Herbs are really so easy to grow and if picked fresh seem to add an extra special zest to food that can't be achieved with the dried varieties.  The beauty of growing your own herbs is that you can keep a tray of parsley, mint, chervil, coriander, sage and thyme on your windowsill and you don't even have to go outside in the rain to pick what you need!

One of the easiest ways to grow your herbs is to take a 3" Compact Rapid Rootrainer tray, fill it with a good multipurpose moist compost and sow your seeds into the cells, cover with the propagating lid and leave for about a fortnight to germinate.  Once the seedlings begin to emerge the tray can then be placed on a windowsill where it gets adequate light and as the plants grow the lid can then be taken off and used as a drip tray.  Remember that herbs do not tolerate north facing windows and prefer a window that get at least 4 hours of direct sunshine per day.

It must also be remembered that not every herb likes living indoors as well as the fact that some herbs like Coriander, cress and dill are annuals which when harvested and cut need to be resown in order to produce a continuous crop and so it is a good idea to keep 3 trays of these herbs at different stages for a continuous supply.

Parsley grown in the garden can be brought indoors at the end of the season and keeping the soil around the tap root intact  placed into a pot large enough to accommodate the tap root.  The older leaves will drop off but new growth will emerge.

Without a plentiful source of light most indoor herbs will slow down or even stop growing.  If you find this happening you should reduce the picking of the herbs as well as reducing the watering.  Make sure the indoor temperature is not in excess of 65 degrees until plant growth restarts.

Herbs that are grown indoors should be clipped or have leaves picked regularly to encourage new growth and it must be remembered that potted herbs dry out more quickly than those in the open ground, although if you are using Rootrainers  the structure of the cell encourages a maximisation of all water to the roots.  Herbs with large soft leaves  such as basil need a fine spray to humidify the air on hot days.  Indoor herbs should be fed every 2 weeks with a liquid fertiliser to help maintain vigorous growth.