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 –
- Drill a hole in the bottom of the mason jars using the ½” diamond tip hole drill bit.
- Measure in an appropriate amount of organic fertilizer into the soil; mix well.
- Fill mason jars with planting soil.
- Plant scented herbs and flowers in the jars.
- Water well.
Shawna, what a sensational tip! I was a little concerned about the drilling part. I had visions of shattered glass all over my table. I’m going to test a square of duct tape and drill through it, not sure if my drill tip is going to do the job.
Do you think lemon verbena will grow in a quart jar?
I hope you’re feeling great, spring is finally here in southern Ontario. Thanks for all you do for the gardening world, my wife and I love your blog articles. We are herb crazy this year, going to plant all kinds of wonderfulness!
All the best,
Dave
Very cool idea Shawna. I have a ton of mason jars (long story on how I got all of them) and am always looking for great ways to use them. I also like to create terrariums with some of the larger ones. It’s a fun project to do with the kids.
If you use the special drilling tip you shouldn’t have an issue.
Thanks for the kind words. 🙂
Shawna
Thanks much Mike. 🙂