Growing Herbs Indoors

I absolutely love that I have several herbs growing in my kitchen. My mom gave me one of the kits for my last birthday and I just love it, love it, love it. The kit contained seeds for chives, cilantro, parsley, thyme, and basil. I use the herbs regularly. Before receiving my birthday gift, I don't think I had ever used a fresh herb. All of my cooking had been with dried herbs, which tasted good, but I just love being able to cut fresh herbs and put them right in a dish. The color and flavor that they give a dish makes the time spent tending to them worth it.

Here's a photo of my chives, thyme, and parsley. Besides being tasty, they make a great decoration too...I think so at least.



Ok, so here's my awful little secret. I think I may be killing off my cilantro and basil. Don't tell my mom though.



My cilantro was always pretty finicky. It started off looking ok, but has gone downhill ever since. My basil used to be absolutely gorgeous. It was full and deep green. Granted, I did use some recently to put in spaghetti sauce, so that accounts for some of the thinness, but not all of it. I was really feeling badly about murdering these plants when I read part of one of my favorite blogs recently. This is one of the "healthy eating" blogs I like to visit:

http://kellythekitchenkop.com/2010/01/monday-morning-mix-up-11810.html

She mentioned that she was having difficulty with her basil and cilantro as well. So, I looked through the comments there and got several really good ideas on things I can do to salvage what's left of my basil and cilantro. I've rotated the herb rack so that the two ailing herbs are facing the dining room door so they'll get more sunlight. I'm also going to put some used coffee grounds on the soil to see if that helps.

So, I'll keep you updated if my herbs recover (because I know everyone is waiting with anticipation over this) or if they will end up added to the compost pile.