Growing Herbs Indoors

I really want to grow some kitchen herbs on my window sill but everything I bring indoors drops dead...I can't see the reason, many people I know grow beautiful herbs with much less sun than I have...I am not trying to grow anything complicated, just Thyme and Chamomile etc...nothing tropical...help! Thanks! Zone 5
Indoor Zone- cool and drafty

A few questions. Are you starting from seed? Are you bringing them in from your garden? Are they getting full sun or they shaded in the house? How do you water them? How much water do they get? What are you trying to grow?

yup, we need a few more details.. do you have indoor plants that do work?
thyme isn't the easiest starter indoor plant. (never seen it indoors).. have you tried potted growing herbs? how big before they die?

either way, i'd start with a more common indoor and over the counter herb - easier.. but I am sure you could do the ones you'd like ]....

Don't be so hard on yourself. You have just started with some difficult herbs to grow from seed in a windowsill. Try basil, chives and dill to begin with. When the temps is above 60 degrees (if we ever see that again) try the others outside. Sometimes the ones you have are just easier to buy the plants. I love growing Mesclun lettuce in a window sill. It will sprout in less than a week. This is the fancy blend that you see in salads at your better restaurants. No easy !

"thyme isn't the easiest starter indoor plant. (never seen it indoors)"

. . . and now you have, jj. hee hee! wanna see my marjoram?

brit, if there's anything I learned from The Great Fruit Fly Pestilence of '08, it's this: Don't bring happy, established plants into the house and expect them to live. Start them from seed. Or for the ones that don't come true to seed or are particularly difficult to start from seed, take a cutting and root it. Or buy plants that aren't much bigger than seedlings. It's just difficult for a full-sized plant to adjust to a new environment.

also, how's the humidity in your house? I've killed many a plant with low winter humidity.

Best thing we ever did for the plants indoors was supplemental lighting. You can buy a variety of aluminum domes at Lowe's for less than $20. They have a single bulb fixture and clamps for mounting and can be rotated to any position pretty much. Add a daylight spectrum grow bulb - $10 maybe, and you're good to go!

Well, my aunt and I both bought beautiful lemon thyme plants...mine looked great on my north kitchen windowsill for about a week, then died. Hers is thriving beautifully in a room that has MUCH less sun than mine but is a much hotter room than mine....I am starting chamomile and marjoram from seed but the problem is, they do very well until leafy and then are just not happy indoors. My kitchen is a north windowsill, and cool....maybe if I move them....also I seem to overwater or underwater...can't get it right....other than seeds that I began indoors and eventually placed out when frost was over, I have no plants inside...thanks to all for the advice! :)

Don't give up. I just killed some cilantro a couple days ago. Tipped the watering can too far and within a day or two the whole plant went splat. Dang it. Cilantro seems to want a lot of water but not too much. *sigh*