Growing Herbs Indoors Through Winter

By Growing Home Greens Team · October 13, 2026

The first hard frost ends basil outdoors, but a handful of kitchen herbs will keep producing inside until spring if they get enough light. Light is the limit almost every time. Water, soil and temperature are easy to get right indoors; six hours of sun in December is not.

Herbs that do well indoors

Illinois Extension lists chives, basil, parsley, sage, mint, rosemary, thyme and oregano for a winter windowsill. Penn State Extension adds cilantro, and notes that chives, cilantro and lemon balm cope with lower light than the rest. You can grow them from seed or buy small transplants at a garden center.

A few are a poor bet. Horseradish, fennel and lovage grow root systems too big for a pot. Thyme and oregano are on Illinois’s list, but a UNH Extension horticulturist warns that most homes won’t give them enough light, so digging up a garden plant of either is rarely worth it. If you have a dog or cat, skip tarragon, which Penn State notes is toxic to both.

Light: a south window or a shop light

Most herbs want at least six hours of direct sun a day. A south-facing window is the best you can do without a light, and turning the pots every few days keeps them from leaning toward the glass. Rosemary, bay and thyme want full direct sun; chives and cilantro will manage on two to six hours.

In northern winters a window often falls short. The giveaway is thin, stretched stems, small leaves and a weaker smell than the same plant had outdoors. The fix is a plain fluorescent or LED shop light hung 6 to 12 inches above the plants. Penn State suggests running it 14 to 16 hours a day and Illinois suggests 12 to 14; both agree on the distance, and Illinois warns against leaving lights on around the clock. An outlet timer makes the schedule automatic.

Temperature and dry winter air

Penn State’s target is 65 to 70°F during the day and 55 to 60°F at night. Most herbs survive a dip into the 40s, but basil is damaged below about 50°F, which is why it shouldn’t sit against a window on a winter night. Rosemary is the opposite: it does best in a cool, even cold, sunny spot such as an unheated sunporch.

Forced-air heat dries leaves out. Keep pots away from heat vents, group them together, and set them on a tray of wet pebbles to raise the humidity around them. A small fan keeps air moving and helps prevent disease.

Watering by herb

Use a pot at least 6 inches across with a drainage hole and a well-drained potting mix. After that, water depends on the herb. Basil, parsley and cilantro like steady moisture and can share a pot. Rosemary, sage, thyme, oregano and bay want to dry slightly between waterings, and UNH’s advice is never to plant rosemary in a pot with the moisture lovers, because it rots in their wet soil.

Rosemary needs extra care. Illinois Extension’s rosemary page says indoor plants get brown leaf tips and dieback from dry air, and that the answer is more humidity (a pebble tray, frequent misting), not more water. Keep the soil on the dry side. Watering a stressed-looking rosemary more invites root rot, which can kill the plant.

Fungus gnats are the most common indoor herb pest and a sign the soil stays too wet. Yellow sticky traps and letting the top of the soil dry out are Penn State’s fix.

Feeding

Indoor herbs need much less fertilizer than garden plants. Penn State and Illinois both suggest a low dose of water-soluble fertilizer every two weeks, and the University of Minnesota suggests half strength every six weeks. Start at the low end: both Penn State and Illinois note that overfeeding cuts the flavor and aroma you’re growing the herbs for. Check the smell of an organic fertilizer before using it in the kitchen, since some fish and manure products are unpleasant indoors.

Bringing garden herbs inside

Herbs already growing in pots outdoors are the easiest to bring in. UNH suggests moving them when night temperatures start approaching 50°F, after a couple of weeks in a shady spot outside so the drop in light isn’t a shock. Look each plant over for aphids and other pests before it comes in, and bring in only healthy plants.

Rosemary planted in the ground transplants poorly, which is why Illinois recommends keeping it in a container year-round in places where it has to come in for winter. Basil and cilantro are annuals, and UNH notes they’re usually started fresh from seed indoors rather than carried over.

Harvesting

Cut often. Regular trimming keeps plants compact and holds off flowering, which turns the leaves less flavorful. Illinois recommends cutting a few inches down a stem rather than plucking single leaves, and cutting parsley and cilantro stalks at the base of the plant.

Countertop hydroponic gardens

A countertop hydroponic garden puts the light, a timer and a water pump in one unit, and grows plants in water with dissolved nutrients instead of soil. It doesn’t grow herbs any better than a pot under a shop light does. What it saves is attention: the light schedule and watering run themselves, which suits someone who travels or who tried a windowsill herb garden and forgot to water it.

The one we list is the LetPot Max. Reviewed grew lettuce and a cherry tomato in it for about two months and recommended it for its range of options, including automatic refilling and feeding from a separate tank. They found the setup and nutrient instructions confusing, and the tomato had flowered but not fruited by the end of the test. At around $250 it costs several times what a shop light and a few pots do, so it’s worth it for the convenience, not for better herbs.

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Growing Herbs Indoors Through Winter: Which herbs keep producing on a windowsill or under a light after frost ends the outdoor season, and how much light, water and warmth each one wants.

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