A Starter Herb Garden For An Apartment-Bound Gardening Newbie!

Hillela G.
by Hillela G.
5 Materials
$10
2 Hours
Easy
I've always loved the idea of growing my own, fresh herbs. But i have to admit, I've also been very hesitant and too cautious to get started. But, as the year came to a close I decided to add "growing my own herbs" to my resolution list for 2018.

And so, I asked a handful of questions here on Hometalk's DIY forum to help me get started- and I got some fantastic advice! (Thank you!!!) I finally felt confident enough to go ahead!- I decided to start small with 2 spices that I use pretty frequently: Mint, and Oregano ( not to mention, they both add some really nice aromas).
My friend helped me find these perfect little hanging baskets. And I took an old Tshirt of my husband's that he had outgrown- and cut some small squares to line the baskets - The baskets offer great drainage but a little too much, so the Tshirt cloth helps out with this. You can also use burlap, cheese cloths, landscaping fabric, or coir lining made specifically for hanging planters.


The squares don't have to be perfectly cut or aligned because they'll be covered by the plant in the end.


You can also trim it back a bit once you put it in the basket


Now that their new homes were all set, it was time to transplant these little guys.


First, gently remove the herbs from their containers. As you can see, the roots are tightly packed into the soil in the shape of their original containers.


Gently loosen the soil to carefully separate the roots so as not to cause irreversible damage to them. The mint is very hardy so it doesn't need to be handled nearly as gently. But you still want to make sure not to do too much harm.


Delicately place the newly separated plant into its new basket and pad it with soil mixture to secure it in its place. ( Take care to make sure that the lining doesn't get too crumpled during this step).
And, you can prune the herbs back a bit so they don't overflow too much and have room for growth as well.
I used binder rings ( but S hooks or command hooks would work as well, space depending) to attach the baskets to the rafters in my apartment's sun room.


Voila! We have ourselves a mini, starter Herb garden! Fresh Oregano and Mint for me to use in my kitchen ( and perhaps to make my own essential oils). I'm really excited about this new addition to our home- and my first foray into herb gardening! I'm looking forward to expanding as we go! Thanks Hometalk, for the encouragement and support I needed to get started!!
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  • Christine White Christine White on Mar 31, 2019

    How do you keep them from leaking all over the floor

  • Jenna Rosemont Jenna Rosemont on Feb 01, 2020

    I want something to keep dog off our ESTABLISHED garden please

  • Cindi Smith Cindi Smith on Mar 19, 2022

    Where did you get the baskets that you used? I didn't find them on Amazon

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