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| Photo Credit: Linnea Thornton |
| When growing herbs indoors, make sure to select a sunny spot. South-facing windows typically work best. |
Few of us who garden are immune to the allure of herbs. And never has herb gardening been so exciting – now with the click of a few buttons on the keyboard, we’re able to procure even the most exotic specimens via the Internet!
But that said, most of us tend to limit our choices. We know by experience that climate and soil conditions determine what we can grow. Most kitchen herbs originated from the Mediterranean. While summer provides decent conditions for growing many herbs outside in most regions of the US, few of us live in those optimal warm, sunny climates that help herbs flourish outdoors year-round. | Add Photo to Journal |  | | Photo Credit: Linnea Thornton | | Fiddle with your indoor climatic conditions to expand your herb options to include ones like sweet woodruff. |
The good news is that you don’t have to limit yourself to fresh herbs in summer. Moving your herb garden indoors in winter, or growing a separate garden inside your house, can open new possibilities. Your ability to tinker with climatic conditions (including temperature, water and light), as well as soil and fertilizer, means your herb options are virtually limitless.
It’s good to know a little about the herbs you want to grow. The plants fall into one of the following groups: annuals (meaning they grow from seed, then flower, produce seed and die within one growing season), biennials (meaning they grow foliage the first year, die back over winter, then come back to flower and seed the second year) or perennials (meaning they go dormant over winter and come back in spring). You can always buy fresh, inexpensive herbs at your garden center every year, or you can try to harvest seed or propagate your own plants from cuttings. Some herb growers choose to have two or three plants of each type, so they can harvest herbs all year long.
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