Sow These 4 Fast-Growing Kitchen Herbs in January for Speedy Harvests as Early as March

Gardening can often feel like a waiting game, and as the year starts, spring may seem light years away. But if you want to squeeze some viable growing opportunities into these sleepy, dark winter weeks, a kitchen window herb garden is a great way to manifest some fast homegrown indoor color – and flavor. While the garden outside is still slumbering, your kitchen can be a productive hub of green growth.

If you fancy cultivating some easy wins ahead of spring and you’re willing to grow them indoors, windowsill gardening is your ticket to fast-growing flavor – and these 4 herbs skip to the head of the line. You don’t need a greenhouse, just a sunny windowsill, pots, and potting soil. These herbs are fuss-free, grow fast, and can be ready to enjoy in a matter of weeks from planting for super early spring herbs.

Growing herbs in containers will brighten up your kitchen quickly, and very soon your cooking, too. They provide that hit of fresh, zesty flavor that winter cooking often craves. A mini herb garden for kitchen window crops ahead of spring is about choosing “speed demons” – herbs that germinate quickly and tolerate lower light levels. Here are 4 of the best herbs to start in January for guaranteed harvests by March.

Herbs for Quick Wins on Your Kitchen Window

I’m a firm believer that a kitchen feels more alive with something edible growing in it. I’m also a great fan of herb gardens, and tend to have one going all year long. To get from seed to plate in under eight weeks, I’ve selected four kitchen garden favorites for a windowsill garden based on their vigor (that’s gardener-speak for fast and healthy growth). These are some of the easiest herbs to grow from seed, and they practically grow themselves: sweet basil, cilantro, mint, and chives.

January light is admittedly a little weak. Rotate containers by 90 degrees every few days. This prevents herbs from leaning too far toward the glass and becoming leggy or straggly. Grow on a south-facing windowsill if possible. Failing that, a simple LED grow light can give your burgeoning indoor herb kitchen the best chance of developing flourishing harvests by March. Go for a full-spectrum option such as the Fecida Full Spectrum Indoor Light with Adjustable Height from Amazon.

1. Sweet Basil

Bright, beautiful basil leaves are aromatic and add a fresh, herbaceous flavor to salads, sauces, and soups. With its vibrant green leaves and intoxicating aroma, basil is a “pinch pro” favorite and a culinary staple. It’s used in a variety of cuisines, including Italian, Thai, and Indian. And it’s a great choice if you want an herb that grows fast and smells amazing while doing it.

Place it in a south-facing window that gets 6-8 hours of bright light daily, or use grow lights. Grow in well-draining soil, and water when the top of the soil is dry. Basil germinates in as little as 5 days, turns into a seedling in 2 weeks, and is ready for harvesting in as little as 4 weeks. Great varieties for your kitchen herb garden include ‘Windowbox’ varieties and ‘Genovese Sweet Basil’, available as seeds from Amazon. These varieties are bred to stay bushy and lush, rather than getting leggy as they reach for the weak January sun.

To guarantee the lushest growth and tastiest crops, once your basil has three sets of leaves, pinch the center stem off just above the top set. This feels counterintuitive, but it forces the plant to double its stems, giving you a bushier plant and a larger harvest by March. You can effectively double your harvest every time you snack. Once the plant reaches maturity, it can be harvested frequently.

2. Cilantro

Cilantro (Coriandrum sativum) looks a little like parsley, but it’s fragrant, strong and citrusy, making a great addition to salads, chili, and Mexican dishes. Its bright green leaves look delicate and lacy, but cilantro is no prima donna – and it’s famously fast to cultivate, so it’s more than happy in your late winter kitchen garden.

Choose slow-bolting varieties such as ‘Santo’ or ‘Leisure’ which won’t rush to turn into flowers (and bitter leaves) the moment they get a little stressed. You can also buy slow-to-bolt ‘Calypso’ as seeds from Burpee. Sow in light, well-draining soil in a spot that gets at least 4 hours of sun each day. Gently crushing the husks before planting or soaking them in lukewarm water for 24 hours can help speed up germination.

You can harvest young leaves just 3 weeks after planting. The entire lifecycle from seed to mature cilantro averages 30-45 days. Cilantro is a great succession plant, and if you sow a fresh pinch of seeds every couple of weeks, you can enjoy never-ending harvests right through summer into fall.

3. Mint

Many of us hesitate to include mint in the veggie garden since it spreads like wildfire. But contain that vigor in a pot by your windowsill, and it’s a very different proposition. That rapid growth makes it an early-season winner for kitchen gardens. With its refreshing aroma and lively flavor, mint is a powerhouse herb that flourishes with very little effort. In terms of mint varieties, ‘Peppermint’ is classic, but for an indoor treat, buy ‘Chocolate Mint’ from Burpee in packs of seeds. It smells like a peppermint patty and thrives in pots.

Just fill the container with well-draining soil and keep it consistently moist but never wet. Mint is also less bothered by tricky light situations. It is incredibly resilient to the fluctuating temperatures of a January kitchen and can thrive in partial shade. It grows rapidly, and spreads even more quickly. Get ready for quick germination; sprouts appear in just a week, and plants mature 6 weeks from sowing. Once your mint is established, simply snip off leaves for crops as needed. Mint grows back fast after every harvest.

4. Chives

Chives are a fantastic choice for your indoor herb garden, germinating in less than a week, and ready for snipping within 4 weeks. The ultimate low maintenance plants, they are also cut-and-come-again heroes. The more you snip, the more they seem to produce. It’s like growing a mild green onion you can snip again and again. This herb, with its delicate flavor, is a particular delight in creamy dressings and butters.

Chives are really easy to grow indoors. They handle the cooler air near a windowpane better than most. If you have a clump of chives in your garden frozen outside, you can dig up a small plug, pot it, and bring it inside to force it into early growth. Otherwise, sow seeds thickly. You can buy Common Chives from Amazon as packs of seeds for indoor winter pots.

These indoor herbs grow fast in rich, well-draining soil, placed in a spot with 3-6 hours of full sun per day. After they mature, regular snipping leads to bushy growth. When harvesting, always leave at least an inch of green stem above the soil; this allows the plant to recharge and regrow rapidly.

Considerations for Early Herbs

When planting herbs indoors in January, picking low-maintenance, fast-growing varieties just makes sense. You get fast-growing edibles and garnishes brightening up the kitchen, as well as early season microgreens for snacks. To help your herb garden flourish and mature quickly, just follow these important care tips:

1. Most herbs do best with moist soil. But the moment ‘moist’ turns to ‘soggy’ your herbs will not be happy, as they hate wet feet. Make sure pots have adequate drainage holes to prevent root rot, and pick well-draining soil so herbs don’t hold on to water. Use a dedicated mix for seeds like Espoma Organic Seed Starter Premium from Amazon which is light and fluffy for tiny January roots to breathe.
2. Herbs do not need heavy feeding. Many don’t require any at all. So if you want to fertilize, use a gentle water-soluble fertilizer once a month at most, like Organic Plant Magic Water Soluble Plant Food from Amazon. And maintain proper watering. Don’t flood the herbs every day. Water when the top inch of soil feels dry.
3. The great thing about container gardens indoors is that you can control the temperatures. Keep the temperature moderate, avoiding drastic temperature changes and prevent overnight drafts. Avoid the radiator trap if growing away from the kitchen window. While herbs like warmth, sitting directly above a roaring radiator will dry them out in hours. Aim for a spot that stays around 18-21°C (65-70°F).

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