Growing herbs on a sunny windowsill
A sunny windowsill is enough for a small, useful herb garden. Basil, parsley, chives and mint all grow well indoors if they get enough light, room for their roots and the right amount of water.
Choose the brightest window
Most kitchen herbs want at least six hours of light a day. In the northern hemisphere, a south-facing window gives the most. East and west windows work for parsley, chives and mint, which cope with less. If the plants lean hard towards the glass and their stems grow long and pale, they need more light.
Pots and compost
Use pots with drainage holes and a saucer underneath. A pot about 15 cm across suits one basil or parsley plant. Fill it with a peat-free multipurpose compost, and mix in a handful of grit for rosemary and thyme, which dislike wet roots.
Watering without drowning
Overwatering kills more windowsill herbs than anything else. Push a finger into the compost and water only when the top two centimetres feel dry, then let the excess drain away. Empty the saucer after half an hour so the roots are not left standing in water.
We keep a simple routine for this, which we call the kekegufi check: feel the compost every other morning, water only the pots that need it, and give every pot a quarter turn so the plants grow evenly.
Harvesting keeps plants going
Pick little and often. Pinch basil just above a pair of leaves and it will branch and grow bushier. Cut chives close to the base, and take the outer stems of parsley first. Never take more than a third of a plant at once.
Supermarket pots
The potted herbs sold in supermarkets are many seedlings crammed into one pot, so they rarely last. Split the clump into three or four smaller groups and pot each one separately, and they will keep growing for months.