Look at this lovely wooden herb planter that was kindly sent to me for review by Shirecraft Designs. It measures 60cm wide x 17cm high x 24cm deep…so it is a substantial size and perfect to be used on a patio or in a small garden.

In the photo above you can see exactly what it looked like when it arrived. Isn’t it wonderful! It is chunky, fairly heavy (but not too heavy that it can’t be moved if needed) and extremely well made. It is obvious that a lot of time and effort has gone into making me this handmade wooden planter….and I really appreciate it 🙂

I am ‘sow’ delighted to have this in my garden! I have shown it off to friends and family and they are very envious. I have told them all that it is £25 to buy on the Shirecraft Designs website and they are very impressed with the price for such a great handmade garden planter.

I have only recently filled it up with compost and planted it up with seeds as I have been away for a couple of trips and didn’t want to sow the seeds before my holidays as then they would have been neglected.

I know the planter says ‘Herbs’ on it but at the moment I have chosen to plant it up with salad leaves.  The reason being that I had some packets of salad seeds in the shed that needed sowing but had never got round to doing it…until the planter arrived, that is. I do also have some packets of herbs to grow but I think I will get more use of it as a ‘Salad Planter’ for now however in the future I may use it as a herb planter, as it was intended.

My daughter will really enjoy watering the seeds every day and watching them grow into crisp salad leaves that we can eat in a sandwich or as a dressed salad.

Here are the salad leaves that I have chosen to grow:-

Jamie Oliver – Lettuce – Lollo Biondo & Lollo Rossa

Jamie Oliver – Sweet Leaves – Mixed

Jamie Oliver – Spinach – Red Cardinal F1

Jamie Oliver – Rocket Mixed

Wilkinsons – Lettuce – Salad Bowl Mixed

I can’t wait to see my salad leaves growing. Last year we had an abundance of salad and it tasted delicious. I am not normally a huge salad fan but after I’d eaten it freshly picked from my garden last year I completely changed my mind and was hooked!

Please understand that I am a very novice gardener and don’t really know what I am doing! I read the seed packet, normally disregard the instructions if they sound too complicated and then go ahead , plant the seeds anyway and hope for the best. 🙂

With my salad planter I have sowed a mixture of rocket, lettuce and spinach seeds which I personally think would be a perfect mix together but who knows…I shall wait and see! I hope the seeds will grow….after all, they’ve had the finest of starts being planted up in such a special handmade planter.

I love the Willow Green colour of my new Herb Planter … it is a lovely chalky green hue that looks very ‘Country Garden’. You can also opt to have the planter painted in Forge-Me-Not-Blue or Country Cream. You can see examples of those colours in the photo above of the Wooden Bird Feeder with Heart Decoration that Shirecraft sell for just £10.00 each. What a fantastic price! The bird feeders would make an amazing gift for a birthday or Christmas….as would the herb planter or the wooden garden lanterns.

Shirecraft are a Derby based business that specialises in making rustic wooden furniture and accessories with a contemporary flare.  They have been making these wooden products for over 18 years and their skill is apparent in the products they make.  They pride themselves on hand-making every single one of the products that they sell and because of this they are able to make their items to a consistently high standard. It is even possible for you to order bespoke custom-made products for your home or garden, if that is what you require. They are constantly thinking of new home and garden accessories to make and I love their ideas! Take a look at the photo below to see a selection of the products they currently sell on their website www.shirecraftdesigns.com

As I home-educate my daughter, I think gardening is a great way to have fun whilst learning. Last year we grew potatoes, carrots and salad leaves. So far this year we have grown wild flowers from seed and are nurturing a growing baby oak tree that has taken root in an old potato planter bag that I’d left out in the garden with compost in from last year’s potato crop. I have always loved a freebie but a free oak tree is amazing! 🙂 I just hope it continues to grow and one day turns into a strong and healthy tree. When it gets too big I will transport it to my parent’s house and plant it in their garden. They have the space for such a tree…sadly I don’t. 🙁

It has been a pleasure to review for Shirecraft Designs and I highly recommend their handmade wooden garden planter to you.  It is £25.00 to order online but if you sign up to their newsletter you will get 15 % off your first order so you can actually get the planter for just £21.25.  At the time of writing this I am not positive what the postage charges are for the UPS Shop To Shop Service or My Hermes Parcel Shop delivery but once I know I shall update this post with the correct information.

Please can I ask you all to support this fantastic business by liking them on facebook and following them on twitter or pinterest. They have been very kind sending the wooden planter to me and I would like to say a big Thank You. 😀

If you would like to purchase a Handmade Wooden Herb Planter like mine then please click here.

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Update- 15th September 2015

My herb planter is full of lovely salad leaves for my daughter and I to pick and eat. The planter is still in fantastic condition even though it has been out in the bad weather.  Here’s a photo of the salad leaves we are growing:-