How to Grow an Herb Garden Indoors

Video Transcript

"Hi, this is Yolanda from vanveenbulbs. In this segment, we're going to learn all about how to grow an herb garden indoors. Now, it's nice to have dried herbs in the garden and have rosemary and basil and thyme, and it's wonderful to use them in cooking, especially with meats and vegetables and... I love my herbs. But it's easy to grow them inside as well. You don't just have to put them in a sunny bed outside, they will live inside really well. So there's many different ways that you can have your own herb garden indoors, but the most important part is to have a sunny window. And I found this is nice morning sun, so it's facing east. And everything I plant here does really well. The whole room is lit up whenever it's a sunny day. And I have windows on the other side of the room, too, so that seems to help a lot. So make sure when you have...when you are growing herb garden indoors, that you have a lot of natural light coming into that room. And the best part about this area is that I have a light on at night, so if you have a light on in your kitchen at night, it seems to help the herbs tremendously. So everything I've ever put in this window just thrives. So it's easy to plant herbs. All you have to do is put them in a little container or buy them right from the supplier. I just got these at the farmer's market. And this is oregano, and it's wonderful in any kind of Italian dish. So I can just set it right in the window and it does really well. This is tarragon, also a wonderful spice with any kind of a meat. And different types of thyme. So the key, I found, is you don't want to do any damage to your kitchen, so make sure that you put them into a plate or on a plate or into a bowl. Never put your herbs right onto the wood because it'll do a lot of damage to the wood over time. And make sure that you do have that sun, and keep them pretty watered, but let them dry out in between. So a lot of times, I will just soak them right into the sink for a little bit, let them dry out, put them on the plate, and put them back in. And that way, I don't make a mess, ever. So always check, too, that there's no water sitting underneath those plates because sometimes it'll drip over because you don't want to do any damage to the woodwork in your home. So herbs are wonderful, and you can trim right out from them. So my key, too, is if it's green and lush, leave it alone and just cut pieces as you need them for cooking. And eventually, a lot of times in the fall, too, even indoors, they'll die back a bit. So if there's any brown pieces, just chop them out. And periodically, too, they'll look kind of ratty, so the best part about herbs is you can trim them right down and they'll grow right back. So it's really easy to trim them back, and you don't have to feel that...like you've killed them. And if they do get too dried out, if they're sitting in water, sometimes you can lose them. And sometimes I've gotten bugs into my herbs before, but an easy trick with that is either put olive oil right onto them because it kills most bugs, or I actually drown them. I'll put that plant right into my sink and cover the whole plant up with water for about 15 minutes. And I'll pull the plant right back out and most of the times, the bugs are gone. There's really no way to lose with herb gardening, whether you put them in one big container or just have them on a windowsill. They're really easy to grow and they're a great addition to your home."