Does anyone do indoor herb gardening, at least over winter? I have so many questions.
A bit of background. Every summer we grow herbs outside this year it was basil, thyme, rosemary, cilantro, tarragon, mint and parsley (there were peppers and tomatoes as well); the mint is in ground and will regrow again next year, the thyme and rosemary pots come inside for the winter (but basically go dormant). We use a lot of herbs and during the summer we can just pop outside and snip a few, but in the winter we are basically limited to store bought. For several years we have said it would be nice to have a winter herb garden inside, but to make it worth it for us it need to be a good amount, not a few cute pots on the window sill. Since we are now going 2 to 3 weeks between grocery pick-ups and not popping by on the way home for odds n' ends perhaps this is the year we do something about it.
So questions:
First, have LED grow lights gotten there? It has been about 10 years since we used grow lights for seedling starting and at that time you could do CFL, but LED wasn't near as good for plant growth. If LED has gotten there is there anything to look for or to avoid?
Second, hydroponic vs soil, coco coir? When I try and research it everyone seems to have a strong opinion as to which is best. We are familiar with growing in soil and honestly we do not tend to react instantly when there is an issue.
Finally (for now), are there any good looking ready made solutions? I've been looking around and it seems like the decent sized system (3 tier for example) start at ~700 and then the sky's the limit. This would likely be in the kitchen so appearances matter. I could build something nice, but it would take time away from other projects.
Thanks.