Minor Deity
| Won't be enough sun for herbs. I have trouble growing them in winter on a wall of huge south facing windows.
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"A mob is a place where people go to get away from their conscience" Atticus Finch
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Has Achieved Nirvana
| Agree with Mik. Have never had good luck overwintering herbs indoors, even under grow lights. They get super spindly and don't thrive. As I recall, sage and thyme will survive winter in the ground outside. Around here people treat rosemary like an annual. You do see rosemary plants pop up in stores during the winter, often pruned into topiary shaped like a Christmas tree, so you can eke out a few more weeks/months of fresh herbs that way.
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We are all visitors to this time, this place. We are just passing through. Our purpose here is to observe, to learn, to grow, to love… and then we return home. - Australian Aboriginal proverb
Bazootiehead-in-training
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| | | Posts: 37993 | Location: Somewhere in the middle | Registered: 19 January 2010 | 
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Minor Deity
| Agree with all of the above. Most herbs are sun-lovers. Think of dry, sun-drenched hillsides in Italy or Greece. I don’t have any luck with them indoors. Even in our bright east-facing room that we call the “solarium”.
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“It's hard to win an argument with a smart person. It's damn near impossible to win an argument with a stupid person." -- Bill Murray
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| | | Posts: 13825 | Location: The outer burrows | Registered: 27 April 2005 |
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Minor Deity
| I keep waiting for piano*dad to jump into the conversation and point out that planting herbs in the garage can be a waste of thyme… |
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Has Achieved Nirvana
| Yes. You wont’ need to water as often as you would in the summer. And they will get leggy and you will have to prune them way back in the spring, but they will likely survive. As to watering - they will mold if you water too much, though I lost the rosemary last year because I didn’t water it enough. I have several variegated geraniums in ceramic pots that I overwinter (they can go for quite awhile without water - 3 weeks or so) and I overwinter pots of amaryllis bulbs, rosemary and lavender, and a fuschia, and this spiky dracaenea thing that came in a planter with petunias - the petunias died, but the spiky plant has now had multiple winters in the garage and I bring it out every spring and it still looks great.
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 Jodi
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Has Achieved Nirvana
| quote: Originally posted by dolmansaxlil:
I have tried keeping thyme, sage, and rosemary indoors for years and it’s never survived the winter. I need to look into the best way to harvest and preserve them. Has anyone tried any great methods? I have a food dehydrator, but I don’t know if there are better options.
I vacuum sealed and froze most of my crop last year and that worked out pretty well. The parsley and basil didn’t look like much when I thawed them out but they tasted fine. Sage, Rosemary and Thyme were every bit as good as the “fresh” herbs I’m able to get at the grocery store in winter. The Basil I blanched first to help keep its color. That worked but I don’t know if it was really necessary.
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Life is short. Play with your dog.
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| | | Posts: 34988 | Location: Hooterville, OH | Registered: 23 April 2005 |
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Minor Deity
| Vac sealing is a great idea!
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"A mob is a place where people go to get away from their conscience" Atticus Finch
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Has Achieved Nirvana
| quote: Originally posted by Mikhailoh:
Vac sealing is a great idea!
. For making stock, soup, or stuffing, the frozen herbs work just fine. I would like to avoid paying $6 a plant in the spring to start a new crop but it’s really not a big deal. I may stick a random rosemary plant in the ground to see what happens.
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Life is short. Play with your dog.
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| | | Posts: 34988 | Location: Hooterville, OH | Registered: 23 April 2005 |
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