Did you know that you can grow herbs or vegetables in your kitchen using mason jars? Mason jar gardening is a great way to enjoy delicious herbs or vegetables when you don’t have the space to plant outdoors or don’t want to deal with outdoor gardening. You can also grow herbs or vegetables indoors no matter what time of year it is. As long as your plants get enough sunshine throughout the day, you’re good to go. Let’s take a closer look at mason jar gardening. I planted green pepper seeds.
Mason Jar Gardening
What You’ll Need
The supplies needed for mason jar gardening are very simple and can actually be found in many discount stores. You’ll need quarter-sized mason jars, small rocks, potting mix, seeds, and labels. You’ll want to invest in the best seeds you can. The reason being is that cheap seeds can sometimes be old and won’t sprout. This can be a waste of time and resources. If you have trouble finding good seeds in your area, go online.
- Gravel
- A mason jar
- Peat Moss Organic ( You can also use potting mix)
- Potting Soil
- Pepper or herb Seeds
How to Plant Your Seeds
First things first. Thoroughly wash and rinse your jars. You never know what may be on these jars from the factory. Next, fill the bottoms of the jars with 2 inches of gravel. Add enough Peat Moss to reach 2/3 mark of the jar and top with organic potting soil. Follow the instructions on your seed package for planting the seeds. The last step is to label each jar with the name of the herb or vegetable.
Instructions
1. Cut seeds out of a pepper and allow to dry for several days or purchase pepper seeds.
2. Place several inches of gravel into the bottom of a mason jar.
3. Fill the jar to the 2/3 mark with Peat Moss.
4. Top with organic potting soil.
5. Get the soil damp.
6. Place a pepper seed into the mason jar.
7. Keep the soil damp until the seed begins to sprout, it takes several days.
8. Water and keep in a window or outdoors in an area that gets several hours of sunlight a day!
Keeping Your Herbs Or Vegetables Alive
You won’t believe how easy it is to grow and keep your plants alive. All you need to remember is that your plants need 6 hours of sunlight each day and that they need water. Be careful not to overwater. If your herbs or stems start to turn yellow, they may be getting too much water. As your herbs or vegetable grow, use scissors to clip off what you need. If your herbs grow too large, you can transfer some of the plant to another mason jar.
Preserving Herbs
If you find that you have an overabundance of herbs, you can preserve them for later use. Herbs can be dried in a dehydrator and stored in spice jar containers. You can also freeze your herbs in ice cube trays. One method is to fill a tray halfway with water and then add a tablespoon of chopped herbs to each cube. Freeze overnight and then fill the rest of the way with water. You can also mix 1/3 cup of olive oil with 2-cups of chopped herbs and pour into ice cube trays to freeze overnight. With both methods, once the cubes are completely frozen, you can pop them out and place them in zip top bags for storage.
Mason jar gardening is a wonderful way to enjoy the flavour of fresh herbs and delicious vegetables without breaking the bank. Fresh herbs and vegetables can be very expensive in the grocery store. When you’re growing your own herbs or vegetables, you also control how they are grown. You don’t have to worry about pesticides. You can even purchase organic, non-GMO seeds. This allows you to get the best herbs or vegetables possible.
A Beginner’s Guide to Mason Jar Gardening
Mason jar gardening is a great way to enjoy delicious herbs or vegetables when you don’t have the space to plant outdoors!
Materials
- Gravel
- A mason jar
- Peat Moss Organic
- Potting Soil
- Pepper or herb Seeds
Instructions
HOW TO PLANT YOUR SEEDS
First things first. Thoroughly wash and rinse your jars. You never know what may be on these jars from the factory. Next, fill the bottoms of the jars with 2 inches of gravel. Add enough Peat Moss to reach 2/3 mark of the jar and top with organic potting soil. Follow the instructions on your seed package for planting the seeds. The last step is to label each jar with the name of the herb or vegetable.
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Cut seeds out of a pepper and allow to dry for several days or purchase pepper seeds.
2. Place several inches of gravel into the bottom of a mason jar.
3. Fill the jar to the 2/3 mark with Peat Moss.
4. Top with organic potting soil.
5. Get the soil damp.
6. Place a pepper seed into the mason jar
7. Keep the soil damp until the seed begins to sprout, it takes several days.
8. Water and keep in a window or outdoors in an area that gets several hours of sunlight a day!
Notes
KEEPING YOUR HERBS OR VEGETABLES ALIVE
You won’t believe how easy it is to grow and keep your plants alive. All you need to remember is that your plants need 6 hours of sunlight each day and that they need water. Be careful not to overwater. If your herbs or stems start to turn yellow, they may be getting too much water. As your herbs or vegetable grow, use scissors to clip off what you need. If your herbs grow too large, you can transfer some of the plant to another mason jar.
PRESERVING HERBS
If you find that you have an overabundance of herbs, you can preserve them for later use. Herbs can be dried in a dehydrator and stored in spice jar containers. You can also freeze your herbs in ice cube trays. One method is to fill a tray halfway with water and then add a tablespoon of chopped herbs to each cube. Freeze overnight and then fill the rest of the way with water. You can also mix 1/3 cup of olive oil with 2-cups of chopped herbs and pour into ice cube trays to freeze overnight. With both methods, once the cubes are completely frozen, you can pop them out and place them in zip top bags for storage.
This is interesting I didnt know you could grow plants in a jar I will have to try
I love the idea of growing my own herbs
This is new to me, going to give this a try.
Wow! Thanks for the great guide to mason jar growing. This is such a fantastic article. I want to try growing a few things during the winter.
My pleasure and go for it!
Hello, I have some herbs that have been in jars for a few months now and there is a large amount of moss growing in the soil. Is this bad for the plants, and how can I stop this happening?
I think it has to do with the PH of your soil. I am not en expert when it comes to moss growing in the soil. This article is really interesting though:https://masonjars.com/is-mold-in-your-soil-good-or-bad-lessons-in-soil-microbiology.html I would suggest googling for more information on this.
Thank you for sharing!
I was wondering a few things:
1. Could one use hydroton/clay pebbles instead of rocks at the bottom?
2. What is the function of peat moss? 2/3rds of the way is quite a lot, making it the primary growing medium. Bare with me here 🙂 my understanding is that peat moss is very acidic somewhere around 3-4pH. So when the plant grows roots past the soil level, which for let’s say a tomato plant (even micro dwarf size) it would mean the main root mass will be growing in peat moss at low pH levels. Would that mean that the amount of peat moss should be varied depending on plant root size and pH needs? Or perhaps even omitted in lieu of having all soil after the rocks/sand/charcoal (drainage) layer for certain plants?
Hello Alissa, You are too technical for me lol! I am not sure I would put tomato plants in a Mason jar to begin with. I find they are already difficult to produce in the garden, but that is just me. This is how I normally do it, but you can also reverse and put 2/3 potting soil and top with Peat moss too. I have never used hydroton/clay pebbles,so I can’t comment.
Lol yep, sorry slightly overthinking the pH conditions for the roots 🙂 Thanks for the suggestion! Reversing the soil and peat moss ratios was precisely my thinking.
I agree, I’d be hesitant to start off tomatoes from seed in such a mason jar setup. I’ve seen it work for some growers and your article got me thinking of maybe moving one of my mature Aerogarden tomato plants to a large mason jar. Gallon size seems like such a perfect depth without being equally wide (the way a common plant pot would be).
Might have to just take a game on it and try! Thanks for suggesting the soil ratio — definitely helps getting a second opinion from someone other than yourself 🙂