As we were digging out the 3 beds thus far, we dug through and sifted 8" of compacted gravel and sand. During this part of the adventure, we broke a hoe and spent many hours digging around some rocks larger than softballs. After unearthing them, we piled them in a corner of the concrete jungle while figuring out what to do with them (see bottom right of below pic). Now what to do with these large rocks, some of which were quite beautiful? Build an herb spiral!
Using some free bricks, the stones that we unearthed, some large rocks that my neighbour was getting rid of last year, and 1 meter of soil from our last delivery, I built the spiral in a couple of hours on July 8, 2011. The reason for planting herbs in a spiral is to condense the planting area and create many microclimates for the plants to grow in. The dry, heat lovers are planted at the top and the cool, moist lovers towards the bottom. Many of the plants that I used were discount plants at the end of season, some that I grew from seed, and others divided from friends. Planted from top to bottom of the spiral is: pineapple sage, rosemary, lemon balm, oregano, basil, flat leaf parsley, summer savory, fennel, cilantro, tarragon, chives, echinacea, and chamomile.
After 1 1/2 months of growth, here it is! The spiral size is about 1.5 meters wide by just over 0.5 meters tall. We have harvested and dried lots of the herbs that were grown this year.
Will the perennial herbs survive the winter? Only time will tell!
No comments:
Post a Comment