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11d โ€ข Herbs & Edibles
๐ŸŒฟ Why Your Indoor Herbs Are Leggy (And How to Fix Them Fast)
If your indoor herbs look tall, skinny, floppy, or like theyโ€™re reaching for something they canโ€™t quite grabโ€ฆ
Youโ€™re not doing anything wrong.
Theyโ€™re just hungry for light.
Leggy herbs are one of the clearest signals plants sendโ€”and thankfully, one of the easiest problems to fix.
๐ŸŒฑ ๐–๐ก๐š๐ญ โ€œ๐‹๐ž๐ ๐ ๐ฒโ€ ๐‘๐ž๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐Œ๐ž๐š๐ง๐ฌ
Leggy herbs have:
* Long, stretched stems
* Wide spacing between leaves
* Smaller or paler foliage
* A leaning or flopping habit
This happens when plants grow toward light thatโ€™s too weak or too far away.
In winter, even sunny windows often arenโ€™t enough.
๐ŸŒฟ ๐“๐ก๐ž ๐‘๐ž๐š๐ฅ ๐‘๐ž๐š๐ฌ๐จ๐ง๐ฌ ๐ˆ๐ง๐๐จ๐จ๐ซ ๐‡๐ž๐ซ๐›๐ฌ ๐†๐ž๐ญ ๐‹๐ž๐ ๐ ๐ฒ
Hereโ€™s whatโ€™s usually going on behind the scenes:
๐Ÿ. ๐๐จ๐ญ ๐„๐ง๐จ๐ฎ๐ ๐ก ๐‹๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ญ (๐“๐ก๐ž #๐Ÿ ๐‚๐š๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ž)
Winter sun is lower, weaker, and shorter. Herbs need bright light to stay compact.
๐Ÿ. ๐‹๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ญ ๐ˆ๐ฌ ๐“๐จ๐จ ๐…๐š๐ซ ๐€๐ฐ๐š๐ฒ
A window across the room โ‰  usable light.
Herbs need light close, not just visible.
๐Ÿ‘. ๐ˆ๐ง๐Ÿ๐ซ๐ž๐ช๐ฎ๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐‡๐š๐ซ๐ฏ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ g
When herbs arenโ€™t trimmed, they stretch upward instead of filling out.
๐Ÿ’. ๐–๐š๐ซ๐ฆ ๐ˆ๐ง๐๐จ๐จ๐ซ ๐“๐ž๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฌ
Warm rooms + low light = fast, weak growth.
โœ‚๏ธ ๐‡๐จ๐ฐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐…๐ข๐ฑ ๐‹๐ž๐ ๐ ๐ฒ ๐‡๐ž๐ซ๐›๐ฌ ๐…๐š๐ฌ๐ญ
You donโ€™t need to start over. Try this simple rescue plan:
๐Ÿ. ๐Œ๐จ๐ฏ๐ž ๐“๐ก๐ž๐ฆ ๐‚๐ฅ๐จ๐ฌ๐ž๐ซ ๐ญ๐จ ๐‹๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ญ
* South- or west-facing windows work best
* Rotate pots every few days
๐Ÿ. ๐€๐๐ ๐š ๐†๐ซ๐จ๐ฐ ๐‹๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ญ (๐„๐ฏ๐ž๐ง ๐“๐ž๐ฆ๐ฉ๐จ๐ซ๐š๐ซ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฒ)
* Place lights 6โ€“12 inches above herbs
* 10โ€“14 hours per day is ideal
* Even a small clip-on light can help
๐Ÿ‘. ๐๐ซ๐ฎ๐ง๐ž ๐–๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐๐ฎ๐ซ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฌ๐ž
* Cut stems back to just above a leaf node
* Donโ€™t be afraid as this encourages bushier growth
* Use what you trim (hello, dinner!)
๐Ÿ’. ๐„๐š๐ฌ๐ž ๐”๐ฉ ๐จ๐ง ๐–๐š๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐ข๐ง๐ 
Leggy herbs often get overwatered.
Let the soil dry slightly between waterings.
๐ŸŒฟ ๐‡๐ž๐ซ๐›๐ฌ ๐Œ๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐‹๐ข๐ค๐ž๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ญ๐จ ๐†๐ž๐ญ ๐‹๐ž๐ ๐ ๐ฒ ๐ˆ๐ง๐๐จ๐จ๐ซ๐ฌ
These are the usual suspects in winter:
* Basil
* Cilantro
* Dill
* Parsley
* Chives
Theyโ€™re not failing. Theyโ€™re just asking for better light support.
๐Ÿšซ ๐–๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐๐จ๐ญ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ƒ๐จ
* Donโ€™t fertilize to โ€œfixโ€ legginess
* Donโ€™t keep moving plants daily
* Donโ€™t ignore trimming out of fear
Legginess is a ๐ฅ๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ญ ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ž, not a nutrient issue.
๐ŸŒผ ๐…๐ข๐ง๐š๐ฅ ๐“๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ ๐ก๐ญ: ๐‹๐ž๐ ๐ ๐ฒ ๐Œ๐ž๐š๐ง๐ฌ ๐“๐ก๐ž๐ฒโ€™๐ซ๐ž ๐“๐ซ๐ฒ๐ข๐ง๐ 
Your herbs arenโ€™t giving up, theyโ€™re stretching because they want to grow.
Give them better light, a good haircut, and a little patienceโ€ฆ
And theyโ€™ll reward you with fuller, healthier growth as winter fades.
Spring is closer than it feels ๐ŸŒฑ๐Ÿ’š
9
3 comments
Donna Scarborough
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๐ŸŒฟ Why Your Indoor Herbs Are Leggy (And How to Fix Them Fast)
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