Herb Garden in a Kiddie Pool

 DIY Herb Garden on the go:

During the summer in New Orleans, LA, it rains more often than not.

Which causes a problem with my plants being overwatered. 

Since my house is raised I figured it would be easy to pull the kiddie pool under the house during a long rain storm. 

And let me tell you how many times I've been soaked, running out in the storm!

But at least the plants are not getting too much water.

I was going to add my tomato plant (in back) but it was too large at the time.

Supplies: 

• Small hard plastic pool - $5.88 at Walmart
• Soil - I used Miracle Gro All Purpose soil (I believe 2-3 cu ft & I had leftovers) & American Countryside Compost & Manure 1 cu ft - $3-$5 per bag
• Coffee grounds (optional)
• Herbs! I picked garden sage, rosemary, chocolate mint, basil, & oregano plus a jalapeno pepper plant. The herbs were around $2.70 at Walmart & $3.50+ at Lowes
• Garden gloves
• Trowel

 First clean the pool and remove any pesky stickers.

 Poke holes in the bottom of the pool for good drainage. 

I used rounded garden shears and it poked through quite easily. 

 Add soil and manure/compost. Almost equal parts but I added more soil.

 Then add coffee grounds. My mom saved up her daily coffee (intake) grounds 

Mix soil, manure/compost, and coffee grounds.

At first I mixed with the trowel but then found hand-mixing (with gloves) was easier. 

Add herbs/plants!

 Water as needed.

 Update:

I had the basil and oregano in the same container for a couple of months and once they had more room both plants flourished. 

The rosemary died after I moved it around to make room for my lavender plant. 

Also pesky brown caterpillars keep eating the leaves. 

I have yet to figure out a good home remedy to fight them off. 

*If you ever heard of spraying the plant with dish soap & cayenne pepper...DON'T DO IT!

I think it killed my tomato plant. 

Here is how I dry my herbs:

I cut the herb from the top of the plant (making sure not to cut off the whole thing!) with scissors.

I wash them with cold running water while also removing any brown leaves or leaves with holes (from critters).

I "ring" them out - basically shake them lightly to remove the water,

and tie the stem ends with cotton twine from Dollar Tree

Basil

Sage

 I tie a loop with the same end of the string to tie the stems and hand them on my drying rack:

The herbs on the left and center point are already dried herbs. They dry pretty quickly. Brittle texture within 4 days. 

Check out my homemade herb drying rack here!