Pinterest Challenge: Bar Cart Herb Garden

Despite my admitted lack of a green thumb, I have always, always wanted to grow things. This year, I am challenging myself to actually follow through and put in the leg work to make something grow from the ground up. I figure if I'm going to take the time to grow plants, I might as well get to reap the rewards and eat them (it's a good thing I don't have this same mentality when it comes to reproduction, hey?).

 After many herb and vegetable gardens like this tempting me through Pinterest, I decided to give it a whirl. It is Pinterest Challenge week, is it not? One day, when I live in Martha Stewart's compound, I will have this herb garden.

First things first, find a pretty house for my herb garden. I've seen everything from old boots and buckets to fancy shmancy greenhouses to do pretty much the same job, so decided that aesthetics come first. Luckily, my housing of choice ended up being pretty functional as well. I've longed for the RASKOG trolley for quite awhile now. It's been used for pretty much everything you can imagine in the blogosphere, but I have yet to see it as an herb garden. Score.

Second, buy supplies.

Wood Crates: $2 each from Dollorama
Plastic Seed Trays: $1.25/3 (after searching multiple garden centres  I finally found them at $ store)
Seed Starter Medium: $5.99 at Home Depot
Seeds: $10 (Buy anywhere, or see below for my source)
Grow Light: $10 each from Mr. Light
Plastic Wrap: On hand (to wrap around the crates to keep the seed babies warm until they grow)

Time to start growing! Oh wait, that takes a long time. I want something green and herbalicious right now! I get discouraged easily, so bought myself some mature herb plants to keep me happy while my seedlings grow. This set-up is really in it's early stages. Currently, the bottom tier holds gardening supplies and seeds, the middle tier holds my baby herb plants waiting to be born, and the top tier holds momma and pappa herb.

Soon, though, both the bottom and middle tiers will house my seed trays, and this is (I think) a great set-up for grow lights. I've got mine on order from Mr. Light and plan on afixing the flourescent fixtures to the bottom of the top two tiers so that the bottom two tiers will be for seedlings, and the top tier for the mature plants. For seeds, I ordered a bunch or organic, heirloom seeds from West Coast Seeds, which happens to be a bout a 30 minute drive from my house! (FYI- I've lined the wood crates with plastic to prevent leakage and wood rot).

What I love most about this trolley set up is that it's so easy to move around! When I'm cooking and want some fresh herbs, it will be my little herb kitchen cart. On a sunny day, it will be right by the sliding glass doors to catch some rays. On a chilly day, I'll move it away from the cold windows and closer to the heaters. And, when summer hits, I can even move it outdoors.

I am really, really green to this whole growing thing, but I'm excited to learn the ropes. I'm starting with herbs and will be sowing some vegetable seeds for my future outdoor veggie garden soon as well. I will most certainly post updates and let you know about my inevitable trials and hopeful successes! WIsh me luck!

And thank you to the Pinterest Challenge girls who always inpire me to start creating my Pins! Go check out their projects here:  Katie, Megan, Michelle and YHL,