Mini Herb Pail

I have a terrible habit of buying dollar pails in the entrance of Target. I always claim that I buy them so the Man-child can keep his toys in them, but now we have an assortment of little pails that we use to lazily stick random writing utensils, buttons, and screws that we find lying around the house. They have become clutter pails.

Anything with a flat surface, a hook, a knob, or a cavity serves as a clutter magnet in our house. In our kitchen bay window, we have a pub table from the flea market and a storage entry bench with hooks that we relocated from another room to make space for the Christmas tree. It now serves as extra seating for the table and the catch-all for coats and scarves. The pub table is covered with craft projects and plants.

This morning I met up with a friend at Logan’s and purchased some Greek oregano. I grow it outdoors but cut it back in the fall, and it has yet to sprout for the spring. I desperately searched the house for something creative to put it in until spring planting, until I decided to dump out the contents of one of the many clutter pails. Now it is an herb pail! Because the pub table didn’t need one more plant sitting on it, I moved the winter coats to the hall closet, and now the herb pail hangs out of reach of the Baby’s hands but easily accessible to the cook (me) and the waterer (the Man-child).

7 Comments

Kristy Rodriguez

February 24, 2011 at 7:22 pm Reply

Such an awesome idea! Now, I just need to be better about NOT killing my oregano.

Paige

February 24, 2011 at 11:16 pm Reply

Thanks! I've never tried growing herbs other than basil indoors and it did not do well at all. It also attracted gnats. If this one starts dying, I will plant it in one of the gardens and replace it with a house plant.

Theconservatorygirl

February 25, 2011 at 1:48 pm Reply

we did this with our herbs on the back porch, but we punched holes for drainage through the bottom of the pails. note: even the prettiest, most glossy painted pail will chip and rust outdoors if someone wants to do that. did you put gravel or styrofoam in the bottom of your pail to allow the roots to dry?

Paige

February 25, 2011 at 2:47 pm Reply

I left it in the plastic planter from the store for now. I'm going to line it with a ziplock to catch the water. I need to make sure the roots have room though.. you know how they can been tight in the store planters already.

Theconservatorygirl

February 26, 2011 at 1:42 am Reply

yes, but remember that the Ziploc bag must be loose off of the plastic planter. otherwise, the roots will never get a chance to be drained, and herb roots hate being wet. it'll up and die if the roots stay moist.