DIY: Windowsill Herb Garden

It's not unusual for me to talk about wanting an herb garden someday. Ideally, I would grow herbs like parsley, chives, garlic, cilantro and veggies like green onions, jalapeños, and new potatoes (the really small, cute, cook 'em in butter and pop 'em in your mouth potatoes!) These are the produce items I find myself using most in my cooking. 

I wouldn't say that I am bad at gardening...then again, I'm not a pro either. Thus, I wanted to try my hand at "mini" garden of sorts; one that would fit in my windowsill. I figured this would allow me to make an attempt at growing fresh herbs without having to dig up the backyard for a garden space. I don't have time for all of that right now. Maybe someday, though. 

As I was walking through Walmart earlier today looking for some terra cotta planting pots (for another DIY project), I decided to stop and look at seeds just to see what I could figure out. It was apparently my lucky day...I stumbled onto gold. Well, herb seed-planting gold. I snatched up this Herb Starter Kit by Buzzy for under $4! I couldn't resist, especially since it contained seed for herbs that I have been dying to grow: Basil, Parsley, Chives and Cilantro! And can we talk about the cute little brown bag packaging?! Made it even easier to say YES!

The Herb Starter Kit contains 4 seed packets, 4- 3.5" plastic pots, a growing medium (soil), and 4 labels. 

Honestly, this couldn't have been easier to put together! There were only about 6 pretty simple steps to complete from start to finish. 

Step 1: Place the growing medium disks in a medium-large bowl. Add 2 cups of lukewarm water. The disks will absorb the water almost instantly and turn into growing medium (a.k.a.- the soil). 

Step 2: Divide the growing medium among the 4 pots, reserving a small amount to cover the seeds later. (At this point I made the labels for each pot of herbs...using a fun font of course!)

Step 3: Sprinkle 15 seeds evenly over the surface of the soil, using one variety of seed per each pot. (The directions stated 15 seeds, which was actually only about 1/2 of each packet.)

Step 4: Cover the seeds with the remaining soil and use a fine mist or sprinkle water on top to moisten. (I found an "ironing spray bottle" that has a great misting spray nozzle! It was only about a $1 at Walmart.)

At this point, I was finished planting! The only other directions are for continued care of the herbs. 

Step 5: Water daily with a fine mist (using a spray bottle is best) to keep moist. 

Step 6: Place in a sunny location. 

As a result of  $5 and a super easy herb-planting adventure, I now have some extra decoration for the kitchen window, and hopefully in a few weeks I'll have some delicious home-grown herbs to cook with! Fingers crossed!

Happy Growing!