What are my options for my herb garden

[zdawgnight]

I have a great herb garden chugging along on my apartment balcony. I just bought an awesome purple basil to join the ranks this past week and it got me thinking...wow I am incredibly new to this and have no clue what I am supposed to do when the weather starts getting cold. I have purple basil, sweet basil, chives, thyme and rosemary. What does everyone do with thier herbs over the winter... Everything is in pots so I could take them inside???

Also on a side note my chives started flowering is this an issue like basil? or can I just let it go and not worry?

[Moley]

Can't speak for the containers, but let the chivies flower, when young, the actual flowers are edible, I like to use them in salads or garnish for things that need an onion taste, eggs, salmon etc, pick the whole flower stalk discarding everything but the flower, separate the florets and eat.

Alternatively chives will self seed fairly well, either let them do their thing or simply save the seeds yourself for next year, free herbs.

[rainbowgardener]

Yes, since they are in containers, bring them in for the winter. Put them by the sunniest window you have and/or think about getting some supplemental lighting for them.

The rosemary is tricky to over winter. Be sure the soil it is in is sandy like cactus soil. Don't water it very much, but mist it frequently. It likes to get its water more from foliage than soil.

Here's some threads where applestar talks about how to overwinter rosemary:

http://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/v ... hp?t=19780

http://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/v ... hp?t=30935

I actually haven't tried over wintering the basil, since it grows so easily from seed. I just start more under light. But I'm sure there are people around here who have done it.

Some basils are annuals which are not going to come through the winter anyway and some are tender perennials:

http://earthnotes.tripod.com/basil_h.htm