Upcycled Container Gardens: Housing Your Herbs

Upcycled Container Gardens Housing Your Herbs

Around this house, we try to repurpose and upcycle as many things as we can. If it can’t be composted or turned into something else, we try to donate. So very rarely do we end up with things that go in the trash. This makes for a great assortment of containers to be used in the garden.

When we picked up our chicks I knew we’d need a little home for them until they were big enough to go straight into our coop. At 3 weeks old they’d need to stay warm indoors so I picked up a metal bucket at our local hardware store.

Since I knew I would only be using the bucket for a short period of time I already had it earmarked for a project I’d wanted to do for quite a while… a stand alone herb garden!

Growing Chicks
I’m not sure if you know this but chicks, like children, grow like weeds! Seriously.

I turned around for a second and these cute little baby chicks are almost chickens at 2 months! But we still have 4 more months until they’re actually laying eggs (so I’m told).

Upcycled Container Gardens - growing seedlings

With so many things growing in our raised beds (like the broccoli that’s sprouting from our DIY K-Cup Seed Starters) we didn’t have any more room for the herbs I love to have on hand for cooking.

So it just made sense to have a container garden on the patio. What’s a better green work of art than a container garden?

Our next step will be to build a stacked container garden to house the strawberries we’ll be planting soon! How awesome does that sound? It’s as simple as taking this idea and stacking a few smaller containers on top of one another. Then planting in each tier.

Upcycled Container Gardens - cleaning out the container

 

Because our tub housed the chicks, I wanted to make sure that I cleaned the container very well before putting the soil and plants inside.

While some might question why I would clean out the container first – don’t people buy chicken manure? – the chicken poo that may be on the container hasn’t been composted yet. And I don’t want any bacteria that may have been left in the container to contaminate my plants.

But more on composting chicken poo later! Let’s get to this herb garden. First up – the chalkboard label.

Upcycled Container Gardens - DIY Chalkboard Label

 Upcycled Container Garden Chalkboard Label

What you’ll need:

  • 2 paper towels (can also use newspaper)
  • painters tape
  • chalkboard spray paint
  • metal container

What You Do:

1. Wipe down the area you wish to put the chalkboard paint on with an all-purpose cleaner. Then rinse the container out with water and let dry.

2. Grab two paper towels and cut each in half (4 half sheets). Then cut one-half sheet in half again. You’ll have 3 half sheets and 2 quarter sheets.

3. Using the painter’s tape and the paper towel pieces, create a square or rectangle space to spray paint the chalk onto.

4. Put extra paper towels under the container to protect the table underneath from paint.

5. Using the chalkboard spray paint, spray on two coats of chalkboard paint onto the container. Wait about 20 minutes in between each coat to allow them to dry.

6. Remove the paper towels and tape to reveal your chalkboard label. Write on it with chalk and display for all to see!

Upcycled Container Gardens - variety of herbs

Tips for Planting Herbs in a Container Garden

  1. Use good soil – find a soil that’s good for growing vegetables or use a good blend of soil and compost
  2. Depending on where you’re putting your container garden, consider the height each herb/plant gets and plant taller herbs in the back
  3. Plant what you know you already use now in the kitchen
  4. Make sure you are also giving your herbs vegetable food (found at any garden center)
  5. Place the container garden in a spot that will receive direct sunlight and make sure to water!

Upcycled Container Gardens with Chalkboard Label

What’s your favorite way to upcycle old containers?

DIY Indoor Herb Garden Ideas: Easy to Make Indoor Hanging Herb Garden

This DIY Indoor Hanging Herb Garden is the perfect way to bring the garden indoors! Plus you’ll have fresh herbs for whatever you’re whipping up for dinner. This post was sponsored by Culligan Water as part of an Integrated Program for Influence Central and all opinions expressed in my post are my own.

Water is the one thing that makes the world go round. And filtered water is something we can’t live without. As a busy mom of 3, I am constantly filling up water bottles at our fridge or turning on the tap to make dinner. And all of that water usage had me thinking… are we drinking the best water we could be drinking? The answer was no. And I’ll tell you why… while we had an under the sink water filter, it wasn’t pulling out everything it could be to ensure that our water was safe to drink. 

We live in Southern California. We’re known for our droughts and lack of water. So any water we do have is usually brought in from another source. Our source? The Colorado River. Since our water comes from so far away, it has quite a journey to reach us. and that means there’s more chance of contaminants leaching into our water supply. Being able to ensure that we get those contaminants out of our drinking water was goal #1 for me. The second goal? How our water affected not only drinking but other water usages like showering, our garden, and our pets. 

Luckily we were asked to check out Culligan’s Water Filtration System. We just had the ClearLink PRO installed in our home.

Stay tuned for a follow-up post sharing how Culligan has positively impacted our daily usage of water. As of now, while we’re still testing the system, we thought it’d be fun to share how we can bring the garden indoors and add a bit greener to the meals we’re making with the help of a DIY indoor hanging herb garden. Here’s how!

Changing How We See Water

We knew our home needed a few updates to our water filtration system. We previously used an under-the-sink filter for our tap water as well as another filter in our fridge for the water that came out of the fridge door. But one in-home consultation with a Culligan expert showed that even these filters we had in place weren’t taking out everything we wanted to keep out. With water playing such a crucial role in our daily life – being used in the food we make, the water we (and our pets) drink, and what we use to water our own edible garden – a few changes to our water filtration system was a must. 

Culligan’s goal is to provide water that its customers can trust and offer the best possible customer service experience out there. With over 80 years of water quality and service industry experience, they strive to help individuals identify their water issues right in their home – whether that be hard water, water filtration or taste of their water. After our in-home consultation, our new Culligan Water Filtration System was installed. And with the push of a button right by our sink, fresh and filtered water comes right out of our faucet. The system is so easy to use that even the kids can get their own filtered water from the sink. We also had a filtered water line run to our fridge as well. 

Now that our system is in place, we’ve been enjoying the perks of filtered water. We’ll be sharing our full journey from start to stop in our next post featuring Culligan so stay tuned. Now for our tutorial on this easy to make DIY Indoor Hanging Herb Garden! 

Easy to Make Indoor Hanging Herb Garden

What you’ll need: 

  • Glass containers
  • Wire
  • Wire cutters
  • Window hooks
  • Labels
  • Small rocks
  • Soil
  • 4″ herbs OR seeds
  • Water

What you do: 

1. Wrap the wire around your container to form a circle. Connect the wire to itself tightly so that your container is secure in the wire. Don’t cut the wire just yet.

2. Make an arch with the wire over the glass container. 

3. Once you have the arch length you want, cut the wire leaving about 1 inch to attach it to the other side. 

4. Once you’ve secured the arch to the other side of the wire circle, make sure the wire is still securely around the glass container and can be lifted safely without the container falling out. 

5. Fill the bottom of the containers with about 1/2 an inch of small rock to provide drainage. 

6. Top the rocks with soil up to about 1 inch from the top of the container and dig a well for the herbs. Add some filtered water to the bottom of the dirt well.  

7. Add the herbs to the container on top of the water and make sure the roots are buried/covered. 

8. Sprinkle a bit of vegetable food on the surface of the dirt by the herbs and then water again with filtered water. 

9. Place the window hooks in the window where you want the containers to hang. Find a place that will get sunlight during the day. 

10. Hang the herbs up in the window and watch them grow! Snip off what you need for meals in the kitchen as you cook. 

Water plays an important part in our everyday lives. Being able to have the kids go to the sink and fill up their water bottles, or fill up a watering can, and know that the water they’re drinking and using is water we can trust means a lot to our family. And now we can say that every day is a “Good Water Day” with Culligan! Stay tuned for our next post where we go in-depth into our experience with Culligan Water

How are you making healthy touches in the kitchen? 

Love this idea? Check out these other garden-related posts! 

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Smurfette’s Secret Succulent Fairy Garden

This secret succulent fairy garden would make a perfect gift for Mother’s Day or any other special occasion. Plus, it’s super easy to put together when you have the right tools!

A few weeks ago we were invited to a screening of Smurfs The Lost Village and boy did my kids love it! The movie took us through the story of Smurfette’s creation and her struggle with finding her unique talent. Since she was made out of clay and different from the other Smurfs, she grew sad and frustrated with her lack of being able to master one skill. 

As the story unfolds, she and a few Smurf friends head off on an adventure that brings her to realize who she really is and the power she holds inside. 

Well… my kids were quite inspired by the movie because as soon as we got home they wanted to create their own Smurf village in the back yard! The fun plants that came alive and the various creatures found along Smurfette’s journey were all they could talk about. 

So I pitched a fairy garden but instead of fairies, we used Smurfs! And how perfect did it turn out? Plus? It was so easy for the kids to make! 

Watch the video at the end of this post for more details! 

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