What Cor said! I only have one window in my house, but it has a row of plants in front of it, and some of my herbs will have to come in during the winter. The aloe vera grows awesomely in the living room (2 foot tall!), even though there isn't really much light. They are also in very shallow pots ... aloes don't have much root really.
My tea herbs (Verbena and scented geraniums) are just in two buckets, maybe a foot in diameter for each one. But I filled 4 gallon bags with what I harvested. So we are talking 2 square feet of space.
The things I have learned this year:
1. Aloes really, really don't like to be watered too much. I give them a little bit once a week. The subirrigation pots would probably work for them too, but I haven't tried it yet.
2. Get some fish fertilizer! Preferably the one with seaweed in it. Use 1 tsp. per gallon of water, and use it whenever you water. That's really all you need to do.
3. Herbs are really forgiving, and bugs in general don't like to eat them.
4. Keep picking them from the ends, so they get bushier. The more you harvest, the more they grow.
Yes, the global buckets work indoors just fine. Actually it's a super-easy way to grow plants indoors, and they are less likely to spill water all over your carpet. You can also use a "wick" system, which is somewhat easier to build. For bigger pots they don't work so well: they work really well on small pots though. I switched to big pots because I wanted to grow things like tomatoes and corn, which get huge. But I started out on wick pots, and with lettuce and such, and it really doesn't take much work at all. Also they are very forgiving if you forget to water them.
See:
The trick is to get the right kind of rope ... the one that works best is a cheapo woven rope that they sell at the hardware store, which has a cloth core to it. Old rags work too.
You don't need the big 5 or 7.5 gallon buckets for herbs. I like them though because I don't like to bend over. Indoors, you can have shelves which makes life easier. I'm moving my lettuce to shallower trays, which still have subirrigation but are only about 8 inches deep (and about 20 inches on each side, square: think Rubbermaid tote). Those will be on a tall metal shelf, so I can have 8 or so going in rotation, because we likes our lettuces!
Having herbs indoors adds a nice scent to the air too. Esp. I love the scented geraniums. One of my plants has these soft fuzzy leaves, that are just wonderful. They are super-easy to grow.
When you grow your own tea herbs you can be sure they aren't sprayed with pesticides etc. And they really are better fresh, IMO.
So this is what you can do with the time you are saving by not cooking meals all day long ...
On Fri, Oct 8, 2010 at 7:46 AM, Cor Caeli <tribble3rdof9@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi Paul
This apartment gardener can tell you, herbs are very easy, and
satisfying to grow inside. Try mints, lemon verbena, and basil,
chamomile , even in winter, you are bound to grow enough in a sunny
window for the occasional pot of tea. The flavor might not be as intense
as that grown outside, but its a lot of fun.
You might try a small growlight even!
salud
lcc
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