I have basil, cilantro, rosemary, thyme and parsley going strong on my kitchen windowsill. Beats paying the price for herbs at the store. The rosemary and thyme (yes, I sound like an old song, LOL) are oldtimers I winter over. The others were started from seed in early February.
I'm going to break one of my tomato growing rules this year. We've been in our new house almost four years with many weird microclimates and soil variations as the builder had scraped all the good soil and rearranged some. I had a fantastic crop of tomatoes in 2006 on a big berm in the back but it was infested with those horrible tomato hornworms. I still got a great crop. I rotated to the junk soil near the house last year and even with the addition of tons of compost and manure, they were anemic at best.
I'm going to grow corn on the north side of the berm and attempt tomatoes again to the south. My husband and son like to pluck off the hornworms and flick them into the farmer's field behind us. I'll let them enjoy the job while I'm staking the delphiniums and hollyhocks. :)
Have you ever read the Ruth Stout books, she wrote about gardening without tilling.
I thought she said she pulled back the mulch, scattered the pea seeds and covered them well, before the first snow, so they came up when ready.
LOL, I tried her methods, and it does not work in Arizona, here we have to water all year.
On the horn worms, all I can say is, that I never found any thing that would eat them.
I did find that having a Datura plant in the tomato area drew them in, after they ate the datura, they ate tomatoes.
I have gone miles out in the desert and found them munching on the datura plants.
I have not tried the worms for fishing.
Growing herbs in the kitchen is excellent, right there and ready to use.
Welcome to you and do join in, anytime.