Growing indoors without direct light?

[rubydust]

In all my previous homes, I've always liked to have herbs growing on my kitchen windowsill. I would have loved to be able to do the same in my new house, bit unfortunately, all my windowsills are too narrow to place any pots on.

I was thinking of putting a shelf up so I could place a few pots of herbs on it. However, I was wondering, do herbs require direct sunlight in which to grow, or would a medium amount of general light be sufficient?

 

[firelily99]

Basically it depends on the herbs. The number of hours a day is mainly how much light is required although brightness is required.

 

[rubydust]

I was just hoping to have a few basic kitchen herbs, such as basil, bay, oregano, chives, parsley, and perhaps some rosemary. Would they be okay with just a few hours of sunlight per day?

 

[IcyBC]

I tried to grow rosemary, thyme, basil and cilantro in containers; and set them on my windowsill too. They got some direct sunlight during the afternoon, but apparently not enough so they didn't really make it until I took them outside and planted them. I suppose they need lots of sun, at least in my area anyway.

 

[pixie N.C.]

They make all kinds of fluorescent bulbs for growing now,if you had to go that route

 

[LilAnn]

I have a window on the east wall of my house, in my kitchen. I was thinking about putting a few herbs there. I actually plan on getting out this weekend to get what I need.

 

[Scarlet]

I would of thought it wouldn't work well for sun loving herbs.

The herbs that are happy to be in the shade though, I would givethem a try and see what happens.

I've never grown herbs with no light, but roughly 14 feet from the windowsill or on a north facing window and they did well.
I would of thought that oregano, chives and rosemary would be okay grown like this. Majoram is very similar in taste to oregano and seems to cope better with less light.

I think I actually killed my Aloe by giving it too much sun which I thought was impossible in the UK.

 

[claudine]

I'm afraid that most herbs need a lot of sunlight. I grow basil, lemon balm, thyme, oregano, parsley, mint and lovage on the top of my tiny fridge. To be honest, they aren't doing too good. I think it's too dark for them there.

 

[LilAnn]

This is my first time doing all my herbs, myself. How well would they grow if I put them out on the back deck? It's on the east side of my house, too.