Wine Box Garden

Here's a quick and easy project idea for anybody with a small amount of deck or balcony garden space who's interested in container gardening - grow herbs and other plants in wine boxes!

The main challenge I find with container gardening is water management. Small containers dry out quickly, and stressed plants provide a delicious snack for all sorts of destructive bugs and diseases. Large containers are great, but difficult to move, and most them are round - making difficult to group together in a way that maximizes space. Wine boxes are a great solution because they are easy to move, modular, and rectangular.

For this project, I bought a bunch of 12-bottle size wooden wine boxes from a local wine distributor. I simply drilled drainage holes in the bottom of each box, added potting soil, and put in my plants.

I've started seedling of beets, lacinato kale, salad greens, basil, zucchini, and marigolds in additional boxes. I can't wait to see what comes up!

Do you have any container gardening tips?