Yes, your herbs grow without windows when you give them proper LED lighting. Plants need certain light colors to make food for growth. Modern grow lights give your herbs what they need without any natural sun at all.
My kitchen has zero windows in it. The past owners turned a garage into this room and never added any light sources. I set up a Click and Grow on my counter anyway and gave it a try. I grew basil, mint, and parsley for over a year with great results. The built-in LEDs gave those plants all they needed to thrive. Guests thought I had a sunny window somewhere until I showed them my dark room.
Full-spectrum LED lights copy the colors your plants use from the sun. Blue light in the 400-500 nanometer range pushes leaf growth for you. Red light in the 600-700 nanometer range helps overall health in your herbs. Good grow lights mix both colors plus others to give your plants complete light food.
Oklahoma State Extension says LED grow lights run for 50,000 hours before they get dim on you. That means over five years of use for your garden. A 16-watt LED covers about one square foot for herbs like mint that do fine with less light. Your basil needs 25-30 watts per square foot to grow its best.
Light Selection Needs
- Wattage needed: Plan for 16-30 watts per square foot based on your herb types. Your basil needs the high end of that range.
- Spectrum type: Get full-spectrum LEDs made for plants rather than normal house bulbs that lack the right colors for you.
- Timer is key: Use auto timers set for 14-16 hours daily since your windowless room adds zero natural light to help out.
Placing Your Lights
- Height above plants: Keep your lights 6-12 inches from leaf tops. Raise them as plants grow taller to keep that gap right.
- Coverage area: Make sure light hits all your plants the same since dark rooms have no extra light to fill shadows.
- Use adjustable mounts: Pick systems with lights that move up and down or add your own hanging setup for changes.
Air Flow Matters
- Why you need it: Rooms without windows often have stale air that can cause mold and weak stems on your plants.
- Easy fix: A small USB fan on low gives enough breeze to make your stems strong and stop fungus from starting.
- Where to aim it: Point your fan so leaves move gently rather than blasting plants with a strong steady wind.
A windowless herb garden works best with systems that have lights built in for you. Click and Grow, AeroGarden, and others like them take away all the guesswork. The makers figured out the right distances and run times so you do not have to figure them out yourself.
Using grow lights no sunlight means running them longer than setups you place near windows. Your plants in dark rooms get zero help from daytime brightness outside. Set your timers for the full 14-16 hours rather than shorter cycles that work when some natural light chips in to help.
Check that your growing spot has enough fresh air before you start your garden. Dark rooms sometimes trap heat from your grow lights inside. They also lack the air flow that windows bring into the space. A small fan and opening the door now and then fixes most air quality issues you might face. I run my fan for two hours each day and have never had any mold problems with my herbs.
Read the full article: 7 Best Indoor Herb Gardens for Your Kitchen
