I’ve always wanted a kitchen herb garden. Something about it just sounds a bit romantic and cozy. Not to mention being able to snip fresh herbs right from the plant and into my cooking! Remember those White Washed Terra Cotta Pots I painted the other day? Well, those became the perfect white decor addition to my home in the form of a kitchen herb garden!

My little herb garden has been in my plans for a long time, ever since I bought my terra cotta pots at Fred Meyer’s Fuchsia Saturday sale in the beginning of April. It took me a few weeks to find time to white wash my pots, and then I had to wait a couple more weeks for the Pomeroy Farm Herb Festival at their Country Life Fair.

The Country Life Fair takes place on the historic Pomeroy Farm each year. The Herb Festival is what keeps me going back each year but they also welcome private vendors, give hay rides, and tours of the historic buildings and garden areas. There are herbs available here that I haven’t been able to find anywhere else, my favorite being Purple Mountain Basil. Unfortunately, they didn’t have my favorite Basil plant this year so I will have to make do with the other varieties.

Starting the day off with piano festival for one of my students, I knew I wouldn’t be able to get to Pomeroy Farm very early. My dad likes to attend the herb festival each year as well so I asked him to grab a few of my favorite plants for me before the early crowd bought them out. After a quick visit to the herb festival and a nice lunch with my mom, I was on my way home with these lovely little plants!

I gather my supplies together and set up a temporary potting bench by spreading a piece of plywood over our wheelbarrow. Here is a list of everything I used to do this project.

I also made sure I filled my watering can up so I could give my newly potted plants a drink right away! Then I set the camera up so I could video the planting process for you. 🙂 Enjoy!

Every time I’m out working, Macchiato shows up to help me out and keep me company! Gardening with a cat can be interesting. I was worried that she might dig in my pots on the table but she hasn’t bothered them yet! She isn’t a kitten anymore so I’m sure that makes a difference. She used to be a real nuisance!

The herbs and plants I ended up with were:

• Red Robin Basil (a purple variety of basil)
• Druett’s Variegated (the cutest plant I’ve ever seen!)
• Tri-colored Sage (our favorite for breakfast gravy)
• Pesto Basil (it just sounds so tasty!!)
• Ornamental Curry (oh how I wish it was culinary)
• Lemon Thyme (these smell amazing)
• Dwarf Oregano (a small, creeping variety)

I tried to organize my pots so they each had a tall plant and a spreading plant. Pictured left is my Pesto Basil grouped together with my Dwarf Oregano.

They are doing really well together! I’m hoping the Pesto Basil will branch out a bit more and show off it’s pretty leaves. I can’t wait to taste this Basil in a Pesto recipe!!

Oregano is one of my favorite herbs to grow and use. It seems like every recipe calls for a bit of Oregano. I go through bushels of it when I make my home canned pasta sauce in the summer time. It also ends up in most every soup!

I did save a couple plants out for other pots, like the lettuce that I bought. Normally I would never purchase lettuce starts, but I knew I wouldn’t be growing lettuce at all this year if I left it to starting them from seeds. It just wasn’t going to happen. So I went ahead and bought some lettuce which I poked around out the sides of another hanging basket, just like I did with my Strawberries this year. I planted one of my Basil plants in the top portion of this basket.

Artistically, three is a very balanced number. I planted three herbs in one of my pots; Thyme, Curry, and Sage. This curry plant smells amazing!! My husband commented on being able to smell it when I brought them home. Since I’ve been trying a lot of Paleo recipes lately, I’ve been using curry more and more in my cooking. I really wish this was a culinary plant instead of ornamental. I don’t know what the difference is, but someday I will grow some culinary curry.

We love to use sage, mostly for breakfast gravy. I’m pretty sure sage is my husband’s favorite herb! I like to grow all the different varieties, there are just some many unique sage plants. The variegated leaves are my favorite.

Even though I don’t use Thyme that often when I’m cooking, I love to grow this herb! Of course it goes in anytime my recipe calls for Italian Seasoning (which is just a combination of Oregano, Thyme, Basil, and maybe Rosemary). But the pretty little flower blossoms on this herb are on of my favorites! It is by far my favorite herb to use when I make knot gardens because of it’s bushy, but small, growing style.

And then my favorite planter pot. I just love how this pot turned out! It’s so pretty!! Variegated leaves mixed in with a vibrant purple Basil plant.

No, this Druett’s Variegated plant is not an herb. It is a flowering plant. But I fell in love with the variety of leaves!! Some are solid green, some variegated, and some white. I thought this might change with different lighting, but it has kept it’s beautiful variety! I’m anxious to see what the blossom look like. By far my favorite of the three pots I put together.

And that concludes my kitchen herb garden project! Well worth the wait, enjoyed every minute of the process to create this lovely space in my home.