ISO Tips for Indoor Herb Gardens

[tdiprincess]

i'm going to try to find some seeds for it soon and then try again. I'll need to get another grow light though. But that's ok. My husband agreed to the lemon tree... That'll be cool. And we did just go down and visit his sister and bro-in-law in North Carolina. We like it there. I'm gonna be getting my LPN and then we're gonna move there. So soon I'll be able to put some stuff out winter round.

 

[BreezyCooking]

Keep in mind that you don't necessarily need special grow lights to keep indoor plants happy. I just use regular cheap fluorescent shop lights (like you can get at Lowe's or Home Depot) & my plants do just fine.

Anyone notice how the special "grow light" fad of a decade or so ago sort of lost momentum? That's because so many folks - like me - discovered that regular fluorescents worked just as well.

 

[tdiprincess]

I use LED grow lights. They're pretty cheap. And they only use shades of light the plants will use. Before I had the light, my plants were dying slowly. Since I've gotten the light they have totally blossomed. The LEDs also last longer and use less energy than other lights. And I did get it off Ebay all in all it came to about $10 after purchassing and shipping costs. Although for the basil I think I need to find a heating source or something...I'll figure it all out.

 

[Barbara L]

I use LED grow lights. They're pretty cheap. And they only use shades of light the plants will use. Before I had the light, my plants were dying slowly. Since I've gotten the light they have totally blossomed. The LEDs also last longer and use less energy than other lights. And I did get it off Ebay all in all it came to about $10 after purchassing and shipping costs. Although for the basil I think I need to find a heating source or something...I'll figure it all out.

That's good to know. Thanks!

Barbara

 

[StirBlue]

THE CRONE'S GARDEN

I love herbal terrariums.

 

[flukx]

Perhaps a little off topic, but may be of interest with respect to indoor growing. You can get "home automation" kits for pretty cheap as well that can control appliances with your computer (i.e. turning on/off grow lights automatically). I used to do this in my university dorm where I made a "party mode" with different lighting (after setting up the software, I ended up having to click one button and a black light, stereo, and laser light turned on). A friend also used this for hydroponic growing, controlling a water pump and lighting. Its really quite handy and not difficult to use (attached a usb/wireless device to your computer that sends signals to devices plugged into your normal electrical outlets...your appliances/lights are then plugged into these devices). With these you can get the lights to go on and off at precisely the same time each day (assuming you leave your computer on, of course).

 

[tdiprincess]

interesting..but what kind of software is it? And where would one go about getting these things?

 

[expatgirl]

I'm in K.---forget it......though I'm definitely intrigued, however......

 

[carolelaine]

I have grown basil with alot of success in a Southern Facing Window at my mother's. I have a cape cod house now and the south facing windows are all covered by porch, so to grow any herbs indoors I have to use grow lights, and still can't grow basil in the kitchen. It loves it outside, so I freeze it with olive oil in ice cube trays and use that in the winter. I've had good luck with parsley, tarragon, sage, and chives. It's alot of fun to have a little garden in the house in the winter when you can't go outside and play in the dirt.

 

[tdiprincess]

That's my thing too. I will try a couple more times with the seeds inside. My problem now is that we have no yard to grow plants during the summer time outside. Although, our landlord has a bit of a yard. I'm sure he'd be fine if I went back there to clean it up and try to make a useful garden out of it. We'll see though. We are gonna be moving south next year. We're gonna try to do a townhouse thing with a yard and a garage for my husband...(he fixes cars) I might just have to wait until then to try basil.
Everything else is doing great. And I'm so excited the flower plants all have new buds and stuff. Its neat to watch.

 

[flukx]

The software/units I had were from a company called X10.

 

[tdiprincess]

hmm. thanks I'll have to look into it. I generally just leave the grow light on during the day and move it at various points...