Our (continued) indecision about where our vegetable and herb garden should permanently go at our new place means we missed the boat on planting anything this spring (check out our edible gardens of years past here and here). But in an attempt to grow something this year, we’ve come up with a temporary solution. And it involves this galvanized tub:
We figured we’d just do a potted herb garden this year, with only a few “edible essentials” for our kitchen. Which is why we picked up a foursome of local and organically grown herbs (parsley, oregano, basil, and mint) at the farmer’s market this weekend for $12. Speaking of which, you can read more about our trip to the market on BabyCenter today as part of their “Big Day Out” this Saturday.
But back to the tub. It was about $8 at Lowe’s (way cheaper than any planter of that size) and to turn it into our herb pot, we figured it could use some holes for drainage in the bottom. They were a cinch to make with my little cordless drill.
To make them a bit bigger, I also wiggled a big nail around in them too. Oh yeah, and I made the holes in a heart shape. Maybe I was feeling romantic? Maybe I was subliminally professing my love for galvanized tubs? Or it was an ode to the L in YHL? Either way, this photo is about the most any of us will ever see of it.
Update: A few savvy commenters recommended that we test for lead just to be sure it wouldn’t leech into our food if it was randomly present in the metal. We just used one of those $4 Lead Test Sticks from Home Depoton to test the seams, the inside, the outside, the bottom, and even the holes that we drill and it was negative. Whew. So that’s definitely something to test for if you’re not sure how pure your galvanized tin is (and you’re using it for edible herbs)!
Also for drainage, we put a layer of gravel on the bottom (they were leftovers from the patio project). Hopefully they’ll keep the majority of the soil from dripping out of my hidden hole-y heart.
Before adding any dirt, we did a quick “dry run” of the herb placement. The taller guys (basil and parsley) went in the back, and oregano got some special space on the side – since my oregano tends to get bushy. Yeah… not so sure I like the sound of that last sentence.
Of course, if things do well (i.e. grow big and strong) this tin could soon get a bit cramped. But hopefully we’ll achieve “full” and not go as far as “so full it’s bad.” But if so, we can always transplant things into their own larger dedicated pots. You know if anything gets all diva on us. And we’re keeping the mint from spreading like crazy by separating it in a buried pot (a tip we learned a while back at the farmer’s market from a friendly local gardener).
You can see dirt in the bottom of the pic above. That’s some organic potting mix that we snagged at Lowe’s. It was about twice as much as the regular stuff ($10 vs $6, I think) but we figured since we’ll be consuming these plants it was worth going the slightly more natural route (since they were organically grown up to this point).
We usually would use our nutrient rich compost pile, but since moving our DIY compost bins got a little jumbled while we got settled so we don’t appear to have enough “ready” soil to use just yet (aka: things are still breaking down).
Here are the plants all in and soil-ed up:
Since the patio (which also got a bit soil-ed, as you can see) isn’t very sunny, we decided to put the pot on our balcony-to-nowhere (right off of our living room and kitchen). Despite being between two sections of house, it gets a remarkable amount of light – almost the closest thing to full sun that we have on our mostly shaded property. Plus it’s pretty darn convenient to the kitchen.
The beauty of having our herb “garden” potted this year is that we can move it around to test other sun spots if we find that this one isn’t doing the trick (since we’re still trying to wrap our heads around sun patterns here). Heck, it might even help us decide where to put a more permanent garden next year (gotta find that sweet spot). And if we decide to keep this potted version around, it’ll still look good on the larger deck that we plan to build out here eventually. Maybe even as an oversized centerpiece on an outdoor table?
And since no herb garden story is complete with an artsy close-up of your plant labels – here we go!
If you’re wondering, Colonel Oregano is not some weird variety of oregano. It’s just me being weird. I decided it’d be funny to take our simple popsicle stick labels and give them the Clue-character treatment. You know like Miss Scarlet and Colonel Mustard? Here’s my whole cast of made up herbs / suspect names. Yes, I’m what Sherry’s dad likes to call “a strange bird” (he’s also the man trying to single-handedly bring back the term “sick puppy”).
Next year if we decide to grow peppers it will be tough deciding whether to give it the “Sergeant” or “Doctor” title. Though the idea of a Dr. Pepper plant sounds pretty awesome, so maybe I’ve already made my decision.
What are you guys growing this year? Anything sprouting up particularly well or deliciously? Anything not showing as much promise as you’d like? Anything murdering someone in the conservatory with the lead pipe?
Psst- Don’t forget to check out the rest of our Farmer’s Market adventures here on BabyCenter.
Ashley says
We were way too ambitious to plant our garden where we don’t live full time. It’s weed and grass central, but some crops are doing ok when that pesky ground hog leaves them alone. Here’s our latest look at the plot http://chumneyhouse.com/2011/05/25/on-the-fence/. I really like your herb tub. My friend Mollee over at My Broken Stomach potted herbs in a pretty way, too. Check it out here http://www.mybrokenstomach.com/?p=1273.
YoungHouseLove says
So cute!
xo,
s
annabelvita says
I think you should make some of this yummy looking drinking with all the recommended trimmings of miss mint http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/tips-techniques/easy-party-drink-dress-up-fizzy-water-with-raspberries-147597
annabelvita says
Or just lots of mojitos hahaha
Shannon says
We have a “pot garden” too this year! Mine is more because we have “chickens of mass destruction” that eat EVERYTHING. So I repurposed an over-the-door shoe rack and dug out all the extra pots we have to try and get some herbs and veggies this year. So far so good! I’m actually going to have to transplant things tonight because it has all done a little too well so far!
Here’s our unglamorous, but effective shoe planter.
http://quarryorchard.blogspot.com/2011/06/green-thumbs.html
YoungHouseLove says
That is both ingenious and hilarious.
xo,
s
Erika says
I love your little herb garden!!
I have my first “real” garden this year, and so far it’s doing great. I’ve already harvested squash and cucumbers, and before long I’ll have corn, okra, tomatoes and peppers.
It’s so fun to watch things grow!
Anita says
This is awesome- I’ve been dying to plant some herbs on our rooftop terrace and this is the perfect inspiration. One question – do the herbs last more than one season?
YoungHouseLove says
All of them are bi-annual or perennial except for the basil (annual) although sometimes things don’t come back due to the winter. I think it varies by zone though.
xo,
s
Nette @ This Dusty House says
I love the idea of using the tub for this! I have a couple herbs — a lone rosemary plant and a single sprig of thyme — that desperately need permanent homes before I kill them. Once we get our back patio going, I just might have to borrow this idea… definitely going in my inspiration folder.
Allyn says
We got some awesome and very large plastic pots at Wal-Mart this year that we drilled holes into the bottom and are using them for all of our current planting. They look so great, no one can believe they aren’t ceramic. Score!
Heather W. says
You just inspired me to break out my small wooden barrel that I use to plant my “pizza” garden of oregano, tomatoes, basil and hot peppers. I also took a wooden spatula from the dollar store and painted it to look like a piece of pizza and painted pizza garden on it to stick in the barrel. It is very cute. I just found this in my shed over the weekend and thought about breaking it back out this year. Consider it DONE! Thanks for the inspiration!
Alanna says
i’ve been experimenting with mixed vegetable planters this year… so far everything’s growing well. some things a little too well… i recently had to come up with a solution to a creeping cucumber problem on our patio.
http://alanna-wendt-to-tennessee.blogspot.com/2011/06/training-cucumber.html
Hunter says
That is super cute, and I love the idea of growing herbs in pots right near the kitchen.
My only concern (and this is almost certainly being overprotective) would be the tub. Our super-duper-organic-super-hippie neighbor has told us that we shouldn’t grow food plants in metal containers as they often contain lead.
Now obviously you guys are adults with credit cards and can do whatever you want. But since you seem the type to have the little lead test sticks around, I thought I’d pass it on.
With any luck at all, it’s just my neighbor being slightly too much of a tree hugger.
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks so much for the tip! Oh my gosh- so important! I’m off to lead test it right now.
xo,
s
YoungHouseLove says
Update: no lead! Whew. We tested the seams, outside, inside, and even the holes we drilled in the tin and it was completely negative. Thank goodness! Further googling around about planting things in galvanized steel said that it was completely safe (many farms use galvanized tins for tomatoes actually) although they didn’t recommend high heat food prep within a galvanized steel container (especially with acidic liquids) since it could leach at extremely high temps (500 degrees plus). So no open flame under a galvanized metal tin of spaghetti sauce! And of course if you have a cheaply made metal trash can it could have trace amounts of lead so doing a lead test just to be sure is always smart (test sticks are around $4 at Home Depot).
xo,
s
Kathryn says
Lookin’ good. We need to start an herb garden so badly…I need some good basil for my pasta sauce!
Stephanie says
Honestly? I like the look of that tub better than any planter you could have picked out!
And Liz A. had good advice about the mint. It really does get out of control very quickly. :-P
Melissa@Julia's Bookbag says
Your tub looks fab! For the first time ever, I finally got a strawberry pot and am growing about 5 different little varieties of strawberry! I thought it would be fun for Julia to be able to go out and see if there are any strawberries to pick :) One of the types we got is some French variety that apparently was introduced to the U.S. just a few years ago and they are supposedly super sweet. Now, if it would only STOP RAINING all the time, maybe these little babies will give us a teeny tiny harvest!
Adriane@fortheloveofpainting says
Cute idea…I have done herbs in the past, but never really used them, probably because of my lack of creativity in the kitchen! I do however have a veggie garden, which I actually use!
Angela Smith says
I so wanted to plant a garden this year, but where I live (Northern Utah) it has been a very rainy and COLD spring, much more so than usual. So no planting here. BOO!
As for the planned garden, have you thought about putting your garden in the “alley” between the two sections of house? Since that area tends to get the most sun…just build some steps from the existing small deck down to ground level and put in a garden there. Plus its convenient to the kitchen area. :D
YoungHouseLove says
We thought about that at first but have bigger plans for that space now (alfresco dining right off the kitchen!). It’ll take some work but hopefully we’ll get there. And then we can add a garden beyond that (in a smaller area that also gets some good sun). Here’s hoping…
xo,
s
Angela Smith says
Gotta say….I do love the idea of an outdoor dining area….
jamie says
I love the galvanized tub idea! I’m stashing that in the back of my brain for next spring.
I currently have some cilantro and basil growing in my window sill… those are the two herbs I seem to use most often. I’m trying my hand at a topsy turvy tomato plant and I have a cucumber plant going. We’ll see how well they turn out!
erin says
I love the names! When my sister was little she was in a fantastic playgroup and my mom had them plant an herb garden. All the plants had royal names. My sister will be 21 this year, and Mom still sometimes send us out to get a bit of King Basil or Princess Rosemary.
Sarah says
We planted our first vegetable garden here this spring. Tomatoes, cucumbers, radishes, and several herbs: basil, dill, parsley, rosemary, and thyme. We’re already on our second round of fresh pesto from the basil, and the first tomatoes are starting to ripen. With that, plus the peach tree, blueberry bushes, new raspberry canes, and lots of wild blackberries in the woods near our house, along with strawberry picking at our friends’ farm, it’s shaping up into a tasty year! The Army won’t let us live out in the country, but that doesn’t mean we can’t bring a little of the country here :-). Love that planter idea.
Haley says
I have a raised bed that I hesitated and didn’t plant this year (hesitated = had a baby and got too busy), but you gave me a great idea to just do some potted herbs so the whole season isn’t a wash. Great idea! Oh and my little sister says “sick pup” all the time, so you’re not the only one bringing it back.
Gina @ Running to the Kitchen says
Nice touch with the popsicle stick names :)
Mindy says
Yeah, mint is a beast–I usually put it in its own pot, far away from everything else, lol. We’re growing tomato plants (normal sized as well as cherry… great for plants!), pepper plants, and my squash and cucumber seeds finally sprouted this last week. Huzzah! You’ll love your little garden, herbs are the best, especially basil.
Annie says
We planted a neighborhood garden this year! There is an empty lot between our house and our neighbors and the owner graciously allowed us to till and plant it. So far, the only things growing are weeds! But eventually we will have corn, winter squash, summer squash, cucumbers, and more.
You may like the book Edible Landscaping by Rosalind Creasy – it just might help with your herb garden placement problem. The pictures are pretty too. Good luck!
Jaime says
I love potted herbs, and I have some basil and mint in pots on our back deck, despite having a garden to grow things in. One thing to watch is the oregano. It can be a beast. I’ve been trying to reduce ours for two years, and even a tree through our garden couldn’t take it out a few weeks ago. (Seriously. A tree fell after a bad storm and took out the garden, but the oregano was just fine. And it just continues to spread.)
And if you want to go for a potted vegetable (for this year at least), go with a tomato plant! They’re super easy. After the tree incident, I was lucky we still had a few unplanted tomatoes for pots.
emi says
Hey S and J. I used your link to take me to your original first attempt at making an edible garden… I am in the process of preparing an area to also do some gardening but the problem is that my area is somewhat small. By the looks of it it seems like your original area at your old house may have similar size. Would you happen to remember what the are of that space was? Thanks!
YoungHouseLove says
Hmm, I would guess it was about 6′ by 4′? Totally a rough guess. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Amanda says
Look into Square Foot Gardening. It lets you plant lots of different stuff in a small space.
Kate says
I love the galvanized tub – it’s got real style. And a perfect “indecisive” garden solution. I settled on wooden wine crates. My one tip…the fewer plants the better. My spinach grew like weeds (but tasted so fresh)! Good luck with your gardening!
http://bread-n-chocolate.blogspot.com/2011/04/straight-from-crate-how-
does-your.html
shannon says
love love LOVE this idea! stealing this idea for myself asap!
thanks for the inspiration :)
Stacy Weiland says
I also failed (such a negative word!) to get my vegetable garden up and running this season. Of course I’m hoping to have it ready for some late summer/early fall planting. However, I love the idea of planting a small herb garden. In fact, I plan on doing it in an old whiskey barrel but grouped together like you did. I love the idea of using Popsicle sticks (with a 1 year old I have plenty of those!) and giving them clever names. Love it! :)
Nicholin says
Great idea for the herbs! This year we put in raised beds (it’s our 2 spring/summer planting season in our house). You can see pictures here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.234066153274732.81699.100000140475206&l=de37061a27 Before moving into our house we rented where we had plenty of deck space and used railing planters for most herbs. The railing planters work great, if you are thinking about getting some.
YoungHouseLove says
Love it!!
xo,
s
Giulia says
I love to plant our own veggies and herbs. I have an oregano that is sooo huge that I imagine it’s been there since the house was built in the 50s.
The kids love picking the tomatos and peppers once they are ready, it’s a nice activity.
http://fishly-fishly.blogspot.com/2011/06/herbs-and-veggies.html
DanielleR says
I really really want to be able to enjoy the outdoors and plant some things and your cute little tub garden makes me want to do it even more, but I have a horrid allergy to bees and I am deathly afraid of being stung. Sadly it keeps me from having a lot of fun in my yard :( And we have a whole lot of bee variety lol … Wasps, hornets, yellow jackets, honey bees, its like my house is their only place to breed! I might try and do a mini tub garden inside the house, and then move it out onto our farmer’s porch after its done. Thanks for the inspiration!
Lizzy says
we are actually in the process of UN-planting! we moved into our new house last month and have been busy ripping out some unruly briars and vines in our backyard. (pics within link below)
we are hoping to get all of the yucky stuff ripped out this summer so we can proceed with planting privacy shrubs as well as an edible garden next spring!
http://anexcellentadventure.blogspot.com/2011/06/month-one.html
Lauren says
Growing up my dad had a “salsa” garden in which he literally only grew things he could use to make salsa: peppers, tomatoes, onions, cilantro, etc. When I left for school I was so sick of salsa I vowed I would never eat it again. Now ten years later, with a husband that would take baths in salsa if it was socially acceptable, I have been itching to recreate the idea, but only have one tiny little balcony. Boo. Maybe someday.
Molly says
We have a small balcony on our DC apartment that gets indirect sun- so this year we have the old stand-bys of Parsley, Oregano, Chives and Basil. We also added Chervil which is quickly getting a bit hot so we must keep it wet every day, and lavandar which is blooming into beautiful, fragrant small tips. :) Very nice!
Carli says
Good to know that my mother is not the only one who uses the term “sick puppy,” maybe it is making a comeback after all.
Lauren says
I love the idea of the galvanized tin. We live in a townhouse and have to do mostly container gardening because our yard is so tiny. Large flower pots are just so expensive- I will keep the tin idea in mind for next year!
Please let us know how the mint trick works. I love putting fresh mint in my iced tea, but I wish it didn’t need its own container. I’ve never heard of putting it in its own little pot within the container!
YoungHouseLove says
We did the same with mint the last two years in our garden (buried it in a pot) and it worked really well!
xo,
s
cassy says
What a great idea! You guys always have the best ideas.
xo
http://www.siute4e.com
(I’m having a giveaway on my blog for a cute leather bracelet if anyone is interested)
Joy says
You may or may not already know this but be careful with the galvanized metal planter. They absorb the heat of the sun like crazy and will literally bake the soil and whatever is planted in it. You may not have an issue where you are, but here in the bowels of hell–er, Texas, it’s the quickest way to murder a plant…at least from my experience. Of course, I am a PRO at killing plants…sigh.
YoungHouseLove says
Woah- thanks Joy! We have seen a lot of others here in Richmond using galvanized tins so I hope they’re ok- we’ll have to see!
xo,
s
Noel says
I love this tub idea because it’s something you can even do in a teeny tiny rental, and it looks so cute! Now I just need to find an awesome farmers market like that here in NJ. Thanks for another great idea!
Niki says
I hope you don’t think this is spammy, but I just made these really cool and inexpensive garden markers. There is also a whole list of DIY garden markers.
I love your Clue idea.
YoungHouseLove says
Love it!
xo,
s
Samantha says
I love the galvanized tub idea. I’ll have to try that one next year! We are growing parsley, basil, lavender, rosemary, broccoli, strawberries, and tomatoes. I started spinach plants, but we had a huge rain storm that flooded and rotted my potted babies. My tomatoes are juuuust starting to turn, I can’t wait to have one!
Rachel Tatem says
I love fresh herbs. I actually did a post about my herbs http://thecrinkledhome.blogspot.com/2011/05/fresh-herbs.html. They make everything taste so much better!
Jennifer C. says
I love you blog. It’s on my must read list every day. You are both so creative and inspiring.
I think you were duped though in your garden soil decision. Just because something says it is organic does not mean that it meets the standard you are hoping it would. Especially from a company like Scotts that is a partner of Monsanto.
If you would like an organic potting mix, I suggest using compost, coir (an after product from husking coconuts – it’s much more environmentally friendly than peat moss) and perlite or vermiculute in about even ratios. (We usually use more compost since it is free from our composter) In the square foot gardening community it’s called Mel’s Mix. We use it in our square foot garden and it is impressive how strong, healthy and prolific our plants grow to be in it.
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks Jennifer C! We mentioned that we prefer to use our own compost in the post (we have two compost bins going at all times) but it wasn’t quite broken down yet thanks to the move (we got a little off so it didn’t get stirred or put out in a good spot for a little while). Next time for sure! We definitely prefer to DIY whenever we can- even when it comes to soil. Haha.
xo,
s
Maggie says
Awesome! I absolutely love your idea to use a galvanized tub. Larger pots for plants can be so expensive. I am definitely going to be trying this on my own!
I recently produced my first cucumber from my own garden :) We made marinated cucumbers and onions with it, and it was amazing!!!
Jordan@the2seasons says
Good idea. We have been so busy removing rocks from our backyard and building a patio that we missed the boat on a garden this year as well. I think this is a good solution that I plan to do this weekend. Plus I like the idea of testing out the sun areas. Enjoy your herbs!
Sarah @ The Strength of Faith says
I love your garden! We just moved into a new house this year and are trying our hand at gardening (progress pics here http://www.thestrengthoffaith.com/search/label/our%20garden!). It’s been really fun to watch the progress and I’m learning a ton. I already have bigger plans for next year, ha!
Jessica says
So, with herb gardens….can you use the herbs fresh picked, or do they need to be dried? I have no experience with this whatsoever. I bartend, so I know the mint can be used fresh (for fabulous mojitos!!!) but not sure about the rest.
Oh, and a side note….my favorite mojito:
muddle 3-4 mint leaves with fresh diced mango and a teaspoon of simple syrup, cover with ice, fill with coconut rum, and top with a splash of soda water or 7up….tastes like the beach! yum!
YoungHouseLove says
Fresh picked! They’re so good. And your hands smell so good after picking them! You can also freeze them of course (someone at the Farmer’s Market told us they do that to have local herbs all winter long).
xo,
s
Jessica says
Oh that’s great! I don’t have the patience to wait for them to dry and for some reason I thought you had to dry them out first! Happy dance!!! Thanks for the info!
Erin says
Good luck finding the sun! I just got a new house (yippee!) and I’ve been trying to decide on the best place to put in a garden, too.
Olivia says
We have a square-foot garden on our apartment balcony and have been amazed by our carrots, spinach, lettuce, basil, tomatoes and cucumbers. The pole beans didn’t make it, though. And we put mint in its own container because we know how it likes to take over. Here’s some basics for anyone who would like to garden in a small space: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square_foot_gardening
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks for the link!
xo,
s
Kristin ~ Bien Living Design says
I am sure this has been said, but be careful with Miss Mint! It can be a nightmare to get rid of if she spreads…
Ashley says
I did this last year for a tomato plant and some herbs and loved it. I also attached one of those wheeled things you put under pots to it which made it easier to move around (my galvanized tub was round, though–I guess two would work for one like yours). I love the oblong shape of yours!