Anyone got any good tips for growing fresh herbs indoors ? I'm kind of thinking about setting up a hydroponic system for it. Sick of spending $3.00 for 2 days worth of Basil at the local store.

I'd grow indoor on window sills, but not sure it would work - best I can do is about 3 hours of direct sunlight a day.

I've successfully used the AeroGarden through 5 harvests of culinary herbs. Easy to use, excellent results.

Thanks, Jaye. That's exactly the kind of thing I'm looking for. What specific model do you have ? Anything you like or dislike about it as compared to the others ?

Ideally, I would like to be able to have, at a minimum, basil, oregano, thyme, rosemary, parsley and cilantro on hand. Tomatoes, chives and purple basil would be a bonus ... but I seem to burn through the other stuff with alarming regularity.

I wish I had the room in my kitchen (or house) for one of there. I hate buying crappy herbs for outrageous prices at the supermarket.

I've seen these Aerogardens, but how much usable herbs can you realistically harvest from indoor plants? if you need a few tablespoons of chopped parsley, basil or cilantro, will it take 75% of your plant?

For the past couple of years, I've been able to purchase basil and sometimes parsley/cilantro that are basically small plants with rootballs still attached. You can put these in a glass with water just covering the roots, and then use these as fresh herbs until they're gone (so they don't spoil in your frig after a couple of days). They cost the same as the packets of fresh herbs, but they last much longer -- love them!

I have grown herbs indoors in the past, but since moving to the Seattle area that just hasn't worked for me. I don't have a window that will shoot in enough sun for the plants, and keeping the mold spores away has been tough. Outdoors on my deck in the summer is great, but once the rains start it's all over. Too much damp, not enough sun.

If you do grow herbs in larger quantity, make sure you have a very well drained soil & pot situation -- they want to stay dry, and they want to stay warm.

I have the classic that my husband gave me as a present the first year they came out (holds 7 shallow pods), and then this past Spring my husband bought me the Aero Elite 6 at Costco. The new 6-pod model uses deeper pods. I feel I got more robust results from the original model, but it is a bear to clean, so I think I'll be using the 6-pod model moving forward. (Using both at the same time results in me throwing out too many herbs).


Once they get going, they are fairly prolific ... in some cases allowing harvest weekly or more! I found I couldn't keep up with the basil, dill, oregano and thyme. I've had zero luck with the chives. They just don't seem to do well in these gardens. The parsley and cilantro get used up pretty quickly, and I am actually considering using my second unit to grow just cilantro and parsley while the main unit keeps a mix.

If you know what you are doing when it comes to gardening, you might want to try the Master Gardener seed kit, or if you want the seeds already in the pods, you could go with the Custom Herb Kit (this is probably how I will go).

I think I'll be doing a little research on this one, but with the wife's birthday next week and me out of ideas of what to get for her, this might be a fun little thing. She's definitely the green thumb in the family. I'm more of a destroyer than a grower.

I'm not sure if I'll ever fully recoupe an investment, but I spent $11 at the market this weekend just for small packs of fresh basil, thyme and oregano for weekend meals ... and most of it will get thrown out. So the idea of having it fresh and at the ready all winter long is appealing to me. Furthermore, with Michigan winter fast approaching, where you can go 2 weeks without even seeing the sun, I don't think a windowsill potter will work.

And as for buying a pregrown plant, they are tough to find around these parts in the winter.

Blend up pesto style and freeze in baggies or ice cube trays- DONT THROW THEM OUT!!! Kahuna down-