will most herbs grow ok indoors?

I am aiming to grow a wide range of herbs and make many of my medicinal and cosmetic items from the plants. i am absolutely fascinated by aromatic scents but have very little planting space outside or indoors. Can i grow heaps of healthy herb plants indoors, say on my bedroom window ledge for example?

 

Some herbs will do fine indoors, others not so fine. A lot depends on what you want to grow. Also things like does your window face south or north or what & therefore how much sunlight the plants will get and how big your window ledge is.

So, if you'll tell me what you want to grow and about the window & ledge, I'll try to help.

Peace
poor_old_dad

 

this may help.
http://www.familytreeherbs.com/herbfiles/herbfiles.html

 

Thank's woodenfrog for the link- that will be very helpful. Poor old dad, the herbs i was specifically considering were spearmint, and lemon verbena (i think that is its name!). I would also like to try growing other types of mint like apple mint. If you could give a little info on those that would be so helpful. I think the web link gives me the rest of the info for lavender and stuff like that.

 

oh, and my window ledge gets loads of light in the morning and mid afternoon. However, i have grown a geranium their before and it was ok but i realised that the radiator underneath the window did not help it. I put it on the doorstep and it is so much greener and healthier now!

 

Like all mints, spearmint and apple mint will do well in pots. In fact, lots of folks recommend that in pots is the best way to grow them. The reason is that mints can be invasive ( they'll try to take over your garden). It's best to grow mints in shallow pots with lots of surface area. I grow lots of types of mint in pots and a few in the ground in my herb garden. The pots I use are shaped like bowls and I use just average soil, with very good drainage, and they do very well. And since you grew the geranium on the window ledge, the mints should do OK. I really, really like apple mint, it's one of my most favorite. Hot apple mint tea on a cold day - Oh, Wow... not much better. Also keep in mind, mints can stand very cold temperatures [minus 30 to minus 35 degrees C].

Lemon verbena can be grown in pots too. It is VERY sensitive to cold, but again, since the geranium worked, the verbena should too. Check http://www.seedsofknowledge.com/lemonverbena.html and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemon_verbena

You may be thinking of Lemon balm { http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemon_balm }, which is a smaller plant, can take a lot of cold and closely related to mint. It does very well in my herb garden.

All of these are easy to grow, in fact, some are hard to kill. Consider some plants on the ledge and some as hanging plants in front of the window too.

Peace,
poor_old_dad

 

I think I'm going to follow that window advice for some of my herbs! I'm not sure just yet exactly what I'll be growing, but I know for sure I want at least a couple kinds of mint and lemon balm. My sewing room has a window that gets plenty of sunlight, but it can get pretty chilly in there. So any herbs that can take the cold should do well, I think... And since they'll be potted I can always move 'em out by the veg garden once things warm up so they can be with their cousins!

 

Thank you so much for the brilliant advice Poor old dad!

 

Thank you so much for the brilliant advice Poor old dad!

 

You are most welcome. I hope I was of some help.

Peace,
poor_old_dad

 

Yeah POD is the man. You should teach classes on organic gardening.

 

Velvet: Check out davesgarden.com , It's the worlds friendly est garden forum.
My wife has been on it for years, there is a wealth of knowledge to be had.
My wife's handle on Daves is Weezingreens. There are a lot members from the U.K. and all over the world.
Happy Gardening.........................Alaskan...................

 

Namaste. Thank you for your kind words. I'm a firm believer in things like Karma, Let the Circle be Unbroken, and What Goes Around, Comes Around. Well, it's already come around to me, so it's up to me to see that it goes arounf to others. In other words, in the past others have helped me, so now I try to help others.

Yeah, I'd like to second the mention of Davesgarden.com. Great place.

Peace,
poor_old_dad

 

lemon verbena is kinda hard to grow indoors, unless you have a very bright sunroom or something.

thyme is a nice guy to grow, good for sore throat teas and food. it wants more light than the mints or the lemon balm though.

ooh get an aloe vera! theyre great inside, they dont really care if they have a lot of light or a little, just dont let em freeze!