How To Plant Herbs in a Mason Jar Garden

One of my favorite things to do in the garden is create a bit of whimsy and fun with my container gardens. Hacking a mason jar garden is easy to do and works for hanging living wall gardens (see my book Grow a Living Wall right) as well as a small traditional container garden. Mason jars of any kind or style can be used, it is preferable to find a larger sized jar in order to have more soil in the container garden to support the growth of the plants.

To enable strong drainage, it is necessary to carefully drill holes in the jars. Then be sure to utilize an organic, moisture retentive soil mix in order to help the plants hold and retain moisture in a tight-rooted growing situation. My favorite container soil mix is 1 part organic soil with worm castings, 1 part rotted manure, and 1 part compost. Plant up the mason jars using a spoon to help back fill the soil within the container. Special thanks to Jung Seeds for supplying the beautiful GMO-free herb plants for my test garden – they worked well in the mason jar container gardens.

Tools needed –

• Mason jars
• Drill
• Drillbit – ½” diamond tip hole drill bit
• Container soil
• Organic Fertilizer
• Herb plants or seeds such as basil, rosemary, and winter thyme
• Trowel or spoon

Project How To –

1. Drill a hole in the bottom of the mason jars using the ½” diamond tip hole drill bit.
2. Measure in an appropriate amount of organic fertilizer into the soil; mix well.
3. Fill mason jars with planting soil.
4. Plant scented herbs and flowers in the jars.
5. Water well.