Outdoor Herb Bar: Give Your Summer Recipes A Little Something Extra
Hi there friends! The summer season is almost upon us and I for one am ready to start living outdoors. Are you with me? I am teaming up with Shauna from Satori Design For Living and 12 other incredible ladies to highlight some of our favorite outdoor ideas in a series called Outdoor Extravaganza. It will be 3 posts over the next 3 weeks, all airing on Thursday. They are meant to inspire the inner gardener and/or decorator in you. Up today is planting tips and ideas, so I thought I would share a fun and easy way to give your summer recipes a lift by creating an outdoor herb bar.
My garden has hosted a good variety of herbs throughout the years and by this point I know my favorites. They include; mint of all varieties, thyme, rosemary, oregano, basil, dill, cilantro and sage. I thought this year it might be fun to create a one stop shop, a place I could keep them all together to serve a better function, hence the herb bar idea. Herbs have an effortless ability to up your food and drink game by adding a signature flavor that feels farm to table.
So here is what I did….
I used a potting bench and painted it in Sherwin-Williams Black Magic. You can even use a bar cart, this one might be cute from IKEA. I collected all of my outdoor pots and put them in one place. I wanted a variation of color, shape and height so I played around with placement. I wanted more basil and mint than any other herb so they got the big pots. I went from there, depending how much I used of the other herbs.
This bar gets plenty of sun and the heat back here can be a bit much so a little shade is good. If I see they need more I can just pop the pots out.
In case you are wondering about the hedge, it’s privet. It was one of the selling points of this house, it’s 10ft tall.
The mint variations I used are peppermint, spearmint, grapefruit mint and orange mint. The one below is “mojito” mint, that is not the technical name but we all know what this one is good for :)!
Tip-if you like mint the way I do then use containers. I found out the hard way how it can spread everywhere. It comes back each year along with my oregano, so that’s always nice.
If you need extra pots this summer check Home Goods, this gorgeous 2 toned Ochre/Cream pot on the bottom was just 12.99, what?!
Be sure to check out all of today’s posts…
Satori Design for Living | On Sutton Place | City Farmhouse | Maison de Pax
The DIY Mommy | A Pretty Life | Vinyet Etc. | Life On Virginia Street
The Happy Housie | Clean and Scentsible | Casa Watkins Living | Postcards from the Ridge | Finding Silver Pennies
Have a happy day!
Love this little potting bench/bar cart! Those pots are fantastic, too. Yup, mint can get carried away. Great that it’s so easy to grow, but best for pots. My neighbour has raspberries that pop up in our yard all summer long 🙁
Thank you Shauna! I just planted berries too, but in containers so hopefully they will be ok:)! Happy belated Mother’s Day! Jen
Beautiful – I love how you’ve added so much function to your beautiful herb garden – that’s kind of brilliant a herb bar! I found out the hard way too, planted chocolate mint in my garden once… it took over and I ended up having to rip it all out. This year, planting it in a container!
Hi Laurie, so true, they do take over, ugh!!! Thank you!! Jen
Jen, I love this bar cart with herbs! We love mojitos and using fresh herbs in our cooking. We also have privet hedge along the back of our yard and love the privacy from it. Such great tips and those pots from HomeGoods are gorgeous!
Hi Danielle! Thank you so much! Gotta love those herbs in the summer! Have a great day, Jen
What a fantastic idea Jen! I grow a lot of herbs as well, so I love the idea have having them all in one easy to access spot that’s gorgeous too! And those Ochre/Cream planters?! Gorgeous.
Thank you so much Jo-Anna! Love that planter too!! Have a great day, Jen
Great idea! And it looks so pretty! Mint and basil are my favorites too – currently the only ones that I have! lol!
Thank you Jennifer!! Those are great ones:)! Jen
Super jealous of your cart Jen. I have the worst lighting for gardening herbs and tend to keep them indoors. This cart is such a great idea!