Indoor Herb Garden...making a house a home

Spring has sprung here in Ohio. Well at least inside it has. It was a cold dreary Spring Sunday outside (gloves and winter coat worthy), warm, cozy and green inside. If you are looking for a fun little project to add some green to the inside of your house no better way than to plant an indoor herb garden. Brings fresh smells, with just a sniff and life to the inside of the home. Provides a quick fun little way to confirm that indeed spring is coming in the days/weeks ahead (I mean warmth, color, and sun). Why limit indoor herbs to just the kitchen. 

All you need is Herbs, plant from seed indoors if you are feeling ambitious . OR in my case go to the local garden center and pick up a variety of potted herbs ($2-$3). I'm inpatient, I like the "instant" gratification that comes with the potted ones. 

For a pretty and "homey" look transplant the herbs to a nice looking pot. You do not need to go out and buy a new pot, think creatively. Did your family open a can of veggies/fruit for dinner? Peel off the label and voila instant pot! How about an empty jar from pickles, olives, pasta sauce, think outside the box. You would be amazed the creative ways you can recycle a can or a jar, but that my friends is for another blog (FOCUS). In my case I used 4 Canning Jars I had laying around. Yes I have canned too...another blog...(FOCUS) 

I chose Chives, Oregano and Thyme (you never can have enough of it...really Thyme and TIME is an awesome thing) for the kitchen. Lavender was chosen for the bedside table. It is great for a bathroom as well, who needs a candle ;) 

In the bottom of the pot, can, jar you will need to place some pebbles (about a half-inch or one inch) for drainage we went outside to gather ours, If you happen to be somewhere where you can't gather pebbles, go to a local park for free or Dollar stores or Walmart tend to have them in the craft section. 

Next thing you will need is potting soil personally I like Miracle-Gro, but any will do. Using a small shovel or spoon fill up about half the jar with soil and add a few tablespoons of water. Take your Herb out of its original container and break up roots with fingers and place in jar, push it down to secure, fill in gaps with more soil as needed. Too keep the processs neat and tidy, as it was too cold to do outdoors, we laid newspaper to make clean-up easy.

We used chalkboard stickers to write the contents on each jar. However, you could use popscicle stick, cardstock with a holepunch and some twine, ideas are endless. You could choose to dress up your jar as well with burlap, ribbon, twine...do I need to go on? Place in a sunny spot and water as needed. 

You have a new neighbor? Cute lil housewarming gift. Need a Birthday gift for someone? Need something for the table? Place them in an old wood toolbox or a basket for display. 

It's a useful, fragrant pop of color indoors. Enjoy! Happy planting.

Mark 4:3 “Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.”