Step by step, the herb staircase acts as a decorative location for your favorite herbs. Hobby gardeners with skillful hands build the remarkable space wonder themselves. This guide comes with 2 tried-and-tested instructions for a wooden herb ladder and a stone model for the garden. Useful tips explain how to properly plant each floor.

Herb stairs make the cultivation of herbs easy and space-saving

Table of Contents

Show all
  1. the essentials in brief
  2. Building instructions for the wooden herb ladder
  3. What to plant where?
  4. Build Stone Herb Stairs
  5. frequently asked Questions

    6. the essentials in brief

    • A herb staircase can be easily built from wood or Euro pallets (€29.99).
    • A herbal staircase made of stone can be made with the help of plant rings or plant stones.
    • With a herb staircase in the outdoor area, care must be taken to ensure that the material is weather-resistant.

    Build your own wooden herb staircase - DIY instructions

    Some manual skill and precision are required to build a wooden herb ladder

    Do you have a herb staircase in mind for the balcony, terrace, conservatory or kitchen? You are well advised to use wood as a building material. The natural material is renewable, environmentally friendly, easy to work with and, compared to stone, lightweight. Do-it-yourselfers don't have to dig deep into their pockets for the purchase, because local wood can be bought inexpensively in any hardware store. The following instructions explain how to build a three-tier herb ladder yourself:

    materials and tools

    • Pine or spruce glulam (ideally pressure-treated)
    • cordless screwdriver
    • jigsaw
    • miter saw
    • Compass, pencil, clamps, gloves, goggles
    • M6 screws, M6 cap nuts, wood screws, wood glue, link chain (100 cm), wood glaze (Blue Angel)

    manual

    For a small fee, the specialists in the DIY store cut the cut using computer-controlled machines according to the following dimensions:

    Quantity components Dimension in mm
    2 legs behind 1140x60
    2 legs in front 1200x60
    1 rear cross brace 672x60
    3 supports for boxes 636x60
    6 cross frames 600x60
    2 Longitudinal frames of large box 300x60
    2 Longitudinal frames of the middle box 250x60
    2 Longitudinal frame small box 200x60
    1 bottom large box 564x264
    1 bottom middle box 564x214
    1 bottom small box 564x164

    Precisely cut wood makes the following construction work a pleasure even for the inexperienced do-it-yourselfer. How to proceed step-by-step:

    1. At the end, cut the side parts of the boxes at a 45° angle with the miter saw
    2. Drill screw holes in the short sides (for later screwing to the frame)
    3. Glue the boxes, fix them with clamps and let them dry
    4. Draw curves at the top of the legs, drill a hole and cut out the curve
    5. Cut front legs at a 21° angle, rear legs at a 12° angle
    6. Drill holes on the sides of the supports (pre-drill and countersink)
    7. Fix the position of the supports on the legs (important: on the back of the front legs) and screw on
    8. rear and front legs connect with threaded screws, secured with cap nuts
    9. Mark, fix and screw the cross brace
    10. Screw the wooden boxes to the supports (smallest at top, largest at bottom)
    11. Screw on the link chain at the height of the lower step
    12. Impregnate the herb ladder - done

    You can implement these instructions more cheaply if you exchange the flat wooden steps for plant boxes made of Euro pallets. This has the advantage that you can either fill a box with substrate and plant it or simply place herb pots in it. You can read here how to make your own flower box (€16.99) out of a wooden pallet.

    youtube

    digression

    Stylish corner filler - metal herb ladder

    Empty corners in the garden, on the balcony and terrace often indicate a lack of ideas for creative design. A metal herbal staircase is just what you need. Beautiful models are shaped with a square back and rounded tiers in front. A diverse repertoire of these stylish corner fillers is available in stores to choose from. In the trendy vintage style, chic herb steps boast opulent flourishes. Matching the modern garden and balcony design, linear stainless steel objects put your spice plants in the limelight. A three-tier plant ladder is useful as a herb garden for the kitchen corner, because damp kitchen vapors cannot harm the refined metal.

    Planting herb stairs - what goes where?

    Rosemary needs a lot of sun

    The tiered structure of a herb staircase offers plenty of scope for plant arrangement. In a sunny location, the herbs receive sufficient light on each tier for healthy growth. Nevertheless, the plants in the upper area enjoy a higher amount of sunshine than herbs near the ground. The classic garden herb spiral as a simulation of the four most important climatic zones of our planet serves as a role model for the optimal planting plan of your new herb ladder. As the following table shows, the upper tier should be reserved for Mediterranean sun worshipers. Local and shade-tolerant herbs gather on the middle and lower floors:

    Herbs lower floor botanical name Herbs middle floor botanical name herbs upper floor botanical name
    dill Anethum graveolens Basil 'Provence' Ocimum basilicum Thyme 'Compactus' Thymus vulgaris
    Chives 'Profusion' Allium schoenoprasum strawberry mint Mentha species Sage 'Nana' Salvia officinalis
    tarragon Artemisia dracunculus Marjoram 'Aureum' Origanum vulgare mountain savory Satureja montana
    French sorrel Rumex acetosa Nasturtium, low Tropaeolum minus rosemary Rosmarinus officinalis
    chervil Anthriscus cerefolium Vietnamese coriander Polygonum odoratum oregano Origanum vulgare

    The solar yield at the location is an important premise, but not the only criterion for the arrangement of the herbal plants. Vigor and expansion should also be factored into final placement. Majestic herb species ruthlessly outshine their planting neighbors and induce growth depression. A place on the herbal staircase is not recommended for expansive lovage or meter-high lemon balm.

    tips

    Magnificent herbs are the most beautiful decoration of a herb staircase. Healthy, vital growth of your potted herbs depends primarily on the right combination of sunny location, loose, permeable substrate and economical water supply. A drainage made of potsherds prevents fatal waterlogging. Please use peat-free, organic soil enriched to one third with lava granules for perfect water storage. Water the herbal treasures only when the substrate surface has dried noticeably.

    Herb stairs made of stone - building instructions for the garden

    Herb spirals made of stone are a particularly durable variant of the herb ladder

    You build a herbal staircase out of stones for eternity. So that no valuable space is lost as a cultivation area, we recommend the use of plant stones. Semi-circular concrete plant rings in decorative colors are attractive and inexpensive. With a height of 20 centimeters and a width of 34 centimeters, each stone weighs around 20 kilograms. A herb staircase made of a total of 22 plant stones and rings weighs no more than 500 kilograms. Even a simple foundation made of gravel can bear the load in the garden soil. How to build a stone herb ladder yourself:

    materials and tools

    • 18 pieces of plant stones
    • 4 pieces of plant rings
    • gravel and gravel
    • wooden pegs, string
    • Spade, folding rule, spirit level, rubber mallet, rented vibrating plate

    manual

    First measure the base area, which you mark with wooden pegs and string. Now dig up the soil 30 meters deep and distribute the gravel as drainage and foundation. With a rented vibrating plate (€499.00) you tamp down the gravel. As the lower level, place 10 planting stones in 2 rows. On the back row of stones, 3 planting stones are positioned across. In front of it place 4 planting rings. 5 planting stones act as the third level. With this arrangement, a total of 14 mini-beds are created within the herb ladder, which you can fill with loose potting soil for growing your favorite herbs. The remaining cavities are filled with gravel, crushed stone, sand or garden soil during assembly.

    frequently asked Questions

    On the lawn of my front yard, I would like to build a 1.50 meter high herb staircase made of stone myself as an eye-catcher, with pots and tubs standing all around on the steps. How do I best approach the project?

    A stone, man-high herbal staircase cannot do without a stable foundation. Dig a 50 centimeter deep pit at the site, fill it with gravel about 35 centimeters high and tamp it down. This is followed by an approx. 15 cm thick concrete slab, ideally reinforced with structural steel. After drying, brick the steps in the form of square stone boxes. Fill each stone box with grit up to about 10 centimeters below the upper edge of the side walls. Lay 10 cm thick natural stones, field stones or bricks in the gravel bed, grouted with joint sand. By building the long sides 30 centimeters shorter than the previous step, a stone herb staircase is created.

    I would like to buy a herb ladder for a balcony that is not protected from the rain. Which material is best suited for the purpose?

    Weather resistance is an important property for the best material in an outdoor herb stand. In this respect, metal clearly has the edge if there is no reliable rain protection. Whether forged, cast or welded; a herbal staircase made of metal bravely braves any weather. The best impregnation does not prevent a wooden herb ladder from weathering sooner or later. A longer lifespan can be expected if you choose a construction made of WPC wood. It is a composite of wood, plastic and various additives.

    When is the best time to make a herb staircase for the balcony yourself?

    Spring is the best time to set up and plant an outdoor herb stand. During the months of March and April you can devote yourself to the construction work in peace and quiet until the beginning of May when the planting season begins. Ideally, you use February to grow your favorite herbs from seed. Cultivation on the window sill is easy on the wallet and will be rewarded with vital herbs, which sapless and weak species from the supermarket cannot hold a candle to.

    tips

    The herb staircase on the balcony and terrace is not condemned to floral desolation in winter. While frost-sensitive herb plants linger in the winter quarters, hardy balcony plants like to take up space on the stair construction. Winter heather (Erica carnea), purple bells (Heuchera) and red carpet berry (Gaultheria procumbens) are recommended. Not to forget the secret winter queen, the Christmas rose (Helleborus niger), which puts on its blossoms in the middle of the cold season.

Category:

Herbs