Raised Herb Garden From a Recycled Papasan Chair

Raised Herb Garden

An easy to make raised garden to keep your tender herbs away from pesky rabbits and other varmints! No bending to harvest! Less weeding! Stays outside all year long.

Old Papasan Chair (no cushion)

Landscaping Fabric

Wire Mesh

Staple Gun

Container Potting Soil (2-3 bags)

Seeds or starter plants

The first month I was in my house my boyfriend and I were taking a walk in our new neighborhood. We came across an old Papasan Chair (no cushion) sitting by the curb, waiting for junkers or the garbage men to pick it up. I took one look at it and told him we were taking it. He had no clue what I was going to do with it and thought I was crazy but helped me carry it home. I've seen several for sale at garage sales or goodwill, there are always a few for sale on FB Marketplace as well.

I had a roll of landscapeing fabric and cut some lengths and wrapped it around the seat frame and secured it with a staple gun around the edges and thru the fabric on the top to the supports on the seat frame. I then added some wire mesh to the middle for support. I kept the seat part seperate from the bottom frame.

Once the seat was covered, I hauled it outside to a sunny spot in my backyard and filled it with container potting soil then added some starter plants.

Water daily!

In a few short weeks, you'll have herbs galore! This image is from the first summer I had this. In recent years, I've planted multiple types of herbs and thru the summer I harvest and use in my home cooking.

I have chives that come back every year in the center now. How they survive in a raised bed thru the harsh Wisconsin winters is beyond me. They keep coming back though!

At the end of the summer, whatever is left, I harvest the whole bed. I wash and prepare all for the freezer. Most of the basil is made into pesto and frozen into cubes in an ice cube tray then transfered to a freezer bag and I can take one or two out whenever needed for noodles, steak topping or spaghetti sauce. The taste of summer all year long!

Here's a link to my pesto recipe Instructable...

https://www.instructables.com/Amies-Homemade-Pesto/