Herb gardens are perfect for anyone who wants to try out a green thumb or for anyone who loves to cook. There’s nothing better than being able to pick your own fresh herbs and then use them in your meals. Another benefit of growing your own herb garden is that you know exactly what’s in the soil and what’s on the herbs. No harmful chemicals, no pesticides, no yucky aftertaste from anything. Just simple, fresh, and flavorful herbs. Here’s how I started mine.
I’m in the middle of redoing my entire backyard (getting trees taken down, getting the whole thing leveled, and getting some artificial turf put in), but I wanted to get an herb garden going because I love to cook with fresh herbs. Since I’m still in the planning stages of my backyard, I decided to do a hanging herb garden so it would be out of the way of the rest of the yardwork. I have quite a few trees in my backyard so there’s one section of my fencing that gets almost full sun, which I figured would be perfect for my herbs.
The first step was deciding which herbs I wanted to grow. I chose cilantro, parsley, sage, dill, peppermint, and basil. I think once I finish planning my backyard, I’ll probably add rosemary and garlic to my herb garden. When you’re planning an herb garden, take the time to figure out which herbs you use the most.
For my DIY herb garden, I used:
- 4 Wrought Iron Horse Trough Planters
- 4 Horse Trough Planter Coco Liners
- 1 Round Terra-Cotta Planter
- Cilantro plants (2), Parsley plants (2), Sage plants (2), Dill plant (1), Peppermint plant (1), and Basil plants (2)
- Miracle Gro Vegetable and Herb Garden Soil
Steps:
- First, I measured out where to place my trough planters on the fence. I wanted them evenly spaced and on two different levels. I decided to screw the troughs into the horizontal fence beams going from post to post, but I didn’t want to use the bottom beam because then my dogs would eat the herbs.
- I used a trough to mark where the holes would go on the horizontal beams.
- Then I made sure the troughs were tight enough not to slip but loose enough that I could easily remove them if needed.
- Since I was given the four trough planters by a friend, they didn’t come with the coco liner. So I had to insert the liners and fill them with soil. I also filled the round terra-cotta planter with soil.
- After filling them up with soil, it was time to plant the herbs! I grouped the basil in one trough, the sage and dill in another, the cilantro in the third, parsley in the fourth, and the peppermint in the round terra-cotta planter.
- I hung up the troughs on the screws and then watered them.
And that’s all there is to it! I really like the look of the hanging trough planters on my fence and I don’t have to worry about back pain while watering or weeding. The peppermint, unfortunately, died after being transplanted, but it’s making a full recovery now! I can’t wait to add more troughs and herbs to my fence!
All images are original and credited to Kelly Mahan, homeyou writer.
