Skip to main content

Bring your herb garden indoors for the winter to keep your harvest healthy

As the temperature drops, you may notice leaves on your favorite garden herbs dropping as well. Even if you live in the appropriate climate zone for your herbs, they may benefit from going indoors over the winter. If you’re wondering why some herbs should go indoors and how to bring them indoors to ensure their chances of survival, you’re just in luck. Ahead, we’ve rounded up everything you need to know about keeping your herbs healthy once cold weather sets in.

Herbs indoors
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Why bring your herbs indoors

Bringing your herbs indoors will, first and foremost, protect them from freezing temperatures and cold winds. You’ll especially want to transport your plants indoors during the winter if they’re not perennial to your climate zone. Plants will also go dormant sooner outside and stop pushing out new leaves. Bringing them indoors essentially extends the growing season, so you can enjoy fresh herbs throughout the year if you provide enough light and warmth.

When to bring your herbs indoors

The best time to bring your herbs indoors during late fall or early winter is before the temperatures reach below freezing, so just as they hit the low to mid-30s. The colder it gets, the more likely it is for your plants to experience transplant shock when you bring them inside. Some herbs that can tolerate transplanting well include oregano, thyme, rosemary, and chives.

It’s easiest to bring perennial herbs inside during the winter. Annuals will likely die during late fall, so simply collect their seeds to grow new herbs before the last frost in the spring. If you notice surviving sprouts of your favorite annual plants, you can overwinter them indoors as well.

Herbs on kitchen counter
Image used with permission by copyright holder

How to bring your herbs indoors

If you have your herbs in a small planter outside, you’re more or less good to go. Inspect the leaves for unwanted bugs, trim leggy branches, remove dead leaves, and bring your plant indoors. If you want to transport your herbs from a big planter or the ground, the process is more involved. Take a trowel and gently unearth your plants, making sure not to disrupt the roots too much — take parts of the surrounding soil if necessary. Place the herbs into containers that accommodate their root balls (with space to spare) and add a well-draining potting mix. You can leave your plants in shady spots or under a patio awning over a few days to help them adjust to being inside. Alternatively, bring your herbs in each night for one to two weeks before you keep them indoors permanently.

When your plants are inside, give them time to adjust — you may notice the occasional leaf turning yellow and dropping, but this is perfectly normal. If possible, give your plants at least six hours of direct sunlight a day. If your indoor conditions can’t accommodate that, bring in grow lights to supplement your natural lighting. During winter, there’s no need to feed your plants. You’ll want to cut back on watering your plants as well. Only give your herbs a drink when the top inch or two of the soil is dried out. When it comes to temperature, a 65 to 70 degree Fahrenheit range is ideal — if it’s comfortable for you, it should be comfortable for your herbs.

As a means of insurance, take cuttings of your newly transplanted herbs and root them in water. But don’t take too much of your herbs, as they may be recovering from the transplant shock of moving inside. If you notice your plants struggling, pinching them back can also stimulate new growth.

Person growing herbs outside
Image used with permission by copyright holder

When to bring your herbs outdoors again

The best time to bring your herbs outdoors again, of course, is after the last frost around springtime. Again, you might want to slowly adjust your plants to outdoor conditions by bringing them out each morning or afternoon before you commit to bringing them outside permanently. Spring is also the ideal time to start seeds. You can start seeds indoors a few months before the last frost or wait for temperatures to warm up and plant them outdoors. It’s fine to grow herbs outside when the temperatures rise above the freezing point; just know that the higher the mercury goes in early spring, the more likely it is that your plants will survive.

You don’t need to yield to the idea of your herbs inevitably dying in the winter. At the very least, bringing your plants indoors will protect them from harsh winter freezes. With bright light and warm temperatures, you may even be lucky enough to collect harvests during this time of year as well.

Editors' Recommendations

Stacey Nguyen
Stacey's work has appeared on sites such as POPSUGAR, HelloGiggles, Buzzfeed, The Balance, TripSavvy, and more. When she's…
These are the most popular indoor plants of 2023 – add one or all to your collection
Trendy houseplants of 2023 that you need for your home
A small collection of houseplants

It’s time to start looking forward to the next year, and that includes looking for new indoor plants. Whether you just want to know what plants you can expect to see in stores or are looking for a gift for the plant lover in your life and aren’t sure where to start, we can help! We’ve got the inside scoop from Breanna Sherlock, an in-house plant expert for the plant care app Planta. Here are the top five plants you can expect to see rise in popularity during 2023.

Hoya
Hoyas are fantastic plants that come in a wide range of varieties. From beginner-friendly, low-maintenance hoyas to more challenging and finicky varieties, there’s a hoya for every home gardener! With their diverse appearances, hoyas can match even the most specific interior decor themes.

Read more
The best Christmas herbs to grow to infuse the Yuletide spirit into your home
Your guide to choosing and growing delicious and fragrant holiday herbs
Sprigs of Christmas herbs next to holly and twine

Towering trees and bold poinsettias aren’t the only foliage plants that tell you it's time for the holidays. When it comes to channeling the Yuletide spirit, festive Christmas herbs and spices are great for brewing teas, garnishing dishes, and infusing the home with aromatherapy to counter holiday stress. If you’re wondering what kinds of herbs are hardy enough for the holiday season and how you can grow and use them, we’ve got you covered. 

Peppermint
Perhaps the most famous holiday herb of them all is peppermint, which is beloved for its fresh and cooling taste. We love a striped candy cane as much as the next person, but you can definitely go straight to the source if you don’t have much of a sweet tooth.

Read more
Here’s how often you should be fertilizing your indoor plants
Here's what to know about fertilizing indoor plants
A person laying out all the materials to fertilize a houseplant

Many people use fertilizers to make up for poor soil or to give plants a boost right before blooming or fruiting. Using fertilizers in outdoor gardens can be fairly simple, but what about indoor plants? You can usually use the same fertilizers for both indoor and outdoor gardens, but that doesn't mean using them in the same way.

Indoor plants have less soil, so you might wonder if they need a different amount of fertilizer or a different fertilizer schedule. If you're asking, "How often should you fertilize indoor plants?" -- we have answers.

Read more