JoAnne Skelly: Mason jar herb gardens

A friend introduced me to a new way of growing herbs, in a canning jar. She said she had grown basil successfully in a jar. She took a quart jar and put pea gravel in it with potting mix on top. Then she added water to where the gravel met the potting mix and planted seeds. She placed the jar in a south window, and within two weeks had basil coming up. She claimed the evaporative power of the water up through the soil kept the soil moist enough for germination and growth of the seed.I wondered