You Should Build a Herb Spiral for Your Garden.
Every home should have a herb garden. Having constant access to fresh greens will revolutionize the way you cook and eat at home. Although you can buy fresh herbs, they are expensive and you will have to buy them in bunches when you may only need a little. But if you have fresh dill on the street, you can grab some for an impromptu potato salad. You’ll chop up some crisp parsley to add to pasta, and every chicken I’ve roasted has been made better by stuffing it with a handful of herb mixture from the yard. Herbs are generally easy to grow too, but there are many of them and they like different growing conditions. Some are tender, some are perennial, some love shade and others love sun. For all these reasons, a spiral of herbs – a unique architectural element for your garden – is a great idea.
Grass spirals are a way for perennial and annual grasses to coexist.
The raised bed, shaped like a seashell or snail, curves inward and upward, while the outer wall forms a spiral. The inside of the bed is higher than the outside because of the spiral, so you create a long, curved row for planting. Larger perennial grasses are planted in a spiral pattern to provide shade and protection for more tender grasses, allowing them to coexist. and prosper. This design also makes harvesting herbs easier as you can walk and bend over the spiral to collect the herbs. You can lift the entire spiral so you don’t even have to squat.
Plan your spiral by exploring the space.
You can make a bed out of anything, but bricks or large landscaping stones are commonly used. You can also easily use wood for a faceted spiral or landscape edging for a low profile spiral. The bed can be as big or small as you like, from a simple six-by-six foot footprint to a sweeping curved wall around the entire garden. The idea is to make it large enough to accommodate the herbs you want to grow, but it should also make sense in your garden from a design perspective.
Start by making a list of what you’d like to grow, and remember that some herbs are seasonal, like basil and cilantro, and some are perennial, like sage and rosemary. You don’t have to play it safe either: you can grow tea, edible flowers and medicinal herbs. Some herb seed stores to find inspiration are Strictly Medicinal and True Leaf Market .
Think carefully about what herbs you will need.
You should always look at the growing zones and how big the plants will actually grow. Using this list, begin to determine where your coil might go, keeping in mind that you want a level spot and a sunny spot. Take several measurements. Take a notepad using these measurements and begin using a pencil to lay out the plants on the list in a spiral. Drought-tolerant grasses will be located at the top, and less drought-tolerant plants will be located at the bottom. Plants that require full sun should be placed on a north or south facing position so they get sun all day. Plants that need shade should be placed on an east or west facing position so they only receive morning or afternoon sun, and you should plant them between bushier herbs so they are protected.
Think about what will move in the spiral, keeping in mind that you will be walking along it. Mulch, such as wood chips or gravel, will keep the coil accessible even in wet weather. When planning the size of the bed, keep in mind that you will need to reach halfway down the bed to access the herbs. Also consider how this coil will water, whether planning to build drip irrigation into the bed itself or planning to have the bed next to a hose connection.
Start with a solid base
Start by using your chosen materials to build a bed base that will form a circle. Remember that you need enough height on the wall so that the bed is deep enough to plant plants in, so at least eight inches, but 12 or more is better. Although it is not necessary, cementing the walls means they will last longer and be more stable. Once the circle is built, you remove enough bricks or stones to cover the width of the row at the northernmost point of the circle and use them to begin the spiral inwards. Continue laying at least one row or layer of building material in a spiral until you reach the middle of the spiral. Remember that the “middle” is actually the smaller circle at the top. Now start filling the circle with planting soil up to the first level of bricks or stones. You can fill the center of the spiral with pea gravel or other rocks, remember that you will be planting the middle much higher than where you are now and this gravel will help provide drainage and stability.
Once you’ve filled the base, you can begin creating the inner spiral walls. Add more bricks or stones to the walls as they move toward the center, filling the inner spiral with more soil to support the wall. When you reach the top of the spiral, fill in the middle circle and then tamp the soil down the entire spiral and backfill as needed.
Be careful where you place your herbs.
Planting time is the most exciting part because now you can lay out the plants and start planting them in the soil. Consider adding ornamental plant labels. You can add edible flowers or plants that attract pollinators. Also notice how some plants overflow and hug the wall, such as creeping thyme, nasturtium and chamomile. Think carefully about plants that grow wild, such as mint, oregano and lemon balm, and consider excluding them from your spiral. They are best planted in pots that will prevent them from spreading. Make sure each plant is given enough room to grow and don’t overcrowd it. They will fill space in time if you let them.
The more herbs you use, the better.
Some grasses are seasonal and need to be replaced every spring. If you allow the plants to go to seed, you may find that the herbs become perennial, meaning they come back on their own each year. You may add grasses over time, so it is important to control bush grasses through pruning. Over time, you will learn which herbs you want more of, rather than those you use less of. Basically what will make a spiral happy is the use of herbs – so go ahead and chop up some cilantro, parsley, dill and basil and use them.