DIY Herb Planter

So my parents have a ton of these old fruit crates in their garage that they’re not really doing too much with, and last week I decided… I really want fresh herbs. What better way to grow them than in a cute little wooden garden?

Making this was super, super easy. With a little help from google to make sure I knew what I was doing, I was able to scrounge up everything I needed from what we had at home (because I don’t have a car and I’m poor). So let’s go!

You will need: a wooden box (they generally sell old milk crate/fruit crates for about $10, I think, at antique stores.), a plastic liner, scissors and duct tape, rocks, potting mix, water, and herbs to plant.

Since my plastic liner is actually from when my mom grew a few plants inside, it was a bit long for the box. I am sure you can find one that is the dimensions you need, but if not, simply cut it down the middle, adjust the size, and tape in place.

Next, grab your rocks — which I totally just raked off of my parents’ driveway, because… y’know… why not? — and spread them evenly in the plastic liner. This will ensure that water has a good place to drain through and evaporate, to prevent your plants from having wet feet. Plants don’t like to sit in water.

And lastly, fill with potting mix — potting mix, by the way, is preferable to potting soil, as the soil will not be as good quality and may have non-organic matter and sticks and stuff in it. I know, because Google told me so. Haha! — plant your herbs, and water generously. How deep you fill the planter with dirt is really up to you– I used about 1/3 of the huge bag of potting mix to fill it within six inches of the top, but you can use less if it suits you. The box doesn’t end up being as heavy as I expected.

Plant your herbs according to their packaging, and water very generously. Be sure to plant like herbs together so that you aren’t over-watering one or under-watering the other — things such as basil and mint are good to plant together, as they both like to be moist all the time, or oregano, sage, and rosemary prefer to be drier and would work well together.

And there you have it! I love how easy this was, and how I didn’t actually have to purchase anything except the mint plant (which, if you don’t want to go to a home & garden store, you can usually find in your produce section at the grocery store — mine sells living mint and living basil, apparently!). I have quite a few more herb seeds from my  mom that I plan to plant, as I made two more boxes. One box will be drier herbs, and the other box will be flowers.

This will be a good test of my gardening skills… since I tend to kill indoor plants. Haha!

I hope you all have a lovely Thursday!

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