Community Spotlight: Tyler and the Basilstalk

After spotting an amazing photo of Tyler’s towering basil plant, we just had to reach out and learn more about his journey into indoor herb gardening. What makes this story even more impressive? Tyler’s basil plant was grown indoors during a chilly NYC winter!

So Tyler, what got you interested in indoor gardening?

"I love the taste of fresh herbs in my cooking—nothing compares to the flavor! When I buy them at the market, they usually cost a few dollars per packet, and I end up wasting most of them before I can use it all. I tried freezing the herbs, but the taste just wasn’t the same."

Have you tried indoor herb gardening before?

"My fiancé and I live in an apartment, and last summer we set up a planter box outside our window. The herb garden was going great until we forgot to water it for a week, and everything dried out! I had never really thought about indoor gardening, but I planted one of the Urban Leaf indoor grow kits last fall, and it’s been giving us fresh herbs all winter with no signs of slowing down. At first, we only had to water it every 3-4 weeks, and now that it’s bigger, we top it off every 2-3 weeks."

Sounds like you’re quite the chef—how have you been using your homegrown herbs?

"I use the herbs a lot in my everyday cooking. We make our own tomato sauce, so the basil has been a go-to for that. Another recent favorite was a mango shrimp over rice dish. A few weeks ago, we had friends over and made a charcuterie board with basil as the centerpiece—you could pick leaves directly from the plant. Our guests loved it!"

You've grown one of the tallest basil plants we’ve seen from an indoor herb garden. Any secrets about your setup?

"We have a nice south-facing window with plenty of light, but other than that, nothing special!"

Thanks for chatting with us, Tyler!