Say goodbye to overpriced, ‘how fresh can these really be?’ supermarket herbs and hello to fresh, beautiful herbs right on your windowsill! This fragrant little herb garden can be completed in under fifteen minutes, and the best part?

It’s mega cheap!

Chances are you’ve got everything (besides the herbs, of course) already in or around your house! But even if you’re like me and buy every supply (including the rocks…cause… there’s no excuse, I’m just plain lazy) you’ll still have a beautiful, cheap herb garden right in your kitchen! For me, one jar worked out to be only a couple dollars more than it’s packaged superstore counterpart!

Endless fresh herbs year round for a couple dollars more? Now that sounds like a good deal!

(Plus, let’s be real here… those supermarket herbs only have seven sprigs in them anyway).

Featured in my herb garden are peppermint, thyme, and parsley. I was dying for more, especially rosemary but when you live in a small town, you take what you can get. Moving past my bitterness, this DIY is created in typical Humble Kitchen style. That is, this DIY is meant to be customized to you!

So go ahead and plant whichever and as many herbs as your tummy desires!

You Will Need:

  • Mason Jars (spaghetti jars, pickle jars, whatever you’ve got lying around!)
  • Your Choice of Herbs
  • Potting Soil
  • Rocks

Directions

Set yourself up outside. This is gonna get messy!

Start by filling each jar with at least 2″ of rocks. This step is incredibly important. Since the jars don’t have any drainage themselves, the rocks will create a barrier between the roots and any excess water. This prevents the roots from rotting from being submerged.

Next, fill half of your jars with a new layer of potting soil.

Pull your desired herbs out of their old, plastic homes. Gently loosen the soil around the roots, then firmly (but still gently!) ‘shove’ the herbs into the mouth of the jar.

Add even more potting soil to your jars. Don’t be afraid to pack it in there, because the soil will settle when watered.

Last but not least, water your herbs and set your new mason jar garden in a sunny windowsill.

Then enjoy the aroma and ease of fresh herbs within arms reach!

Tips for Success

Once plagued with a black thumb, I killed all plants in sight. Whether it was from love or neglect, I may never know… (neglect. It was neglect). However through sheer pigheadedness, a few helpful hints, and several poor plants left in my wake, I’ve began to retrain my black thumb into a green one!

Personally I’d say its in the inbetween stages. It’s more like the yellow-y purple of a healing bruise. It’s not pretty, but at least almost all of my plants survive now!

Here’s a few helpful tips and resources I’ve stumbled into along the way to keep your new herb garden thriving all year round!

  • On average, most herbs need to be watered when the soil is dry to the touch. Although keep in mind that there are exceptions to this guideline. Some herbs like basil need to be kept in moist soil while other herbs such as lavender need their soil to be bone dry before watering. Check out The Tasteful Garden’s article on How to Grow Herbs.
  • Most herbs need approximately four hours of sunlight per day. Again, there are exceptions to this guideline, depending on the herb.
  • Properly trim and prune your herbs. Miss Purple-ly Yellow Thumb over here is gonna let The Urban Cultivator tell you how… cause let’s face it this is aspect of gardening makes up the ‘blacker’ part of my thumb.
  • Remember that you need more fresh herbs in a recipe than dried ones. The ratio is typically 3 to 1, that is three times the amount of fresh herbs to dried herbs.
  • Learn how to properly preserve your herb harvest, this particularly comes in handy when you dramatically lessen the trimming over the winter. See 11 Secrets For Harvesting and Preserving Your Herbs (then if you’re anything like me, spend the next hour reading related articles from Natural Living Ideas until you can’t remember how you got there in the first place!).
  • And lastly, for all my black thumbed friends out there looking for a chuckle and a cut to the chase article with no confusing gardener lingo check out the 10 Mistakes New Herb Gardeners Make from The Skinny Gourmet.

There we have it! A simple, (nearly) black thumb proof mason jar herb garden for fresh herbs and fresh cooking all year round!

Health & Happiness,

Savannah