How to create a spiral garden, part 2

Frugaldom's Herb Spiral

In part 1, we'd got as far as creating a pretty, spiral looking garden that, other than the general shape, didn't really resemble anything shown in permaculture books or on the websites, so we had to improvise and frugalise our herb spiral, enabling us to complete it on a budget of zero.

The following is the pictorial guide to how we got the project off the ground, so to speak.

STEP 1 - CHEAT!

As you can see, our herb garden has suddenly grown upwards in the centre and the spiral now has a fairly steep incline, hopefully making it entirely suitable for the purpose of drainage. This feat was achieved by raking all the soil from the centre back out to the edges and then piling logs and rocks into the middle, to create a platform for the top of the spiral. You could use straw, rubble or anything else, I guess.The rocks are the essential ingredient here, as it is those that will store the heat from the sun and bring added warmth to your soil.

STEP 2

Once again, from the top...

Fill the spiral path with soil and pile up whatever rocks you can find to create that much higher looking wall of heat absorbers. We had to dig a couple of barrows of soil from elsewhere in the garden just to achieve this much but all the extra rocks that came with it helped fill in gaps, which then get packed on both sides with the soil.

STEP 3

This spiral path means you have an 'empty' gap at the bottom of your horticultural helter skelter, which is where we are supposed to focus on collecting the run off water from heavy rain. I have seen some very pretty, artistically designed mini ponds built here, as displayed on many of the permaculture websites.

But this is Frugaldom, we need frugal alternatives that won't cost us our hard-earned cash.

STEP 4 - CHEAT!

I simply rounded off the end of my spiral with more rocks and then dug a hole approximately 30cm in diameter and about 10cm deep. This worked perfectly for the base cut from a 5kg / 5L plastic bucket. Any type bucket will do, as long as it's cleaned properly to free it from any traces of paint, for example. I filled my 'pond liner' with a layer of gravel, soil and then a little compost, then began planting my herbs.


STEP 5

There is a natural way of planting out your herb spiral. As it has planting space facing in all directions and graduating from fairly dry (at the top) to almost a pond at the bottom, you have plenty of choices. Rosemary is my top of the hill plant, then they graduate down the slope with thyme, basil, parsley, chives, coriander/cilantro and then the assorted mints, which like a fair bit of moisture. In between these, I have planted the surplus strawberry plants from last year's runners, along with a few marigolds. In the mini-pond at the bottom of my spiral, I am going to sow water cress seeds, something I have never tried before now.

My herb spiral is far from full, with plenty of space for cuttings and any 'reduced' potted herbs I might find. I would love some lemon thyme, but can't seem to find any at the moment, but I have seeds sown for more coriander, chives, basil and parsley. It's quite exciting waiting for everything to grow and spread, as I think this is a lovely feature in the Frugaldom garden, even if it does look like a cairn when viewed from my kitchen window! :)

Many years ago, these spirals were often refered to as medicine gardens, where healers (some would call them witches) grew all types of herbs and spices for their medicinal lotions and potions. Usually found near the back door for quick access during cooking, to ensure only the freshest of ingredients get used, I am sure there is much still to be learned from what can be grown within a specific space, especially when attention is paid to companion planting and which direction each plant faces. It's amazing how nature will soon dictate how well, or how badly, I have positioned the first of my plants.

Have fun creating your own spiral gardens. They needn't necessarily be used for herbs, they would make beautiful fruit gardens, vegetable gardens or flower gardens. Plenty of scope, too, as the loose formation of the basic building blocks means gaps could be filled with heathers, alpines, mosses or grasses, depending on what you have chosen to grow. For me, it will be herbs galore, as soon as I grow some more.

Frugaldom