Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Galvanized Tub Container Herb Garden


My dad is an amazing gardener.  Growing up, he grew pretty much all the veggies that we ate.  If I had to guess, probably 2 acres of our land was a giant garden.  In retrospect, I wish I had appreciated it a bit more.  But at the time, all I knew was I hated shucking corn and shelling beans.  And that it really smelled up the house when my mom made and canned pickles.

These days, however, I'm grateful for his expertise.  When I wanted to plant my own garden a few years ago, I immediately sought his advice.  And his advice was to start with tomatoes and herbs.  So I've been doing the container garden thing on our back deck for the past few years, with moderate success.  My tomatoes never get very big, but my herbs usually do alright.  This year, I decided to skip the tomatoes, since I can get plenty at the farmer's market.  And I wanted to do something cute with my herbs.  As an aside, my dad would probably be mortified to know that I said that.  He doesn't like "cute."



Thanks to the wonder of pinterest, I came across an idea to do a tiered herb garden using galvanized tubs. I drilled several holes into the bottom of each tub to allow the water to drain, and then filled them with potting soil, planted my herbs, and stacked them up.

I bought everything I needed from Lowe's, but I'm sure you could also find the supplies at Home Depot or any other hardware store.  I bought three tubs - the largest one is about 2 feet across, the middle one is about 1 foot, and the smallest is 7 inches.  At first I looked in the gardening section, but I eventually found the tubs in the paint section.



As far as what to plant where, I thought it would be best to plant the herbs that tend to grow the most in the largest tub.  But I'm no expert, so I could have totally botched that.  So here's what I planted:

2 basils
1 mint
1 parsley
1 rosemary
1 sage
1 thyme
1 lavender

I already have chives and oregano in other pots, otherwise I would have planted those as well (or in place of something else).

Amazingly, everything is totally flourishing, and at this point, I have more herbs than I will know what to do with.  I think I may actually need to move the basil to its own pot?

With Memorial Day weekend coming up, it's a great time to plant some herbs if you haven't already.  This project took me less than an hour, and that was with Caroline "helping" me.  I absolutely love cooking with fresh herbs, and now I have pretty much anything I'd want at my disposal.

Are you planting a garden this year, and if so, what are you planting?  I may give in and plant a few tomato plants after all, or perhaps some jalapeños or zucchini.


source:  inspired by The Vintage Wren


10 comments:

amanda @ fake ginger said...

I love this! I was looking at herbs at the store today but didn't want to buy any of the ugly pots they had. I hope I can find my husband's drill so I can do this!

Kelsey said...

This IS cute! What a great job!

Angie said...

I have never had a successful garden (herbs, veggies, plants... whatever - I'm a deathtrap for anything planted!). However this year I'm determined to make SOMETHING, ANYTHING work! I didn't get cute with it, but if anythng survives next year I plan on doing something like this. Also thanks to Pinterest! Right now I just have Basil, Parsley, Rosemary and Mint. (and Daisies that look to be suffering their assumed fate in my hands :(

Lynsey said...

I love this idea. I just have a few pots with various herbs in them, I love this idea so much more. Plus it also serves as "decoration"! Thanks for sharing!

Peppermint Ph.D. said...

I love this idea too...I have a couple of raised beds but I didn't get them started as early as I should have so I'm trying out pots on the deck this year. All I have right now are tomatoes and basil, but I'm planning to add more :)

Rachel said...

So cute!!! What a great idea! I practically have a black thumb so I'm envious! :)

Joanne said...

SO cute! I have absolutely no room for a garden which makes me so sad...but one of these days....

Atlanta, Food and Love said...

Way to go - and you can always make pesto and freeze it in ice cube trays so that all winter long you will have fresh pesto!

nicole @ I am a Honey Bee said...

I love how you stacked the tubs to create tiers. Good luck with your herbs

Koko @ Koko Likes said...

WOW this is gorgeous!

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