Think about the food you cook and what kinds of fresh herbs you buy at the store. If you buy fresh dill once every other year, then it's probably safe to leave that out of your plans, but if you love cilantro, then definitely include that! Herbs are available at your local garden center ready to go in pots and for my plan I chose cilantro, flat leaf parsley, and lemon thyme.
In past years I had used a small aluminum oval shaped bucket from Ikea as my planter, but my herbs were always too crowded. This year, I decided to take advantage of the raining on the back porch and I went with a window box.
I picked up a black wire window box planter with a liner at the Christmas Tree Shop. I snagged my plants at Home Depot.
Now a garden center might be a better place to choose a planter. There are several styles to choose from - flush mounted, mounted to the top, hanging baskets, etc. But the one from Christmas Tree Shop was about $8 so I just grabbed it when I saw it.
There was no hanging hardware for the planter I chose, so I decided to hang it with simple hooks screwed into the wood railing.
Because of the angled shape of the planter, it hangs sort of crooked. I placed a block of wood behind one side to even it out. A few screws will hold it in place.
Using a quality potting mix, I filled in the planter box.
Using scissors, I unpackaged each plant and tore through the biodegradable containers to help water drain. I put the pot in the planter and back-filled with more potting soil.
I hung the planter back on the hooks and watered.
Easy peasy!
A few things to note - I waited a few weeks after getting the plants before actually putting them in dirt. This is a bad idea. You risk accidentally killing your plants (mine have rebounded quite a bit in the few hours since I watered them). Also, it looks like the cilantro has a little frost damage. Oh and I think we may rethink how we hang this bad-boy because it's still slanted and it makes me sad.
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