Quite a few of the herbs mentioned in this book will grow well indoors (chervil, indeed grows somewhat better inside than out), but herbs grown this way should all have light or reflected sunlight or warmth on them for at least a part of each day.
During the autumn, choose several of the smaller plants from your nursery, like basil, marjoram or a young rosemary. It is best to repot them into a larger container to promote initial growth, and then stand them in a sunny corner of your kitchen or near a window. They will also grow well in a covered patio corner or enclosed sunroom, provided they get water periodically. Late summer and early autumn sowing of basil will produce young plants ready to pot out and carry you through the winter, but only if you can grow them indoors in a warm atmosphere. Basil is a frost-tender plant, and the first icy fingers will scorch and blacken it.
Herbs grown in pots indoors will remain more dwarfed than outdoor plants. But their flavour and perfume will be almost as good as if grown outside.
Window boxes are a pleasant way to grow herbs indoors. If you live in an old house with wide window-sills, get someone to make you a shallow metal tray about 1 1\2 inches deep, put in it a layer of gravel, crocks or decorative small stones, and stand your pots on top. You can water them freely and still have good drainage. A true window box made of waterproof ply and painted white looks very Mediterranean and is utilitarian as well. Suspend it with plugs into the bricks, or on chains as shown; but remember it will be fairly weighty filled with wet soil, so make your fastenings strong and secure.
Bore f-inch drainage holes spaced 5 to 8 inches apart in the bottom of the box, then put a layer of broken terracotta crocks or gravel in the bottom. Fill up with the usual potting mixture of coarse sand, loam and peat moss and compost; and in this case some blood and bone and a sprinkling of dolomite can be added as well, together with some pieces of charcoal, if available, to keep the soil sweet. Just a sprinkling of the blood and bone will do, but mix it thoroughly through, and leave the whole box for several days before putting in your plants. Just tease out the roots slightly when you up-end the nursery pot, or dip the plant briefly in warm water to free the outside roots.
Pick the sunniest window sill, and hope it is your kitchen or dining room, then you can snip off fresh leaves for your salad mixed at the table.
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