• About
  • Contact
  • Advertise
  • Privacy Policy
  • Copyright & Disclosure
  • Subscribe
    • Bloglovin
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
    • YouTube

Life at Cloverhill

  • Main
  • Home & Garden
    • Cloverhill Farmhouse
    • January Declutter Detox
    • Cleaning & Organizing
    • Holidays
      • FREE Online Christmas Planner
      • Holiday Decor
      • Holiday Recipes
      • Holiday Projects
      • Holiday Gift Ideas
      • Holiday Organizing
      • Holiday Activities
    • Gardening
    • Our Backyard Chickens
    • Previous Apartments
  • Recipes
  • Create
    • Printables Vault
    • Everyday Projects
    • Seasonal Projects
  • Family
    • Baby
    • I Do
    • Travel

Craft Tutorial DIY Flowers Garden Summer Projects

Salad Planters {Mother’s Day Gift Idea}

With Mother’s Day coming up this weekend, many of us are looking for ways to show our mothers how much we appreciate them.

 

salad-planter

Rather than giving them flowers or a card, make some salad planters that will give them a bounty of fresh salad ingredients throughout the season!

 

salad-planter

Full of fresh herbs, lettuces and edible flowers, they’re not only functional, but pretty too, looking great on a porch, balcony or kitchen window.

 

It all started with these simple wooden crates from the dollar store.
DIY-wooden-crate
A little staining, painting and distressing and I had these DIY Vintage Wooden Crates.

To make the crates water resistant for holding plants, I used this florist’s tip – line them with thick plastic. Next time you have an arrangement in a basket or wooden container from a florist’s shop, take a peek down the side, and I bet you’ll find them lined like this.

 

You can attach the plastic with staples or thread, but I’ve found that a hot glue gun works great. It adheres the plastic to the crate and also melts into place a little.

 

salad-planter
Line the bottom of the crate with rocks to help with drainage. Then it is just a matter of filling the crates with rich soil and planting your salad plants. In this smaller crate, I planted fragrant purple basil along with peppery arugula. Both will bring some great flavour to a salad.
salad-planter

The large crate holds green basil, along with cilantro (Garrett’s favourite) and red leaf lettuce. Water regularly, as lettuces like moist soil, and drier soil can produce bitter leaves.

Types of Lettuces and Herbs to Grow

 

Having fresh herbs and salad leaves in a container garden is an easy way to keep fresh ingredients on hand. They require very little maintenance for great results!

Lettuces

  • Arugula
  • Red Leaf Lettuce
  • Buttercrunch Lettuce
  • Baby Spinach

Herbs

  • Basil
  • Purple Basil
  • Cilantro/Coriander
  • Parsley
  • Thyme
  • Oregano
  • Rosemary
  • Dill
  • Sage
  • Tarragon
  • Chives
  • Mint
Pruning Your Lettuces and Herbs

As you pick off lettuce leaves and herbs, they will continue to grow throughout the season and make your bounty last longer.

Lettuces – Cut the outer lettuce leaves about 1 inch from the soil line. Cut while the plant is young and tender.
Herbs – Pinch off the stem, about 1/4″ down from the top set of leaves. Pinching encourages growth and will give you a fuller herb plant. It also prevents the plant from going into bloom, which will stop it from producing fragrant foliage for the rest of the season.

 

Edible Flowers
Edible flowers have long been used in dishes all over the world and are starting to make a comeback in salads. Flowers like these Viola Violets add a lovely punch of colour to any dish.
Edible flowers are great, but you need to take some precautions to eat them safely:

 

  • Eat flowers you know to be consumable. If you are uncertain, consult a reference book on edible flowers and plants.
  • Eat flowers you have grown yourself, or know to be safe for consumption. Flowers from the florist or nursery may have been treated with pesticides or other chemicals.
  • Do not eat roadside flowers or those picked in public parks. Both may have been treated with herbicide or pesticide. Roadside flowers may also be polluted by car exhaust.
  • Only eat the petals, and remove stamens and pistils before eating.

 

 

Edible Flowers

  • Violet (Viola)
  • Carnation
  • Impatien
  • Lilac
  • Marigold
  • Pansy
  • Snapdragon
  • Squash Blossom
  • Rose
  • Hollyhock
  • Chamomile
  • Gladiolas
  • Nasturtium
  • Begonia
  • Chive Blossom
  • Dandelion
  • Hibiscus
  • Peony
salad-planter
Surprise your mother this Mother’s Day with a lush salad planter!
– – –
Linked Up To:
Young House Love
Bower Power
RedBirdBlue
Sparkle Meets Pop
Milk and Cuddles
Sugar and Dots
Crafty Scrappy Happy
Serenity Now
Hodge:Podge
So Much Better With Age

Share this:

  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email

Related


« Grilled Chili-Lime Chicken with Cilantro Lime Cauliflower Rice
Grilled Pineapple with Whipped Coconut Cream »

Comments

  1. Melanie @ Mailbox Journey says

    May 8, 2013 at 2:32 pm

    They turned out so great!

  2. Erika Thriftyandfabulous says

    May 8, 2013 at 4:03 pm

    Love! What an amazing gift for Mother’s Day too 🙂 Got to love a gift that keeps on giving!

  3. Liz Stevens says

    May 8, 2013 at 8:42 pm

    What a great gift idea! I need to get to the dollar store! 🙂
    Love this pinterest challenge!
    http://www.gimmesomestyleblog.com

  4. Tamsyn says

    May 9, 2013 at 12:47 am

    These are gorgeous. My mum would absolutely love it if I gave her something like this for Mother’s Day. I should probably get started on them 🙂

  5. Krista @thehappyhousie says

    May 9, 2013 at 5:18 am

    What a great use for your beautiful crates. I love this idea!
    Krista

  6. Taryn @ Design, Dining + Diapers says

    May 10, 2013 at 4:41 am

    These are beautiful!!!! I love the stain you chose and the graphic. They are beautiful plain and with the flowers! Such a great gift.

  7. Shannon {Cozy Country Living} says

    May 10, 2013 at 1:30 pm

    These are just beautiful and what a great gift they would be! I just love this:)

  8. Shauna@Satori Design for Living says

    May 16, 2013 at 1:28 pm

    Such a great idea and a lovely hostess gift for a summer party too. The crates turned out beautifully!

    • Amanda says

      May 17, 2013 at 11:43 am

      I hadn’t thought of them for a hostess gift, but that would be perfect. Thanks for stopping by!

  9. Craftivity Designs says

    May 16, 2013 at 5:10 pm

    Thanks for the tips on pruning herbs. I just planted herbs for the first time and am a total newbie!
    – Lora

    • Amanda says

      May 17, 2013 at 11:44 am

      Congrats on your first herb garden! It is so nice to have them on hand all summer. I even freeze and dry my leftovers at the end of the season to enjoy throughout the winter months too. Hope you have a great first season 🙂

  10. Dawn @ Inspired Living says

    May 18, 2013 at 1:45 am

    Such a great idea! I will have to come back and pin this later (on my iPad and don’t see a pin it button)…..

    Thx for linking this up!

  11. Christy @ Creating a Beautiful Life says

    June 19, 2013 at 2:22 pm

    Love this idea. It would make a great hostess gift too. I’m visiting from Rain on a Tin Roof link party.

    Christy @ Creating a Beautiful Life

  12. galleryfive12 says

    June 19, 2013 at 4:50 pm

    These are beautiful – what a great idea! The tips on pruning were so helpful to me – thanks for sharing!

  13. Selene @ Restoration Beauty says

    June 20, 2013 at 4:46 am

    These are too cute and fun! I cannot believe you snagged those small crates from the dollar store! What a find! They look so vintage after you added your touches to them!
    Thanks for partying with us at the Summer Spruce Up party!
    Selene @ Restoration Beauty

  14. Celso Castañeda says

    September 15, 2015 at 9:45 pm

    Do you poke holes on the bottom of the liner or does the water just evaporate through the rocks?

  15. Celso Castañeda says

    September 15, 2015 at 9:46 pm

    Do I have to make drain holes I the liner or will the rocks do the work by just having the water evaporate?

    • Amanda says

      September 16, 2015 at 11:27 am

      No need to add draining holes. The rocks also the water to drain.

Hi, I'm Amanda! Join me as I make my family's 1903 farmhouse into a home. I share renovations, DIY projects, recipes, our flower farm and the joy of living in the Canadian countryside
More About Me

Archives

Categories

Copyright © 2023 · Divine theme by Restored 316

Copyright © 2023 · Divine Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.