Propagating Herbs With Kids

Thank you Juicy Juice for sponsoring today’s children in the garden post.

The great stay at home year continues so we have been spending lots of time in our garden after the school. It’s well known that garden is not just good for growing your own foods and flowers, it is also great for a mental health boost. Since we spent a lot of time on screens during our virtual school day, getting outside is absolutely necessary once the school day is done. My kids enjoy playing and gardening so we always try to combine the two in fun ways. Today we decided to use our leftover Juicy Juice juice boxes from lunch as pots for propagating herbs.

Fresh Herbs

My favorite things to grow in our garden is herbs. I love going out to grab a bunch of fresh herbs to add to my pot when I’m cooking. I also love that many of them are perennial and cold hardy so they are the gift that keeps on giving all year long. I also love sharing fresh herbs with family and friends.

I decided to propagate a few herbs so that my mom can have her own container herb garden at her home. We saved our Juicy Juice drink boxes from lunch in order to use them as propagation pots. They are also great for potting up seedlings. So lets propagate some herbs together.

3 Steps Easy Herb Propagation

You don’t need anything fancy to propagate your herbs. Juicy boxes are perfect for propagating in water as the are already secure at the bottom. Believe it or not the box itself is great because it doesn’t allow light in. Now in all fairness, I have propagated lots of things in clear jars but darkness is said to be best when trying to establish new roots from cuttings.

• Cut off the tops of your Juice boxes and thoroughly clean out the insides. I use a water and bleach mixture and then rinse several times. Fill each box about half way with water.

• For your cuttings, you are looking for parts of your herb plants that are hardwood. Once you grab a few hardwood cuttings of each herb, remove the bottom half of the leaves. You should also make a fresh cut at the end of the stem.

• Place the cleaned off stem in to the water making sure no remaining leafy parts are submerged in the water. Be sure to refill the water so that the stem never dries out.

Now wait. It will take about 3-4 weeks so see root development. You can peak in and check to the progress and take notes along the way. It’s a good idea to have several cuttings going at once because some may not root at all. Plus the more cutting the bigger your starter plant once it’s time to transplant.

Juice boxes can also be used with a soil less grow medium to propagate herbs. Be sure to add a few holes to the bottom of each box and place them in a rimmed tray. Water sparingly to ensure the grow medium is moist but not soaked.

If you have herbs to share, considering propagating herbs for family and friends. Looking for other fun ways to reuse juice boxes, checkout these fun craft ideas from Juicy Juice.

Be sure to celebrate the 100% Thankful Teacher Contest hosted Juicy Juice winners on October 5. It’s the perfect way to acknowledge teacher who go above and beyond all school year especially during these days of virtual learning for many.

Happy Growing!