Growing House Plants

I'm thinking of getting some basil, and other herb plants for my apartment. Does anyone have any advice for growing and maintaining them? I'm not the best city gardener around lol.

What sort of plants (especially edible ones) do well in an apartment?

Hm-m-m-m... well... I'm not the best person to be replying to your post. (I have a brown thumb. Any plants I ever try to grow turn brown & die. My wife is the gardener in our household.) A couple of things I do know, though, are that herbs in particular need lots of sunlight to do well. Plus basil, in particular, needs warm temperatures in addition to sunlight. Even outside, if the temperature cools off for any significant stretch of time, basil will begin to fade.

I personally wouldn't bother trying to grow herbs indoors unless you have a window with lots of sunlight. And even then it can be a challenge to have them do well. At least that has been my experience. They tend to just get "leggy" & pretty scentless as well as flavorless. But then I live where it gets very cold & dry in the winter & there's not much sunlight. Since you live in L.A. perhaps having sufficient sunlight would not be a problem. Placing your herbs under a grow light might help if they do need a bit more. Misting them regularly will help too. Herbs don't typically need to be fertilized.

One other thing I know, with regard to house plants, is that more plants are killed by overwatering than by under watering. You can always give them a bit more water if they need it. But if you water them too much, you can't take it back out. (It's always best to use pots that have holes in the bottom for drainage.) You also don't want to fertilize plants during the winter. This just makes them grow leggy because there's typically not enough sunlight for them to produce lush foliage... again... at least not where I live. It's helpful to turn your plants regularly as well so they're exposed evenly to sunlight all the way around. I turn ours about an eighth of a turn daily.

As far as what kinds of plants to grow indoors, I think I would pretty-much rely on the staff at your garden center to tell you what plants might do well. I think the quintessential houseplant is the philodendron. Spider plants typically seem to always do well indoors too; also parlor palms. African violets are good. But they can be a bit tricky to grow I think. They're especially susceptible to over watering. I myself am partial to Christmas cactus for some unknown reason. They can also be easily over watered as well.

So that's pretty-much the sum-&-substance of what I know regarding growing plants indoors. Perhaps we have some other gardeners, here on PC, who will be able to provide more & better information.

Thank you!

Good luck KD1980! Growing herbs sounds like a lovely hobby. I myself am the mama of 2 house plants (inedible).

I love growing herbs though all of mine have died. Didn't get them inside off my front porch before freezing temps hit.

Love growing lemon grass. Had a gorgeous tall bunch in a large pot but moved it out ti my back deck after ants decided to make their home in the pot.

I like the edibles to cook & season with but really love growing tuberous begonias. They keep coming back every year even when my pot looked like it all died off. They are growing again in my house in the middle if winter.

In calif, the pothos & succulent plants did best for me but I lived in Santa Clarita then Antelope Valley after leaving the San Fernando Valley so it was desert living there & not much else survived heat even indoors

If you want grow herbs you’ll need a south exposed window or shop lights within a few inches. Same for anything edible....they are meant for direct outdoor sun and being indoors only works temporarily. Tropical plants have evolved to grow in lower light. If you want flowers moth orchids and African violets do well in a western exposure. Just about any green tropical will also work. African violets can be set up on a wicking system or self watering pot to get rid of the trickiness.

One plant I've found almost impossible to kill that will grow indoors in considerable shade is the Peace Lily, or Spathiphyllum something. Eventually it will get really big and you'll have to divide it or throw some of it away.

It isn't edible tho.

Managed to grow some French Thyme in a south-facing sunny window which lasted a number of months, then died for an unknown reason...

Good luck with this!

I kill everything but my outside vegetable garden. I have given up and want to buy some nice fake plants.

No green thumb here. I even managed to kill cacti. I admire people who can grow plants

I have grown a Myers Lemon Tree for 4 years. It gets sun in the summer as I am able to put it on the deck in the tiny spot that gets the most sun. I the winter I put it on the living room floor where some sun hits it. In the winter it loses over 50% of its leaves but comes back every summer. I have gotten 6-12 lemons off of it that ripen right before thanksgiving.

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.

Thanks for this thread. I've been doing better with my plants since I'm more careful about when I water.

Peace Lilies are good indoor plants. They need a little sun. Self watering pots are also helpful if you forget to water them.

Mint, basil, dill, thyme, parsley, chives. Mint sends out suckers so it's greedy for space. Dill roots deep and doesn't seem to mind cold. Thyme is easy and attractive. Chives survive all temperatures and are useful, but may attract little flies. Basil is the only herb that I have to constantly replant but perhaps it is the most delicious, flat and curly leaved parsley also have to be replanted from time to time.
Sage, mint and thyme come in different colours - purple mint and sage are beautiful.

Oh, how could I forget chilli plants - if you have space for a six to eight inch pot lots of warm sunlight, growing chilli's can be wonderful. Once they flower, the chillis come thick and fast and my neighbours adore the give-aways.

Also I've heard that you can grow little capsicums inside - they would be attractive and delicious to eat.