You've brought home your first herbs, found them a place near a window and perhaps even bought some new pots.
Now comes the part that makes many beginners nervous.
What are you supposed to do with them?
The temptation is to start doing things immediately: water them, repot them, fertilize them, move them into more sunlight, trim them and check them every few hours.
Your new herbs usually need something much simpler.
They need suitable conditions and a little time.
This first week herb care checklist gives you one main thing to observe each day. It isn't a rigid seven-day treatment schedule. Your basil doesn't know it's Tuesday, and your parsley doesn't need water simply because a checklist says Day 3.
Instead, use your first week to learn what your plants and your home are telling you.
A newly purchased herb has just experienced a major change.
It may have travelled from a commercial greenhouse to a store and then into your home. The temperature, humidity, light and watering routine may all be different.
A little drooping or adjustment doesn't automatically mean something is seriously wrong.
Unless there is an obvious problem that requires attention, resist the urge to change everything at once.
If you simultaneously repot, fertilize, prune heavily and move the plant repeatedly, it becomes much harder to understand how it is responding.
Start by giving it a sensible location and observing it.
Your first job is choosing where your herbs will live.
Most culinary herbs benefit from a bright location, but the brightest spot in one apartment can be very different from the brightest spot in another.
Look at your available windows and consider how much usable daylight reaches them.
Don't consider light alone.
Also check for:
Once you've chosen a reasonable location, give the plant a chance to experience it.
Don't move it from room to room several times every day trying to find perfection.
Today, don't begin by reaching for the watering can.
Begin by checking the potting mix.
Does it still feel quite moist? Is it beginning to dry? Is it extremely dry?
Also look underneath the container.
Does the pot have drainage holes? Is there water sitting in the saucer or decorative outer pot?
Different herbs, pots and homes dry at different speeds. That's why "water every two days" is a poor rule for indoor herbs.
If the plant needs water, water it properly and allow excess moisture to drain.
If it doesn't need water, leave it alone.
Learning not to water when water isn't needed is an important part of plant care.
Your plant's leaves can tell you that something has changed.
Take a minute to look closely.
Are they upright and healthy-looking? Are some beginning to droop? Do you see yellowing, browning or damaged areas?
Don't panic over one imperfect leaf.
Plants are living things, not plastic decorations. An older or damaged leaf doesn't automatically indicate a crisis.
Instead, look for patterns.
Several rapidly yellowing leaves, widespread wilting or continuing deterioration deserves more attention than one blemish.
Remove material that is clearly dead or decaying if necessary, but avoid giving a small, newly adjusting herb a dramatic haircut.
By now you've had several opportunities to see what happens around your chosen growing location during the day.
Look at it again.
How much daylight actually reaches the herbs?
A location that appears bright to you may still provide relatively little useful light to a plant, especially farther away from a window.
Also consider seasonal changes and obstructions outside the window.
If your herbs are in the brightest practical location you have, keep observing their growth.
If natural light proves inadequate, supplemental lighting may eventually be useful.
But don't buy equipment simply because four days have passed. First establish whether inadequate light is actually a problem in your situation.
Check the growing tips and stems.
Can you see small new leaves developing?
New growth is useful because it tells you more about how the plant is responding to its current conditions than an old leaf that was already damaged when you bought it.
Don't worry if you can't see dramatic growth after five days.
Different herbs grow at different rates, and a plant adjusting to a new environment may not immediately race into action.
You're looking for signs of stability and progress, not demanding a harvest before the first weekend.
Give your herbs a closer inspection today.
Look at the upper and lower surfaces of leaves and around the stems.
Watch for things such as:
Finding something unusual doesn't mean you should immediately spray the plant with whatever product happens to be nearby.
First identify the problem.
Early observation is useful because a problem is generally easier to deal with before it has spread through a larger indoor plant collection.
If you've bought several new plants at once, paying attention during their first weeks is especially worthwhile.
After a week, you already know more about your particular herb garden than you did on Day 1.
Ask yourself:
This information is more useful than blindly following a generic watering calendar.
You're beginning to learn the rhythm of your own indoor garden.
Here's the whole week in one quick checklist:
Plant care becomes much easier once observation becomes a habit.
Beginners can sometimes harm new plants through enthusiasm rather than neglect.
During the first week, avoid doing things simply because they feel like "plant care."
Don't water automatically every day.
Don't keep the roots permanently standing in water.
Don't fertilize repeatedly in an attempt to force growth.
Don't move the plant to a different location every few hours.
Don't remove lots of healthy foliage unnecessarily.
Don't buy a collection of gadgets before identifying a need for them.
There are exceptions. A severely overcrowded supermarket basil plant, for example, may benefit from being divided and repotted once it is stable enough.
But intervention should solve a reason you can identify.
Doing more isn't automatically caring more.
Don't diagnose the problem from one symptom alone.
Wilting, for example, doesn't automatically mean "add water."
Check the basics systematically.
Is the soil extremely dry?
Is it actually soaking wet?
Can excess water escape from the container?
Is the plant getting appropriate light?
Has it been exposed to unusually hot or cold conditions?
Is there visible evidence of pests or disease?
Has it recently been repotted or otherwise disturbed?
Working through those questions is much more useful than randomly changing several things at once.
If the struggling plant is supermarket basil, its original growing setup may itself be part of the problem.
Congratulations: you've made it through the least complicated seven-day gardening course imaginable.
More importantly, you've started learning how your plants behave in your home.
Continue checking the soil instead of watering by calendar. Keep watching how the light changes. Look for healthy new growth and deal with problems when there is evidence of one.
As the herbs establish themselves, you can begin thinking more about regular harvesting, longer-term feeding, repotting when necessary and the individual needs of each herb.
You don't need to master all of indoor gardening during Week 1.
You just need to start paying attention.
For the basic equipment your plants actually need:
Related: Essential Supplies for Herb Growing Indoors
If you want to keep your setup inexpensive:
Related: Budget Indoor Herb Garden List
And for the complete beginner path: