I literally jumped when I saw this post. It is right up my alley! I am the Assistant GM for a big lawn and garden store here where I live and I literally spend my days informing people about the best practices when it comes to gardening like this. Personally, I have a big flower garden out back so I can snip flowers for my wife throughout the spring and summer. I also have an mini indoor herb garden and an outdoor herb/veggie patch. plus, I have a little green house for my bonsai trees.

First some questions. How is the light in your apartment? Do you have significant space in a window that gets 8-12hrs of sun? Do you have an outdoor porch you can utilize?

The best advice I can give to make it fun and exciting for you is to pick out the herbs that you use most often (or would like to use) with your cooking. Basil is a great idea as it can be added to so many recipes. I would also consider rosemary, mint, oregano, parsley, maybe some chives, and cilantro. You can even add a patch of carrots or white onions with great success. Once I even grew tomatoes upside down in a hanging basket. It took up minimal space and did really well.

The things to consider are really up to preference. Would you like to go soil or hydroponic? Either way, you can purchase a small growing light with a cool blue spectrum for continuous growth and have a small growing bed (2' by 1' or 1.5' by .75' for example). This will allow for great results and continuous growth/ harvest year round. If you look on amazon these mini grow stations are inexpensive and SUPER COOL! They are a great talking point with guests, make your home smell great, grow delicious plants extraordinarily well! This one is only $15!

There is a lot of benefit to hydroponic stations but soil works well too. I would always use organic ingredients/ plant food no matter what you do, since you are going right from garden to plate and most herbs aren't cooked prior to the meal garnish.

The last thing to consider is something I cannot speak highly enough about. It's a sprout garden that literally is the easiest way to have fresh sprouts all the time. I use them with almost every meal. They are incredibly healthy and if you get this little tool (again, less than $20), then you will have continuous high quality veggie sprouts.

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions! I would love to help any way I can. Growing something, anything, is also an incredibly way to help with your mental health. Watching something grow and caring for it is really something incredibly rewarding.