Most homesteads have some sort of herb garden outdoors, but sometimes, you want to bring the outdoors in. Whether it’s due to your space, simple convenience, or because you aren’t actually on a homestead yet, an indoor herb garden is an ideal solution.
Let’s face it, there are many reasons for an indoor herb garden, from small gardening spaces to suburban living. Everyone enjoys having plenty of fresh herbs on hand for cooking.
There are many great ways to go about setting up your indoor herb garden. All you’ll need are some seeds, planters, and a few of theses clever ideas.
The best part is, if you like more than one idea, you’re free to mix and match ideas, and create your own unique herb gardens indoors.
1) Teacup Herb Garden
Years ago I was the recipient of a collection of teacups. I’ve packed them around for a few moves and finally found a use for them beyond display. They house a small herb garden.
Whether you’re looking for a new addition to an otherwise boring windowsill, a unique component to a fairy garden, or just a way to use up some teacups, these ideas will get you going.
You could even make up a few extra and give them as housewarming gifts or gifts for birthday’s to friends and family. Indoor herb gardens are always a welcome gift.
Check out the teacup garden ideas.
2) Mason Jar Herb Garden
Most homesteaders do some canning. You can buy new canning jars, have a collection of old mason jars, find unique shaped jars, or simply save jars from condiments and jams or jellies to create this herb garden.
With a bit of ingenuity, you can mount jars to walls, set them on a shelf, or simply place them in a sunny windowsill, and you’ll have fresh herbs at the ready within a few short weeks.
You can also paint your mason jars and add stencils if you wish. This is a great way to unify a look and create your own unique design.
Check out the mason herb garden
3) Hanging Herb Garden
When I was young and living in a small apartment in the big city, I utilized a hanging garden space in front of a sliding glass door. Tight on space? No problem. You can go up.
Whether you choose to hang your herb garden from a ceiling, a top window sill, or simply hang your herb garden like hanging plants, you’re sure to appreciate how easy it is to have a hanging herb garden.
The best part, you’re not really taking up any valuable window or counter top space. These ideas will get your creative juices flowing.
Check out the hanging herb garden here.
4) Rack Style Herb Garden
If you have a larger window for your indoor herb garden, a sliding deck or porch door, or even a small patio or balcony, a rack style herb garden is ideal.
You can use an old bakers rack, an old shelving unit (that of course you jazz up with some paint and decorating), or even PVC or copper piping to create your rack style herb garden masterpiece.
An advantage of this style of indoor herb garden is that if the weather is really nice outside you could potentially relocate it to the balcony or patio during the nicer months of the year.
Check out the rack-style garden here.
5) Upside-Down Herb Garden
This idea came to me after visiting a neighbor one afternoon. We went out on her patio to enjoy a glass of lemonade, and she had upside down hanging tomatoes.
I asked her about it, and she said she’d seen it on a television commercial and had to try it. Rather than buy the product, she created her own.
Her tomatoes were thriving. I thought about this for a few weeks and did some research. If you’re short on space and want a unique look for your herb garden, you may wish to consider these upside down herb garden plans.
You don’t have to buy anything special, you can make them from things that you already have on hand.
Check out the upside-down herb garden here.
6) Old Boot Planters
If you’re like most homesteaders, you don’t throw anything away, not even a holey pair of old boots. You’ll repair them some day, won’t you? How about an easier idea than repairing them?
Make them a work of art and grow your herb garden in old boots that the kids have outgrown or that need resoled.
You can come up with a variety of ways to use old boots in and around the homestead. Put them in the enclosed porch window or jazz up an otherwise boring window ledge. Using old boots as planters is a clever way to upcycle used boots (or even shoes) in and around your home.
Check out the old boot garden here.
7) 2-Liter Bottle Herb Garden
To my oldest sons dismay we rarely throw anything away on our homestead. I prefer to find ways to upcycle even if it means that something is going to sit for a year or so before I find a way to utilize it. We often find deals on soda that is in 2 liter bottles.
I rinse these out and allow them to dry and then put the lids back on them. After about 10 of these have stacked up my son tends to discretely throw them out. Now, I have a clever way to reuse them.
Check out the water bottle herb garden idea here.
8) Ladder Herb Garden
Over the years, I’ve seen a lot of old ladders being used in gardening. From working as a trellis for climbing plants to housing smaller-sized plants, ladders are an ideal way to upcycle something that is no longer used in and around the homestead.
These ingenious ladder ideas for an herb garden can be used indoors or out, and if you don’t have a ladder, you can glean ideas on how to use wood that you already have on hand to create your own. Anything will do from an old bunk bed ladder to a step stool that is no longer used for its original purpose.
Check out the ladder herb garden here.
9) Basket Herb Garden
If you have a collection of baskets or even just one nice sized basket you could turn it into a nice little basket herb garden. I’m always looking for clever ways to incorporate my basket collection into something that is appealing to look at and handy to have for something on the homestead.
It’s also a nice gift idea if you have someone on your gift list that is into gardening but short on space.
I like the idea of having a handle on the basket to carry it around or hang it from an “S” hook from the ceiling or a windowsill so that my little portable herb garden can “follow the sun”.
Check out the basket herb garden here.
10) The Caddy Herb Garden
As homesteaders, we’ve learned to make it do or do without. We’ve also learned the valuable art of upcycling. If you had someone in your family that enjoyed golfing and had a portable golf caddy, there are a variety of ways to reuse it.
You could also use an old 5 gallon bucket tool caddy, a shower caddy, a condiment caddy (easy to find at a dollar store), or any other type of caddy that you find at a yard sale or perhaps in your own garage no longer in use.
Regardless of the type of caddy, you can revamp it into an indoor garden. The best part is that the little sections in the caddy easily define areas for different herbs.
Check out the caddy herb garden here.
11) Tea Pot Or Coffee Pot Herb Garden
That old leaky tea pot or coffee pot is an ideal solution for your indoor herb garden. I’ve used old camping coffee pots that leaked, as well as glass tea pots that had lost their lids in a move to plant some pretty herbs.
You could also hang these on “S” hooks by their handles, or stack them on shelves. You can often find these types of containers in thrift stores, at yard sales, and in your camping gear.
Mix and match for unique looks. Don’t forget, if they are plain, you can give them a quick decorative look with some spray paint, or a stencil.
Check out the teapot herb garden here.
12) Muffin Tin Herb Garden
Old muffin tins lend themselves well to planting small herbs. Whether you choose a six muffin muffin-tin or a twelve muffin muffin-tin you can put extra muffin tins to great use. You can leave these on a table, in a windowsill, or mount them to a wall vertically for a unique one of a kind look.
You can use the paper muffin liners if desired or simply plant directly into the tin. Make sure to put a thin layer of gravel or rocks in the bottom to ensure some drainage.
Trim your herbs back often to make them fuller. Then you simply snip off what you need for cooking and leave the rest for another time.
Check out the muffin tin herb garden here.
13) Flour Sifter Herb Planters
Many homesteaders have a collection of old kitchen items. I love this idea for old flour sifters. They lend themselves well to planting herbs thanks to the mesh wire in the bottom of them.
You can find them at thrift stores, in old homesteads and perhaps even in grandma’s garage or kitchen. You could also purchase new ones if desired, but why buy new when you can find used? If you want to be really creative you can also paint them or stencil them.
Check out the flour sifter herb planters here:
14) Chest Of Drawers Herb Garden
An old chest of drawers lends itself well to an indoor herb garden. Don’t toss out an old dresser just because one of the drawers no longer works right or is sticking.
You can open up the drawers varying how far open they are or you can take the drawers out and stack them haphazardly for a unique look. Narrower drawers can be removed from the dresser or chest of drawers and placed into a windowsill.
Place the chest of drawers near a sunny location and you can either plant directly into the drawers, or you can place planters into the drawers.
Make sure that you have a waterproof surface at the bottom, so that you’re not ruining any of your flooring. This also works well on an enclosed porch area. Again, you can paint or stencil the dresser to give it a fun unique look.
Check out the chest of drawers herb garden here.
15) Old Glassware Herb Gardens
Old glassware such as a collection of clear or colored vases, cracked or chipped bowls, or any other type of glassware is an ideal way to use something you have on hand and make a cute herb garden. You can mix and match styles, or stick with all the same types of glassware.
Place in a sunny window, and watch your herb garden grow. You can also grow many herbs such as basil or garlic in plain water.
Simply place cut stems into the water and make sure that the container has plenty of water in it at all times. Snip off what you need and leave the rest for another day.
Check out the glassware herb garden here.
16) Old Bread Pan Herb Garden
Old bread pans that are starting to rust are an ideal solution for indoor herb gardens. If you don’t have any, likely someone in your family will have them and be willing to part with them.
Old commercial bread pans are connected in sets of three to six, and are ideal for mounting vertically or sitting on a shelf.
There aren’t a lot of plans online for these, but there are some pictures that you can look out to give you some inspiration.
You could also mix and match commercial (connected bread pans) style bread pans and single pans of different sizes for your indoor herb garden.
Check out the old bread pan herb garden here.
17) Soup Can Herb Garden
If your homestead is like ours, you don’t want to throw anything out, even empty cans. I loved this idea for a unique indoor herb garden!
It ups the ante on upcycling and takes advantage of something that would normally be tossed out into the trash. If you wanted to, you could even spray paint or stencil the cans prior to planting your herb garden.
Mix and match different sized cans connect them together in an abstract fashion or orderly fashion and you’re sure to have a great herb garden that friends and family will say, “Why didn’t I think of that?”.
Check out the soup can herb garden here.
18) Galvanized Wash Tub Herb Garden
When I was a child, we lived in an old farmhouse that only had a small shower. It was a fairly small shower and my dad rigged up an old galvanized wash tub for my younger sister and I to take baths in.
Decades later, I had an old galvanized wash tub that had seen better years and I put it in the garden and planted hens and chickens in it. My younger son used one to create a compost pile for me in a galvanized wash tub, it worked great.
Over the years I’ve found many great uses for such wash tubs, and now I tend to collect them regardless of how rusted out or dented they are.
I find many great uses for them in and around our homestead. I love this idea. You can be as fancy as you wish and you can use different sized wash tubs if you want a larger or smaller herb garden.
Check out the galvanized tub herb garden here.
19) Used Pallet Herb Garden
As homesteaders, we’re pretty good at upcycling and reusing things.
I knew one homesteader who would get up early every morning, fire up his pick-up truck and drive to town. In town he would stop at the local hardware store, auto shop, and a few other stores, and pick up the used pallets that were out back.
He had pre arranged with these local businesses to pick up their used pallets that they didn’t want to keep or sell. He used them in and around his homestead. It was free, and he found a variety of uses for them.
You can break them down, and make them into all sorts of things including an indoor herb garden. There are a wide array of articles on indoor pallet gardens. You can mix and match ideas, or come up with one that is entirely of your own design.
Check out the pallet herb garden here.
20) Distribution Crate Herb Garden
Back in the day, soda products and beverage products were delivered to stores in wooden crates. Today these crates are typically made of plastic.
If you happen to stumble on the old wooden versions (perhaps in an old barn, shed, or even a thrift store or garage), grab them up.
These crates have a variety of multi-purposes on the homestead and they can help you keep your theme of rustic if that is what you’re looking for.
They’re ideal to use as planters and lend themselves well to homestead decor. Best of all, most of them already have compartments which make them ideal for planters.
Check out the distribution crate herb garden here.
21) Wire Basket/Rodent Trap/Fish Trap Herb Garden
There are many homesteads that have a collection of wire mesh, baskets, rodent traps, fish traps or something along those lines. Here is a creative way to reuse such baskets and make something unique for an herb garden.
Turn them vertically and hang them. They can be moved around if needed and collect more or less light or they can be left in one place.
Check out the wire mesh/basket herb garden here.
22) Soda Can Herb Garden
As a general rule, we don’t save empty soda cans on our homestead. We don’t live in a state that gives us any perks for turning them in, so they typically end up in the garbage pile. However, I found this cool picture, and an idea came to life.
I may have to save a few soda cans and try this one out. It looks like fun, it’s another great way to upcycle and the picture says it all.
Once you’ve rinsed your cans and removed the tops you can plant nearly anything into them and have a fun indoor herb garden.
Check out the soda can herb garden here.
23) Wagon Herb Garden
Wagons have a variety of uses on the homestead. If your homestead happens to have a child’s wagon not in use you may want to consider using it for a portable herb garden.
You can put it in front of a sunny window, roll it out to a patio or deck during nicer weather, and you can use it as a decoration.
There are a great variety of ways to use wagons as herb gardens. Regardless of the brand of wagon, you can use it to your advantage, and incorporate it into your portable herb garden.
Check out the wagon herb garden here:
24) Wheelbarrow Herb Garden
That old rusted out wheelbarrow can have a purpose in and around your homestead. Give it a good cleaning, put in either some rocks for drainage or add some drainage holes, and throw in some potting soil.
Your new unique herb garden will be ready to roll to any location in your home. It’s quick and easy and you can leave it in front of a sunny window, in front of a sliding glass door, and roll it out to a patio or balcony in nicer weather.
Check out the wheelbarrow herb garden here.
25) Baking Tin Herb Garden
A baking tin can make a clever and unique herb garden. You can mount it to a wall and set it up so that it can readily hold your herb garden shadow box style, or you can simply set it on a table or windowsill.
Either way, it lends itself well to a unique herb garden for your homestead.
Check out the baking tin herb garden here.
26) Falling Pot Vertical Herb Garden
Want something that will really intrigue your guests? This Falling Pot vertical herb garden is just the ticket. It looks as if the pots are precariously balanced and about to topple over.
You’ll be amazed at how easily this one is to make and it won’t take up a lot of space since it is a vertical style herb garden.
Check out the falling pot herb garden here.
27) Trellis Herb Garden
A trellis can lend a unique perspective to an otherwise boring wall, and it’s an ideal place to plant an herb garden.
Why not get two for the price of one and try this clever trellis herb garden?
Final Words
You’re sure to find a variety of ways to create it and you can make it your own unique version with just a few minor changes such as paint and which herbs you select to grow.
Clearly, there are many amazing indoor herb garden ideas. You can mix and match them or modify them to design your own unique indoor herb garden. Don’t forget to take advantage of decorating your containers.
You can use chalkboard paint and then write the name of your herbs on the chalkboard, you can simply stencil the names of your herbs or stencil pictures or designs on your containers, or you can just paint your containers if you don’t want to leave them as they are.
Other fun label ideas include using old silverware such as a fork to hold a simple card, or writing the name of the herb on an old spoon. The list of possibilities is endless.
Regardless of what you choose, your indoor herb garden will be uniquely yours, and give you plenty of fresh herbs to use while you’re cooking your family meals.
Take advantage of what you happen to have on hand and use some creativity when you’re designing your own indoor herb garden.
Hi, I’m Linda. I’m a mom, grandmother, homesteader. I love simple living and enjoy my life on a homestead where I garden, raise a variety of animals and strive for a life more like my grandparents lived.
My goal is to enrich life by living it as simply as possible and focusing on the way my grandparents did things. Life is so much more fun when it’s lived simply.