Feed Yo Self

It may have been a year of eating since I last posted in "Feed Yo Self," but I need somewhere to document this latest venture in self sufficiency.

(I admit: the reason I haven't been able to post was because my flickr account was full, so I began exclusively eating fast food.)

The inspiration for this project came from a desire to have a supply of fresh herbs close by while I'm cooking, and a lifetime of being cheap and not being able to throw anything away.

It's called: Clementine box herb garden.

Here is a quick photo tutorial.

Materials

And, of course, your clementine boxes. I had two wood ones (not the cardboard Cuties, though we have gone through quite a few of those, too). I am reminded of the Regina Spektor song where she talks about eating only boxes of tangerines. ("So cheap and juicy!") I've been singing that to myself while working, but you certainly don't have to.

So, you start with the box(es), and your twine.

Ha! Remember dog foot?

String a length of twine through the holes in the bottoms of each boxes, along one edge.

This will be the side of your window box that lays farthest from the window sill.
If you're using two boxes like me, the twine will hold them together. For added strength, I adhered them with a little wood glue.

In which case I get to use my clamp

Now, this part sorta depends on your windowsill. Ours is made of plastic, so it was possible to nail the boxes down onto it. If your windowsill is brick or cement, I would thread an end of the twine through to the inside wall and nail it.

A couple of nails should do it. Then I used the ~2' of twine left on each end to tie to more nails along the sides of the window.

hooked and clamped

At which point it should be supportive enough to hold the weight of potting soil. I filled it halfway, adding a healthy handful of vermiculite (filler to make the soil drain better).