I am being lazy I know to be asking for information that I could almost as easily find out for myself. What I'd like to know is how to grow herbs like parsley, chives, dill, basil and cilantro indoors over the winter. Is it even practical? It really bugs me to have to pay so much at the grocery store for large bunches of said herbs that are almost impossible to use up before they go bad. Usually, I need only small amount to enhance recipes. I realize freeze-dried herbs are an option but never quite as good as fresh. Any suggestions?
I don't know about the other herbs, but basil is easy to grow in a south-facing sunny window. I grow a variety developed specifically for container growing, but I doubt that this is necessary.
At my latitude chives and dill grow pretty well indoors on a windowsill in winter. Parsley and cilantro need more light, than we naturally get (we are getting just barely 6 hours of dim sun light in December and January). Basil likes more warmth than I'd like to provide. From the practicality viewpoint growing greens on a windowsill is not reasonable at all. I grow only voluntary dill now, as I'm using top soil from my garden beds as a growing medium for my over wintering pomegranates and citruses, and some dills pop up in these containers. I've tried growing chives in a container. It does pretty well, but the amount of harvest per pot is rather small, so I prefer green onions, that grow much faster and some bulbs decide to start growing greens every now and then. Parsley and cilantro really struggle with my poor light conditions. Tested that both by buying mature potted plants from a shop and by sowing by myself. At current power prices providing parsley with extra grow lights is not practical at all. Usually store bought potted parsley still stays fresh until I consume all its leaves (that takes ca month), and I plant their roots into the ground in the spring. But that's pretty costly option. Unfortunately voles destroy my in ground parsley plants during the winter, only plant or two remain untouched (of ca 20, that I grow in the summer) if I have some luck. So I have to start all over each year.
Basil is a warm season crop like beans and tomatoes, does not want coolness - I didn't think about it being a nonconforming part of your list of "outdoor" crops previously. With - as long as it gets enough light - it really being better suited to indoor temperatures than outdoor most of the time in our region.
I have a small unheated hallway with a large window beside the bathroom—after years of poor results trying to keep various herbs and vegetables going through the winter in other spots, I’ve found the additional humidity generated by showers and baths that flows into the hallway helps a lot.
