DIY Vertical Herb Garden
This Post May Contain Affiliate Links. Please Read Our Disclosure PolicyTight on space? This DIY Vertical Herb Garden is a easy way to add fresh herbs and style to any outdoor wall. Learn how with this simple tutorial!
Even though I don’t have space to plant a vegetable garden, I make it a point to plant herbs every year. I like to have fresh herbs for flavoring dishes (like my homemade herb butters or infused liquor recipes), and they look and smell so pretty.
I’ve tried various herb gardens in the past, but I was never in love with the overall display, or the garden was in a place that didn’t get enough sun. This year I decided to try something different: a DIY Vertical Herb Garden.
Pretty cute, right?
This project was actually inspired by a hanging file organizer I picked up at HomeGoods. I was walking around the store looking for inspiration, and my idea light bulb lit up when I saw this guy sitting on the shelf.
With some ingenuity, soil, and potted herbs, I quickly turned this ordinary office accessory into an unusual. space-saving herb garden. DIY Vertical Herb Garden for the win!
How to Make a Vertical Herb Garden
To make this rack a functioning and chic garden, I needed a few things:
- hanging file organizer
- oil-rubbed bronze spray paint
- coco fiber liners
- soil
- assorted herbs
I didn’t love the silver finish wouldn’t for my space, so I started off by giving the rack a couple coats of oil rubbed bronze spray paint.
Once the rack was dry, I attached it to the wall using screws. Much better!
To keep the soil and plants in the pockets of the rack, I lined them with round coco liners that you’d normally use in a hanging basket. This also help to hold in water.
You can find the liners in most garden supply centers and hardware stores these days, and they are pretty inexpensive. The ones I purchased were round. They weren’t a perfect fit to start, but I gently pushed them into the pockets and spread out the fiber to fill the opening.
With the pockets lined, I added soil. Now, I was ready for herbs. Because I tend to go overboard with plants, I was able to squeeze sixteen herb plants into this rack. There are eight different herbs, and I used two of each herb. You could certainly get away with just one of each herb, but I am short on patience and want instant impact, so I went for more.
I gently tucked the herb plants into each pocket and then put in more soil where it was needed.
After a quick watering, my DIY vertical herb garden was complete!
Who would have thought that a magazine storage rack could function as a vertical herb garden? It’s like it was meant to be!
Enjoy this project? Here are a few more creative DIYs:
- Mounted Staghorn Fern
- DIY Beeswax Candles
- Burlap Table Runner
- Stenciled Coffee Tray
- Beach Bum Terrarium
Benefits of a Vertical Herb Garden:
As I said at the beginning of this post, this kind of garden is great when outdoor space is tight. It takes up zero floor space and offers ample room for plants. Plus, it doubles as wall art, adding natural color to the area.
My new herb garden hangs on the wall between my garage doors where it should get plenty of morning sun. Plus, since it’s so tall, I was able to fill it with 16 herb plants. (I realize that’s probably excessive, but I like instant impact.)
It looks beautiful! I would try your idea this 🌱 Spring 2023!
I love this idea, Michael!
Thank you Lorree!
xo Michael
I really like the way it looks and how the herbs complement each other. Some of them I can identify.
would you share which herbs you used, save us trial and error
Love this Idea !!
Lol. That was supposed to be my toddler a grandsons and out of toddler reach. On the previous comment
Did you put your potting soil inside the basket liners.? It’s an amazing idea. I have lots of room. I’ve always had my herbs on my patio, but my 3 toddler Grayson’s are coming to live with me so I need to get them out of ginger reach! This is going to be perfect %!
Yep! Liners, soil, plants. 🙂
xo Michael
Love this idea – curious though as the summer went on did the plants over grow the space? Would you have done anything different?
Great question! This latest all summer long and I was so happy with it. I would easily do it again! I used my herbs a lot. Those I didn’t, I just trimmed back.
Hope that helps!
xo Michael
What a great idea! I can visualize doing this garden with flowers. It would look so beautiful and attractive
Great idea!