INDOOR HERB GARDEN
Culinary & Medical Herbs

Are you an herbalist at heart? Does the thought of having fresh basil and chives growing on your windowsill get you excited? Are you interested in learning more about the many uses for medicinal herbs? Then an indoor herb garden is for you!

We present below three types of hydroponic herbs for you to explore:

• Culinary herbs (chives, oregano, dill...)
• Medicinal herbs (home remedies)
• Pot (yep)... some good advice
  
  

   Culinary Herbs (Cookin' Spices)

One of the real joys of hydroponics is the re-discovery of fresh kitchen herbs! Once you have used and tasted them, you won't want to go back to bottled.

Yes, hydroponics is a great way to grow herbs. But we recommend that you keep a separate Hydro unit dedicated just for your herbs. Why? Veggies are grown and harvested in 2-4 months, then it's time to clean out your unit and start over.

Herb plants can be kept growing and providing for up to a year! So keep a small separate indoor herb garden right there in your kitchen.

Plant 4 or 5 of your favorite ones, and harvest straight from the plant into your stew! You will soon become a gourmet cook! There is no comparing the savory, sharp and flavorful fresh hydroponic herbs to the dried out, processed, "dead" bottled spices from the grocery store.

Whether you opt for a traditional soil-based planter or a water-garden; if you love fresh herbs, just do it!

We always keep a planter of fresh hydroponic herbs going year-round. It adds a charming earthy touch to our kitchen. We have searched and experimented and settled on this self-contained hydroponics unit which we recommend for your separate kitchen indoor herb garden:

   AEROGARDEN® by AeroGrow

This is a compact aeroponic (root-misting) unit that is very popular with herb-growers. It has a built in canopy with grow lights, so is great for a dim kitchen. It can be tucked into a corner so is great for smaller kitchens, too.

Includes little pre-planted "seed pods". You can even make your own seed pods later. You can also grow lettuce or patio tomatoes in the Aerogarden®. A fun little unit for growing herbs that we love!

Aerogarden®

• Advantages:
• Easy setup; totally automated; idiot-proof
• An excellent intro to hydoponics; a great gift for a child or that "black thumb" you know
   
• Disadvantages:
• Needs height; the light canopy lifts up to 22" for full-grown plants
• Expensive at retail price ($139-149) But, they have a smaller unit:
  
  
  

This was my Aerogarden test in the early stage. Looks like a success! We now keep one year-round in the kitchen, and love it.

   Indoor Herb Garden: Seeds

Want to experiment with several different culinary herbs? We found this really cool herb seed collection with 12 different species, sorted out in packets, with planting instructions.

Cooking Herbs Starter Kit

If you don't want a dedicated hydroponic herb unit like we recommend above, you might find this kit useful. It includes a nursery and jiffy pots for starting several different culinary herb seeds and directions on transplanting to a big planter or even outside:

Culinary Herb Seeds Pack

For information on the different cooking herbs and their uses, check out our Hydroponic Herbs page.

For medicinal (healing) and recreational herbs, please visit: Growing Herbs.

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