We use a lot of herbs around my house for grilling and cooking. I love being able to walk out the back door and grab a handful of fresh basil right off of the bush. I prefer to grow my herbs in raised planters, which makes soil, weed and moisture control much easier. What I don’t like though is rebuilding the stupid thing every few years. I have tried landscape timbers, pressure treated posts and even whiskey barrels over the years to build my herb garden and I always end up with a “do-over” every other season. Not this time (I hope)! I’m finally going with tough, galvanized tubs meant to last on farms for years.
I got the idea while browsing herb gardens on Pinterest. I saw a few plans for patio herb planters using smaller galvanized tubs. I live outside of town though in the middle of agriculture and I have seen larger tubs on farms and by the side of the road for years, so I knew I could go bigger. Sure enough, two of the local feed stores had just the right sized tubs. I ended up going with a 6 foot long, by 2 feet wide and 1 foot deep feed trough for the bottom level from a company called Behlen Country. Ask for a pig or sheep trough, the people working at the feed store were much more helpful when they had a target critter in mind. I then found this Behrens 16-Gallon Oval Steel Tub
Once I found the right containers, I just drilled holes in the bottom of each, added a 2 inch layer of pebbles for drainage and then filled with a mixture of soil and compost, stacking as I went. I think this thing will be an herb growing machine for a few years with very little maintenance. I can’t wait to make some fresh salsa and pesto.
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