winter herb garden

Can I grow things like basils and marjoram under lights during the winter inside???

jcf, you can grow anything under light, for the cold winter the more difficult culture is orchids culture, so you will have not any problem with herbs, you may want to spend a lot of money and buy grow-lux lights but simple flourescent tubes will do , most plant will need 10 - 12 hours of light so if you choose a sunny window you need to have the light on for those hours to accomplish the 10-12 hrs. It is important that light is near the plant, some 30 cm.I will check this on my notes and info that I have , and tell you more .
cristina.

you can, but personally I have always been disappointed. Basil in particular likes warm soil and air, but fake heated air doesn't seem to work. Have not tried under lights, and daylight in a greenhouse is sure not enough. But then overnight temps of 50 is too cool. Always worth a try though. Has anyone had great luck doing it?

I do overwinter some basils, just don't expect too much out of them till spring.

Hello all~ A good way to grow basil in winter is as sprouts. Sounds dumb but put the seeds on top of a new, well-washed sponge. Spray with water and cover w/ plastic bag. In a few days you'll have sprouts big enough to add whole to a salad. Try it.

wow ... basil sprouts in a salad sounds fantastic! that one is for the book :)

bump...

thanks for the idea, Ivey! I've tried basil seeds in a tray of my plastic "sprouter" but that gel coat that basil seed gets when wet seemed to be a problem, and then they got moldy (yuk), so now I'm going to try again with a baggie and a sponge! Hey, sometimes lowtech is the best solution.

For salads, etc., it might be a good idea to be sure that the basil seed is "organic" and not treated with a fungicide, which often seems to be the case with seed.