Sunday, July 29, 2012

Colorful Herb Garden

I was so happy to be outside and “playing” in the dirt this past weekend! I forgot how much I missed doing yard work since we sold our house. I needed a new herb garden since we “killed” ours when we moved.  Here is a link to the post that I did last year on my herb garden. I loved it and got a lot of use out of it but I wanted to do something different this year. Since we have such a big back porch, I decided to plant the herbs in separate pots rather than one big one.

 (Please ignore the moving sticking on our table! I always find those months later!! :))
Here is what you will need:
6- 6” Terra cotta pots
Primer
Sponge Brush
Spray paint (your choice of color(s))
Clear Gloss spray paint
Assorted Herbs
Potting Soil
This is an easy and inexpensive project. I bought inexpensive 6” terra cotta pots at Wal-Mart for less than $2 a piece. I also picked up some spray paint in Ivy Leaf and Blue Ocean Breeze (Krylon brand) at just under $4 a can. I also recommend getting the clear gloss spray paint because it will help to protect your colored spray paint and give it a good gloss, this was also under $4 a can. Now you can buy already painted pots but they can get pretty pricey and I always have a hard time finding the right color. The primer I already had so that was helpful and thrifty! Herb plants and potting soil are fairly inexpensive and if you factor in how much it will save you in your grocery bill this is well worth it in my opinion.
Okay now to the fun part, PAINTING!!! First paint your pots with your primer, you can but spray primer but I already had primer leftover from my table project. I used Zinsser Bulls Eye primer and a cheap foam brush. The pots do soak up a lot of the primer but this makes you use less of your spray paint to fully coat them. I did one coat on the pots and let them fully dry.

Once they were dry I began spray painting them, 3 in the Ivy Green (a lime green) and 3 in the Blue Ocean Breeze (a light aqua). I picked these colors because they go well with my outdoor décor, the hammock and chair covers.



Let them dry for a least an hour and then spray a second coat. Be sure to spray at a good distance so that you don’t get drip marks. Let them dry for another hour and then spray them with a good coat of the clear gloss spray paint to seal it all in. Ta-da, pretty colored pots on the cheap!! Plus now you have extra spray paint for future projects, we all know I have a ton of future projects!! :)  

Once the clear gloss top coat has dried you can begin planting your herbs. I planted basil, thyme, oregano, parsley, cilantro and rosemary.  Place a little potting soil in the bottom of each pot, enough to cover the bottom and give a little height to your herb. Move each herb out of the plastic pot and place it in its individual new pot. Fill each pot with potting soil, be sure to cover all sides and smooth the top out. Don’t forget to add your name tag from each herb to its corresponding pot so you don’t mix any up. I may make cuter little signs later but I haven’t found quite what I am looking for yet.

I placed my pots on our outdoor patio table for now but I am convincing my hubby to build a cute shelf unit for me. I have the design in my head I just need to put it on paper. 

Happy Planting!!


2 comments:

  1. Love the color, it's so pretty!

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