The herb spiral is a special, three-dimensional bed that allows different herbs to be grown even in the smallest of spaces. Due to the spiral arrangement of the structure, its north-south orientation and the different substrates, many site requirements can be met. Here you will find building instructions for a herbal spiral made of natural stone, for which there are two different methods.
A stone herb snail looks natural and is easy to build yourself
The best time to build a herb spiral
It is best to build the herb spiral in spring, because then you can start planting right away and harvest extensively in summer. However, it would be ideal if the freshly heaped earth could settle for another week or two, especially if it has just rained a lot. If necessary, you can add fresh soil before planting.
The ideal size
Ideally, the base of the herb spiral should be around two meters in diameter. This size results from assuming a width of the spirally rising bed of 60 centimeters. After all, the edging stones also take up a lot of space and should not be too small so that they do not later disappear completely under the vegetation. Furthermore, the spiral of this size is easy to reach from all sides up to the center. For larger spirals, simply place some stepping stones in the outer area.
Various construction methods
There are two different ways of building a herbal spiral, both of which we will present to you here.
Build a herb spiral on a mound of earth
This variant is probably the easiest to build, in which a mound of earth is first heaped up. Only then is the stone spiral laid out. Proceed as follows:
- Measure the required area in diameter.
- Dig up the top layer of soil to the depth of a spade.
- Fill the hole with rocks or loose, well-drained soil.
- Now build a 50 centimeter high mound of gravel, rubble and earth.
- Now put the stone spiral on it.
- Use brick, field, limestone or sandstone, clinker etc.
- Finally, fill in the plant substrate.
- This layer should be between 15 and 25 centimeters thick.
- In the upper area, nutrient-poor, sandy soil is filled in, in the middle and lower area, nutrient-rich.
Construction of a spiral stone tower
Another method is to build a wall that spirals into a tower, which can be drywall or mortared. This is particularly possible with clinker or cuboid natural stone, which can easily be layered on top of each other.
tips
With the help of gabions, you can also create very beautiful herb spirals.