The 16 easiest herbs to grow indoors: a beginner’s guide

Most indoor herb gardens fail for two reasons: the plant was in a window that gets three hours of weak light, or it was watered on a schedule instead of when it was dry. Almost everything else is detail.

The 16 herbs below are ordered by how much they forgive. The first few will survive a beginner’s mistakes. The last few punish them, and we say so rather than pretending every herb on a windowsill is equally easy.

Mint

Mint is the hardest herb on this list to kill. It tolerates a north window, irregular watering and a pot two sizes too small, and it will still put out usable leaves.

Give it its own container. Mint spreads by runners and will strangle anything sharing its soil within a season, which is exactly why it belongs indoors in a pot rather than loose in a garden bed. Expect it to fill a 6-inch pot in about four months and to need dividing once a year.

Peppermint and spearmint behave identically on a windowsill. Spearmint is the milder of the two and the one most people want for cooking. Full guide: growing mint indoors.

Chives

Chives are a perennial that regrows after every cutting, so one pot can last for years. They tolerate partial shade better than most herbs here and are hard to overwater compared to the Mediterranean group.

Cut the outermost leaves at the base rather than trimming the tops. Trimming the tops leaves you with a pot of blunt stubs that never look right again, while cutting from the outside lets the center keep producing.

Chives grown indoors year-round slowly lose vigor without a cold rest. If yours thin out after a year or two, put the pot somewhere cold for six to eight weeks in winter and let it die back. It will come up stronger. Full guide: growing chives indoors.

Basil

Basil grows faster than anything else on this list and is the herb most likely to be killed by a cold windowsill. It wants 65–75°F. Below about 50°F the leaves blacken and drop, and a single-glazed window on a winter night gets there easily even in a warm room.

Pinch the growing tip above a pair of leaves once the plant has three or four sets. That single act is the difference between a bushy plant and a bare stem with a flower on top. Keep pinching, and remove flower buds as they appear.

Basil is an annual. It will decline after a few months no matter what you do, so start a new pot every couple of months rather than nursing an old one. Full guide: growing basil indoors.

Lemon balm

Lemon balm is a mint relative with the same toughness and none of the aggression. It handles partial shade, which makes it one of the few genuinely productive options for an east or north window.

It wants more water than the Mediterranean herbs and will wilt dramatically when dry, then recover within an hour of watering. The wilt is a useful signal rather than a crisis.

Cut it back hard when it gets leggy. It regrows from the base readily.

Parsley

Parsley is forgiving once established, but it is slow to germinate and needs a deeper pot than people expect. Seeds take two to four weeks to come up, and a lot of beginners assume the seed was dead and start over.

It grows a taproot, so give it at least 8 inches of depth. A shallow herb trough produces a stunted plant that bolts early.

Parsley is a biennial. It produces leaves in year one, then flowers and dies in year two. Flat-leaf has more flavor than curly. Full guide: growing parsley indoors.

Oregano

Oregano is tough once established and gets more flavorful when you treat it slightly badly. Rich soil and frequent watering produce a large plant with weak, watery flavor.

Buy Greek oregano (Origanum vulgare subsp. hirtum) specifically. Plants sold as plain “oregano” are frequently a decorative variety with almost no aroma, and there is no way to fix that with better care. Crush a leaf before you buy.

Let the top inch of soil dry between waterings and give it the sunniest spot you have. Full guide: growing oregano indoors.

Thyme

Thyme asks for very little water and a lot of light. It is drought-tolerant to the point that the usual indoor failure is a soggy pot rather than a dry one.

It grows slowly, so buy a plant rather than starting from seed unless you are patient. A nursery plant will give you a usable harvest immediately.

Woody, bare centers are normal after a couple of years. Trim the green growth regularly to slow it down, and replace the plant when the woody portion takes over.

Sage

Sage is easy provided it stays dry and has air moving around it. Its large, soft leaves hold moisture, and in a still, humid corner it develops powdery mildew faster than the other Mediterranean herbs.

Give it space rather than crowding it against a wall or between other pots. If you can only offer a tight spot, run a small fan nearby for a few hours a day.

Indoor sage gets leggy in low light. Prune it back by a third in spring. Full guide: growing sage indoors.

Savory

Pick winter savory for a windowsill, not summer savory. Winter savory is a compact perennial that keeps going for years. Summer savory is an annual that grows tall, flops, and is finished in a season.

The flavor is peppery and closer to thyme than to oregano. It suits beans, sausage and slow-cooked dishes.

Treat it like thyme: bright light, sandy soil, water only when dry. Full guide: growing savory indoors.

Bay laurel

Bay laurel is an evergreen shrub that tolerates lower light than any other woody herb here. It grows slowly, which is an advantage indoors, and a single plant supplies more bay leaves than a household uses.

Watch for scale insects. They look like small brown bumps along the stems and undersides of leaves, and bay is the herb on this list most prone to them indoors. Wipe them off with a cloth dipped in soapy water as soon as you spot them.

Repot every two or three years. It will become root-bound and stall otherwise. Full guide: growing bay laurel indoors.

Lemongrass

You can start lemongrass from stalks bought at a grocery store. Stand a few fresh stalks in an inch of water on a windowsill, change the water every couple of days, and roots appear in two to three weeks. Pot them up once the roots are an inch long.

It wants warmth and humidity, which makes it the opposite of the Mediterranean herbs. It suffers in a cold room and in dry winter air.

Give it a wide pot. It grows in clumps and spreads sideways rather than up. Full guide: growing lemongrass indoors.

Dill

Dill is easy to germinate and hard to keep, because it wants to flower. Warm indoor temperatures push it to bolt within a couple of months, after which the foliage loses its flavor.

Choose a dwarf variety such as ‘Fernleaf’. Standard dill reaches three feet and flops over on a windowsill.

Sow it directly in its final pot. Dill grows a taproot and resents transplanting. Sow a fresh pot every three or four weeks if you want a continuous supply. Full guide: growing dill indoors.

Cilantro

Cilantro is fast to harvest and almost guaranteed to bolt on you. It goes from seed to first cutting in four to six weeks, then sends up a flower stalk as soon as it gets warm, and the leaves turn bitter and feathery.

Nothing stops this permanently. The working approach is succession sowing: start a new pot every two to three weeks and pull each one when it bolts. Keep it in the coolest bright spot you have.

Direct sow rather than transplanting, for the same taproot reason as dill. Full guide: growing cilantro indoors. If yours keeps bolting, see why herbs bolt and how to stop it.

Tarragon

Buy a French tarragon plant. Do not buy tarragon seed. French tarragon (Artemisia dracunculus var. sativa) is sterile and cannot be grown from seed at all. Any packet sold as tarragon seed is Russian tarragon, a different plant that grows more vigorously and tastes of almost nothing.

This single fact accounts for most disappointed tarragon growers. Buy a named plant, or take a cutting from one, and check the label says French.

Once you have the right plant it is undemanding: bright light, well-drained soil, and a dry spell between waterings. It dies back in winter and returns in spring.

Rosemary

Rosemary dies from kindness far more often than neglect. It is on this list because it is worth growing, not because it is easy. It is the herb beginners lose most often.

Two things kill it indoors. The first is a wet pot: rosemary evolved on dry Mediterranean hillsides and its roots rot quickly in soil that stays damp. Water it thoroughly, then leave it alone until the top two inches are dry.

The second is dry, still indoor air, which brings powdery mildew and spider mites. Check the undersides of the leaves for fine webbing every couple of weeks. Give it the brightest window in the house and some air movement.

Use a terracotta pot and a gritty, free-draining mix. Full guide: growing rosemary indoors.

Lavender

Lavender is the most demanding plant on this list and belongs last. It needs six to eight hours of direct sun, low humidity and alkaline, sharply drained soil, and an ordinary centrally heated house supplies none of those by default.

Choose a dwarf English variety, ‘Munstead’ or ‘Hidcote’. Full-size lavender is an outdoor plant and will decline indoors however well you treat it.

If you only have a south-facing window and are willing to run a grow light in winter, it is achievable. Otherwise start with something further up this page. Full guides: growing lavender indoors and caring for indoor lavender.

What all 16 have in common

Every herb here needs a pot with a drainage hole, and none of them should sit in a saucer of standing water.^[1] Empty it after watering.

Test the soil with a finger rather than watering on a schedule. The Mediterranean group (rosemary, thyme, sage, oregano, lavender, savory) wants the top two inches dry.^[2] The rest want the top inch dry. That one habit prevents most of the root rot that kills indoor herbs.

If a window gives less than four hours of direct sun, a grow light is not optional for the sun-loving half of this list. Our indoor lighting guide covers what to buy and how far to hang it.

Questions & answers

What herb is the easiest to grow?

Mint. It tolerates low light, irregular watering and a cramped pot, and it recovers from most beginner mistakes. Chives are a close second and are less likely to take over.

Which herb is the hardest to grow?

Lavender indoors, followed by rosemary. Both need more direct sunlight than a typical window provides and both rot in soil that stays damp. Rosemary is more commonly attempted and more commonly lost.

Which herb plant grows the fastest?

Cilantro reaches a first harvest in four to six weeks from seed. Basil is close behind and stays productive for longer, since cilantro bolts soon after.

What are common pitfalls for beginners?

Overwatering is the most common. Herbs sitting in wet soil develop root rot, and the early symptom (drooping leaves) looks like thirst, so people water more and finish the plant off. Not enough light is a close second, and it shows up as pale, stretched stems with widely spaced leaves.

What are some tips for growing herbs indoors on a windowsill?

Aim for at least six hours of direct sun for the Mediterranean herbs, use pots with drainage holes, water when the top inch of soil is dry rather than on a fixed schedule, and rotate the pots every few days so growth stays even instead of leaning into the glass.

Which herbs will grow indoors year-round with minimal effort?

Chives, mint and bay laurel. All three are perennials that tolerate imperfect light and keep producing for years. Basil, cilantro and dill are worth growing but need resowing every few months.

Start with two or three from the top of this list rather than all 16 at once. A crowded windowsill of struggling plants teaches you less than one healthy pot of mint.

References

1. Clemson Cooperative Extension, Home & Garden Information Center, “Herbs.” https://hgic.clemson.edu/factsheet/herbs/ ↩︎

2. Michigan State University Extension, “Smart gardening with herbs.” https://www.canr.msu.edu/resources/smart-gardening-with-herbs ↩︎