How to Use a Plastic Laundry Basket to Plant Herbs
Herbs are easy plants to grow, but many become invasive weeds in the garden. Growing herbs in containers keeps them in check. Containers of herbs close to the kitchen door provide a fresh and ready source of aromatic and flavorful spices for cooking. In large enough containers, a selection of culinary herbs will grow happily side by side. Use large containers with holes in the sides to plant a collection of upright and trailing herbs. Include flowers that have culinary uses, like nasturtiums, for variety. A soft-plastic laundry basket can hold a basic selection of herbs and can be moved using the handles. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Herb seedlings
- Plastic laundry basket
- Sharp knife
- Sphagnum moss
- Gravel
- Water
- Potting soil for herbs or vegetables
- Compost
Instructions
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Choose Your Herbs
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Purchase herb plants at any garden center or nursery. Choose only healthy seedlings growing in a tight bunch. Drooping, browning, yellowing or ragged leaf margins and long, wandering stems are all signs of neglect or disease.
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Buy only enough herbs to fill your container without crowding when they are full grown. According to Maggie Wolf and Teresa Cerny in their 2002 bulletin "Herb Container Gardening," "the general rule of thumb is to allow each herb one gallon of potting mix."
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Choose trailing herbs like mint, prostrate rosemary, nasturtium, creeping thyme or oregano for the sides of the basket because they will drape through the holes and hide some of the plastic. Use sage, which is a runaway grower, only if you have time to trim it back every 2 weeks.
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Pick basil, chives, parsley, thyme, marjoram or chervil for the top of the basket. These herbs are upright and can be trimmed regularly for culinary use.
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Use "Lollo Rosso" lettuce or other leaf lettuce varieties that can be picked or cut and will regrow. These will also grow upright, so they can be mixed with the herbs in the top of the basket.
Prepare the Laundry Basket
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Purchase or find a soft-sided laundry basket with large holes in the sides. Plan to use at least 3 holes in each side for trailing herbs. Unless you are hanging the basket, the bottom two rows of holes will not be planted.
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Cut at least 6 holes in the basket bottom for drainage, using a sharp knife. Push the knife through the bottom, making 1 inch by 1 inch X-shaped cuts.
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Soak sphagnum moss in water for 15 minutes and wring it out. Push it against the sides of the laundry basket, making a layer up to the first set of holes you will be planting
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Put a 1-inch layer of gravel in the bottom of the laundry basket for drainage. Water the basket with one or two glasses of water to check the drainage. Make more drainage holes if the water does not drip steadily out.
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Mix two parts commercial potting soil designed for herbs or vegetables with one part compost. Mix enough to fill the basket. Put only enough into the basket to fill it to the bottom of your chosen set of holes.
Plant the Side Herbs
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Decide which 3 holes in the basket side to use. Do not use every hole in every row since herbs can grow to their maximum size quite quickly.
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Loosen your herbs and gently remove them from their pots.
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Slide the top of the herb plant carefully through the chosen hole from the inside of the basket. Put a bit of sphagnum moss around the front of the plant to prevent the soil from washing out of the hole when the basket is watered. Make sure the herb is lying on its side with the top of its root ball against the sphagnum moss liner. Continue doing this with each plant on this row.
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Add enough moss all round your laundry basket to reach the next row with a hole you will plant. Fill in with potting soil around your planted herbs and up to the next planting level. Firm the soil by hand.
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Continue layering herbs until the top layer of side herbs is reached. Do not fill the top layer with potting soil until the upright herbs have been planted.
Plant the Upright Herbs
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Set your upright herbs into the basket, putting the largest ones in the middle. Be careful not to damage the root balls of the side-planted herbs while putting in the top herbs.
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Make sure the tops of the root balls on your upright herbs are at least 1 inch below the lip of the laundry basket. Fill any unused planting holes with sphagnum moss.
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Fill in around the last row of side herbs and your upright herbs with potting soil mix and firm by hand.
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Water thoroughly. Set a watering schedule for the next 2 to 3 weeks to help your herbs get established.
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Tips & Warnings
Determine how many gallons of soil your laundry basket would contain to find out how many plants it can support. According to the 2002 Utah State University Cooperative Extension bulletin HG-524 by Maggie Wolf and Teresa Cerny, 3-1/2 gallons of potting soil will support three to four herb plants.
Make sure your herbs won't outgrow their container by checking their labels before you buy them to find their size at maturity.
