeead this! You guys should get a QC person for your posts.

The ecopots link has a ' instead of a " in the beginning of the tag. Fix please?
I need to educate myself on how to plant an herb garden :)

Ditto on the ad problem. I was looking for herb info and now I can't read it all. ARGH is right....

I try to copy the post in my Mac for you guys, (copy and then paste in Quark Xpress).
I hope it’s ok.

“Any suggestions about growing herb gardens in Los Angeles apartments? I have plenty of window space - no balcony. Being in L.A., is it able to be done year round since we do not have any frost?Any thoughts are appreciated.

Oh boy AJ, you came to the right people. Yes you can grow things all year round in LA, though plants will slow down in the winter, it's just how they're programmed. Sometimes it will freeze here at night, so you want to bring delicate plants (like Basil) inside. When we had a kitchen window that got enough light, we grew herbs just inside, and it sounds like you can do this too.
Here are some we recommend (we're growing a bunch of these ourselves):
• Basil (a must!)
• Thyme
• Sage
• Mint
• Oregano

You can either plant them all in one pot (though that would be a large pot and the mint would most likely try to take over) or, our choice, plant them in indivual pots and line the window, or shelf or wherever you're putting them. We normally buy herbs at a local nursery (we bought our basil at trader joe's and haven't had a problem) as small plants in 2-4 inch pots and then replant them into something a bit larger and prettier.”

Since no one wants to fix this post apparently, here's the missing part...

"Oh boy AJ, you came to the right people. Yes you can grow things all year round in LA, though plants will slow down in the winter, it's just how they're programmed. Sometimes it will freeze here at night, so you want to bring delicate plants (like Basil) inside. When we had a kitchen window that got enough light, we grew herbs just inside, and it sounds like you can do this too.

Here are some we recommend (we're growing a bunch of these ourselves):
• Basil (a must!)
• Thyme
• Sage
• Mint
• Oregano

You can either plant them all in one pot (though that would be a large pot and the mint would most likely try to take over) or, our choice, plant them in indivual pots and line the window, or shelf or wherever you're putting them. We normally buy herbs at a local nursery (we bought our basil at trader joe's and haven't had a problem) as small plants in 2-4 inch pots and then replant them into something a bit larger and prettier (we love ecopots for their great colors). When you water them (about once a week) make sure not to drown them, it will make the roots rot, so find that balance between too much water and not quite enough, the plants will tell you."

I recently grew some cilantro from seed (hint: coriander seeds) at my desk in a window and it looked anemic until I sat it under my fluorescent lamp. It does the same sort of thing an expensive grow lamp would. My cilantro is looking great now!