DIY Herb Drying Pentagram Rack

Supplies:

• Sticks (find them in your backyard)
• Cotton twine (Dollar Tree)
• Something to hang it on: I had a black v-style shelf bracket (don't know the real name) from a previous buy, I believe less than $2. 

The sticks I used were about 20" long. It took my three tries searching in the backyard to find the perfect combo.

I ended up with extra sticks which is what I used for the photo diagram.

Align the sticks in a star position and have them interchange/overlap.

Tie the twine around once, wrap the twine as much as you prefer, and then tie the end and cut the string at the knot.

For the hanging strings, measure out 4-6 strings at equal length (approximately 18 inches) for each point of the star. 

Tie the 4-6 strings together at the end of each star and when finished with all 5 points tie all together towards the middle.

And hang!

Add your herbs!

I used the same Dollar Tree twine to tie the ends of my herbs to dry

On the far left point is dried basil and on the far right point is fresh basil, approximately 2 weeks from fresh to dry (brittle) 

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!