Herb series: Herb patio planters

Ok, let’s talk about culinary and medicinal herbs! As this is quite a huge topic I decided to do a whole series of posts on herbs on the following topics:

Herb planters
Harvesting & Using Herbs
Drying & Storing Herbs
Salve Making

Let’s kick off this series with a post on herb planters!

Herbs are easy to grow whether you plant them in the garden or on a patio or balcony. Even with a farm and lots of space I decided I need some herb planters on the patio right outside of the kitchen. I am often in the middle of cooking and remember I forgot to bring in some herbs or it needs just a little bit more. So having herbs right outside the kitchen is perfect for some last minute spicing up!

Another good reason to have herbs close to doors and windows is that most of them repel pests. The strong flavour and smell of herbs is not very highly regarded by all kinds of insects like mosquitoes and ants, as well as sensitive deer noses!

While there are many pots and plants and ways of adding herbs close to the house, here is my favourite set up:

Ikea’s outdoor planters are sturdy, pretty and super easy to assemble. And a great size for herb lovers! While they are not meant to be planted right into them, I found an easy way to change them to hold a lot of soil and be full planted. Anybody who has been to Ikea knows their big blue bags. Turns out they are not just handy to bring Ikea products home but also to hold soil in these planters! I submitted my “hack” to the Ikea Hackers homepage and they post the full instructions. So if you are interested in building these planters, head over to Ikea Hackers to check it out.

Next in the series… Harvesting and using herbs… stay tuned! 

A link to all our herb posts is  here  and recipes on the blog can be viewed  here.

Check out more on herbs we are selling  here.