About – Indoor Herb Gardening

Indoor Herb Gardening is a free informational resource about growing kitchen herbs indoors. The guides are written for beginners: people with a windowsill, a few pots and no gardening experience who want to understand what an herb plant needs and why, in plain language.

What the site covers

Basics: a starting guide, herbs that are forgiving for beginners, setting up a windowsill herb garden, common mistakes, and what to do with potted herbs from the grocery store.
Herb guides: growing notes for basil, parsley, mint, chives, cilantro, thyme, oregano and rosemary, one herb at a time.
Light and water: how much light herbs need indoors, when a grow light helps, and how to decide when to water by checking the potting mix.
Pots and soil: choosing pots, potting mix, drainage and repotting.
Starting herbs: sowing seed indoors, germination and transplanting seedlings.
Harvesting: how to harvest and prune so a plant keeps growing, and what it means when an herb bolts.
Problems: common symptoms and pests, with the checks that help narrow down a cause.
Seasonal care: keeping herbs indoors in winter, and bringing outdoor herbs inside.

If you are new to growing herbs, begin with the beginner’s guide to indoor herb gardening. From there, the most useful next reads are which herbs to grow indoors, light for indoor herbs and how to water indoor herbs. If a plant already looks unwell, go to indoor herb problems. Every guide is listed on the Guides page.

How the guides are written

Written for this site and checked against extension guidance. The guides are written for this site and checked against horticulture guidance published by university extension services. Where a guide points to further reading, it links to the extension page itself.

Ranges, not rules. Germination times, light, temperature and spacing are given for each herb as approximate ranges, because seed, variety and growing conditions differ. You will not find “water every so many days” here either. How often an herb needs water depends on the plant, the size and material of the pot, the potting mix, the light it gets, the season and the conditions in your home. The guides explain what to check so you can decide for your own plant.

Problems are explained as possibilities. The same symptom can have several causes. A yellow leaf may point to too much water, too little light, or simply an old leaf being shed. The guides list the likely causes and the checks that help you tell them apart. They cannot diagnose a plant with certainty from a description, and they do not claim to.

The illustrations are original drawings. The pictures on this site are illustrations drawn for the guides. They are not photographs of real plants. They are there to show an idea, such as where to cut a stem or how deep to sow a seed, and a real plant will look different in its details.

What the site is not

Not medical, nutritional or health advice. Herbs are discussed here only as plants to grow for the kitchen. The site makes no statements about what herbs do for the body, and nothing on it should be read that way.
Not a product testing site. We do not test products, and we do not publish sponsored reviews, ratings or testimonials. Pots, potting mixes, lights and other supplies are described by type and not by brand, so you can use what you already have or can find locally.
Not written by a named expert. “Indoor Herb Gardening” is the editorial name the guides are published under. It is not a person, and the site does not claim credentials, awards or qualifications.
Not a promise of results. How herbs grow indoors varies with the light you have, the conditions in your home and the variety you chose. A plant can struggle even when it is cared for well, and time estimates in the guides are approximate.

Herbs, pets and plant safety

Some common herbs are listed as toxic to pets. Chives are one example: the ASPCA lists them as toxic to pets. Before you grow an herb where a cat or a dog can reach it, look up the exact plant in the ASPCA list of toxic and non-toxic plants. Search by the botanical name where you can, because common names are shared by different plants.
If a pet eats part of a plant and you are not sure it is harmless, contact a veterinarian right away. Do not wait for symptoms, and do not rely on this site.
Know what you are growing. Keep the label or the seed packet with each pot, and do not use a plant in the kitchen unless you are sure what it is.
Follow the product label. When a guide mentions a fertilizer, a pest control product or another product, the label on the product you bought is the instruction to follow, including whether it may be used on plants grown for food and how long to wait before harvesting.

Corrections and suggestions

If something in a guide is unclear, looks wrong or links to a page that no longer works, please tell us through the Contact page. Mention the name of the guide and the section so the problem can be found quickly. Corrections are always welcome.