I can't believe how long these things take to type out and format. Sheesh.
Well folks, I’m finally back with another do-it-yourself
project. This post will be a little image heavy!
Josh and I have had a busy year. We were lounging this
afternoon after work when he said “I left the garage open and the door’s
unlocked” and I was all “Honey, the most valuable things in this house are our
wedding rings and we hardly ever take those off!” Then he reminded me that
someone could have just reached in the door, grabbed our keys off the hook, and
stolen a car or two. Whatever.
But all that talk about rings got us reminiscing about how
much we’ve DONE in the last year. We haven’t even been engaged for a year yet,
and we’ve already gotten married (twice), bought a house, and welcomed another
dog into our home. Time is flying by!
Side note: We live in a really safe area. I’ve come home to
an open garage and unlocked door before and everything was just fine. I can’t
imagine anyone would just walk up and try to break in. But crazier things have
happened… When I was a teenager, someone broke into our house and stole our
vacuum. That’s literally all they took. Who does that?!?!
*Hops off of tangent* Wasn’t this supposed to be a DIY
tutorial or something? Moving on…
We moved into our home in the middle of May, about two weeks
before our wedding (the second one). As much as I would have LOVED to have
fresh veggies to feast on this summer, we had missed the sowing season. I’ve since been promised a substantial garden next year. But I wanted
SOMETHING to take care of that wasn’t covered in fur. And that’s how I decided
to grow some herbs.
Herbs are useful all year round, and if I’m careful, I won’t
ever have to replace them. I love using fresh herbs whenever possible, but I
feel wasteful when I buy fresh from the grocery store because I never use the entire pack. Planting my own just
made sense. So I started scrolling through Pinterest to see what sort of baby
garden I could find.
A hanging or wall-mounted garden seemed like a good idea,
because the dogs had proven that they could not be trusted to keep out of the
flowerless flower beds in the backyard.
This Mason Jar Herb Garden is, literally, the easiest
project.
So first things first, you’ll need to pick the herbs you want to use. Like I said, we missed
growing season, so I cheated and just bought the baby plants. I chose sweet
basil, Italian oregano, cilantro, and German thyme. Sage and rosemary were
unfortunately unavailable at the time (but I’ve since bought a baby rosemary,
and she smells SO GOOD).
The rest of the supplies are as follows:
Potting soil
6 Wide-mouth quart-sized mason jars (Wal-Mart)
6 4” galvanized worm gear clamps (Lowe’s… check the section
with dryer parts)
6 ¾” wood screws (for mounting the jars)
12 1¾” wood screws (for mounting boards on fence.
Alternatively, you could use sawtooth hangers and put them inside the house,
which I will probably do when it finally cools down.)
2 1x6x3 boards (we had a 1x6x6 sliced in two, but you can
use whatever scrap boards you have, as long as you adjust the screws
accordingly.)
Wood stain or paint
Sandpaper
Level (optional, but seriously, use the level)
Power drill or screwdrivers
Are your supplies assembled? Great, get started, you crafty
vixen!
Step 1: Lightly sand the wood, then stain and set it aside
to dry. I used a rag and Rust-Oleum Ultimate Wood Stain in Mineral Green.
Step 2: While the stain is drying, pot your plants.
Step 3: Measure where each of your jars should be. I knew I
wanted three jars on each board, so I divided the board into three equal
sections, and put a mark in the center of each section where the screw for the
jar will be… screwed?
Step 4: This is the tricky one! Use the ¾” screws to attach
the clamps. I screwed through the last hole, leaving the gear on the right to
allow for tightening the clamp around the jar in a clockwise motion.
Step 5: Use the 1¾” wood screws to mount the boards on the
fence, and make sure you use that level!
Step 6: Insert the jars into the clamps. Use a flathead
screwdriver to tighten the clamp around the jar.
I promise that the boards are level; our fence is just really wonky in that spot. And I know that there are two plants missing. I'm waiting for sage and rosemary.
This project shouldn’t take more than a little over an hour,
depending on how long it takes the wood to dry.
Here is something I didn’t consider before starting this
project: too much water is problematic.
My cilantro died about two weeks later,
and I think it probably drowned. The mason jars don’t allow water
to drain, and so it just sits in the bottom until either you tilt the jar and
let some of it run out, or the plant actually soaks it all up.
Next time, I’ll
either put aquarium rocks in the bottom to help with drainage, or I’ll purchase
a carbide-tipped drill bit and put some holes in the bottom of the jars.
Otherwise, this turned out exactly how I’d envisioned it.
This low-maintenance garden is great for small yards and
apartments. Think of the smells you’d have inside!
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