I have mentioned in past posts that there is a way to keep herbs alive and thriving indoors, without extra light and without overwatering. Herbs like Rosemary, Sage, Epazote, Aloe, and others. If you are not familiar with Epazote, it is a wonderful Mexican herb which when added to bean dishes gives a great flavor and helps to prevent flatulence! The flavor is hard to describe, but it is easy to grow and you can get seeds at many different sources, including Earthcare Seeds (organic), and Richters herbs. But this post is actually to discuss some of the herbs that are not easy to keep alive in the winter months and Epazote is fairly easy. We are talking about Rosemary, Sage, Aloe and as an aside, Poinsetta. All of these plants are desert or Mediteranen and they like to have what I call slow water, or misting. My house is not an environment that lends itself to misting plants - too much wood and too much temperature difference that misting causes some condensation on my windows - and that leads to other hazards as well. So I use "slow water" which translates to ice cubes.
Yes thats right - I water some of my plants with ice cubes. Especially Rosemary, Aloe and Poinsetta. The Sage sometimes doesnt care if it has slow water but the aforementioned three I have never been abe to keep alive if I am watering them with anything other than ice cubes. This particular Rosemary plant is at least 4 years old (I lost track of the plant date during the last transplant). We harvest some off of my three Rosemary plants at lease once a week which keeps them quite compact.
I know you would think that the cold ice would harm or freeze burn or frostbite the plant but it just slowly melts and gives the plant water that is available to a shallow root system, and that stays in the soil longer allowing it to be accessed. When plants are watered with tap water or hose, the water can either run through the soil, leaving little for the plant to access or it builds up in the soil saturating it so the plant drowns. I do adjust the amount of ice depending on the size of the pot and what plant it holds. For the above pot I use three cubes. For the Aloe below I use only one or two since it is a desert plant. The Aloe is about 6 years old (from Richters Herbs) and I have included a before and after style picture. Of course the big one you see is the after - after repotting and about two years of slow water!
I know its hard to tell but the bottom photo is actually in a pot about 4 inches smaller than the top pot (yellow one). The Aloe has thrived in this location which is in front of a North facing window, but we always have a light of some type on there. I'm sure that is why it leans to the right - that is where the light is on!
It may take some practice to get to know what your plants like, but this slow water system will work anywhere if it will work here. I usually give the Rosemary and Sage plants ice every day, but for Aloe and Poinsetta I only do once a week. I do add worm juice to the Rosemary and Sage and Poinsetta once a year, but the Aloe is happy, happy, happy and I leave it alone with its' ice! I know you are probably wondering where the pictures of the Sage and Poinsetta are but they are not in great shape right now - the Sage due to a canniballistic harvesting by my husband to make sausage, and the Poinsetta because it just bloomed for Christmas and it only wants to hibernate for a while! Another time for those two! For now - try your hand at indoor herbs and just put them on ice! Its nice!
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