Grow your own herbs
The easiest way to grow your own herbs indoors is with a tabletop grow light or Hydropoinc system. They are compact enough to look good on your kitchen counter; you can put them anywhere and your plants will have their own lite source.
Of course, you can grow any type of herb you want, but I might warn you about parsley and cilantro, they can get pretty tall when mature, so make sure your tabletop growing system has enough height adjustment to accomadate plants that grow 12″ high or more. Then again, you can also shave off the top of your parsley and cilantro (harvest them) to keep them to a workable size for your tabletop system.
The whole idea about growing your own herbs is to be able to harvest them fresh when you want them. If you get too much growth, you can share your fresh herbs with others, or dry them or freeze them. I’m not sure how cilantro is, dried or frozen, as I have never done it. Just about everything else will dry nicely, which can then be used as gifts, on a campout, or saved for a period when you have no herbs mature enough to harvest.
I would suggest you grow a variety of herbs that you have not used in the past and explore what they can do for your cooking. Winter is such a good time to have them available for making soups and stews and oven dishes. Use fresh herbs for making flavored oils and vinegars for use on salads. These, too, make wonderful gifts with that homemade touch everyone seems to really appreciate.
Of course, you can also grow your own herbs without a tabletop system, you simply need a place to put them and supply them with a plant lite, as the short winter days tell plants to hybernate, and you won’t get any growth without enough lite hours. You can put your lite on a timer so you never need to worry if the sun is coming out for your plants, which makes it nice if you are going away for the weekend. I would recommed a greenhouse, raised garden bed and a composter for best results
I know of nothing any nicer for someone who is cooking than to have fresh herbs at hand. Just the smell of basil when you brush it with your hand can make you want to get creative.
