Share:
Create a herbal spiral
contents
- spirals
- The herbal spiral
- Origin of the herb spiral
- Location of the herb snail
- The structure
- Pond construction and pond inhabitants
- Construction of the bed
- plant locations
- Placement of the plants
- Cutting & harvesting the herbs
- Pouring and fertilizing
- Broth to strengthen the plants
- winter care
- Dry stone walls and field stone bed
- Species protection and pharmacy
spirals
A spiral, from lat. Spira, is a spiral-wound body, ie a curved line running around a fixed point - an axis. The spiral is already found in magical tunnels and old shamanic images as a central element. The Hopi in Arizona as well as the shamans of Siberia. In nature, spirals can be found in plants, snails and whirlwinds. Water vortexes and the galaxies of the universe are usually spiraling - as is our DNA. Screws hold in the material due to their spiral shape, spiral staircases run in a spiral. The spiral is a symbol of the path from this world into the hereafter, from the visible to the invisible world.
This is how a herb spiral can look planted, the pond is difficult to see in the picture. (Image: FRÜH / fotolia.com) In science, the spiral is a half-beam that rotates in a plane around its endpoint. Whereby a point moves at a uniform speed on the half jet, Archimedes says - a turn of turns around a fixed point.
The spiral is a symbol of creation because the way into and out of the spiral is the way into the world, the spirits, the gods, the universe, from life to death, from death to life. The spiral is the symbol of delusion and recovery. Christian cathedrals also depict spirals, as do Celtic ornaments, Greek pillars, such as Bronze Age jewelery. Circle, single, double, multiple spirals characterize the oldest art, petroglyphs and ceramics.
Navajos paint sand pictures in spiral form. Their Pueblo neighbors are dancing spiral dances at the beginning of the new year. The Mayans saw the winter solstice as the fixed point of the spiral. They helped the sun on its way with a ball game that represented the cosmos. In India, the spiral is the symbol of rebirth, psychologically it stands for renewal in that it returns to the roots.
The organic form of the spiral is often found in nature, as here in Romanesco - a variant of cauliflower. The Fibonacci spirals give it a fractal appearance. (Image: Maren Winter / fotolia.com) The cause of the symbolic meaning may lie in the observation of spirals in elementary processes of life: the convolutions of the brain are spiral, the intestines also. Introducing, digesting and excreting food, giving birth to new life - this reflects the process of life.
The herbal spiral
As we have just learned, a spiral addresses our unconscious in a special way. That's another reason why it is a perfect shape for a herbal bed. But such a herbal spiral even has a practical use: it allows you to draw plants from different climates in a confined space. Such a spiral winds around a pile of stones from the bottom up, placing the plants in a spiral between the stones.
Origin of the herb spiral
The herbal spiral was invented by the Australian Bill Mollison in 1978 as permaculture. His role model was the sand pictures of the Aborigines. In 1988 he published "Permaculture: A designer's manual" and outlined the universal meaning of the spiral in nature and as a symbol in so-called primitive peoples. His herbal spiral made a worldwide sensation and is now widely used by small, herb and professional gardeners. In addition to the usual kitchen herbs, wild herbs can also be found here.
If there is already a magnificent pond in the garden, on the north side of which there is still enough room for the spiral - this is used as a natural extension of the spiral. (Image: sonne_fleckl / fotolia.com) Location of the herb snail
In the best case, the bed is created near the kitchen, so that the herbs are always easily accessible. No one wants to go through the entire garden in a bad weather, and the plants are so easy to water in dry summers. The windier the place, the better the pupils will thrive even in autumn and in stormy rainy weather.
Ideal for this is a pond on the south side of the spiral. The water near the bottom ensures a moist microclimate and reflects light and heat. This "foot" of the spiral is for herbs that love moisture - like mint or woodruff. The pond should be to the south of the herbal spiral, so that the water plants even in light seasons still reaches enough sunlight.
The structure
The lower part of the spiral must meet the humid requirements of aquatic plants, depending on the requirements of a real pond or a water tank. Watercress and mint like the moisture, also such a humid biotope can attract gardeners who like to see.
If old bricks or flat boulders are already lying in a corner of the garden, they can be used to quickly build a small herb slug. (Image: focus finder / fotolia.com) The middle part of the spiral consists of humus, so compost earth. The soil is more permeable than in the wet zone. He lies mainly in partial shade. Coriander, tarragon, caraway, oregano, chives, pimpinelle or dill are suitable. But also borage (be careful, it sprawls), fennel, wormwood, chervil, sorrel, nasturtium and arugula grow here very well.
The upper part towards the south side of the spiral forms the drying zone. The humus is mixed with sand here; The soil is so permeable and lean. Rainwater drains quickly, the herbs are exposed directly to the sun. Here herbs of the Mediterranean flourish: sage, hyssop, savory, thyme, lavender, oregano, rosemary and curry herb.
Maybe there is already a pond in the garden, on the north side enough space for such a stone spiral. Depending on the space, we can also simply create a "real" pond, with pond liner and bank attachment of stones. The diameter of the spiral should be at least 2.3 meters, larger variants are possible. The earth within the spiral should first bag before plants are planted. The wall must therefore be built in the fall and be filled directly with the substrate.
The actual spiral of the bed can be created differently - here in the picture uniform natural stones were chosen, which were stacked evenly. (Image: ehrenberg-bilder / fotolia.com) Pond construction and pond inhabitants
Easier, and more suitable for practice than a real pond, is a "balcony pond". For this you need an old barrel first. A wooden barrel is even more beautiful, but a cement bucket fulfills the same purpose. We pick a hole in the depth and size of this ton. The edge can be surrounded by a mound about 20 cm high and fastened with stones on the outside. To firmly root the embankment, chives are suitable for the lower open spaces between the stones and around this mound. Then you mix sand with clay, and fill it up to half. Pour water under the edge and put marsh plants in it. Suitable for this are floating plants such as frog bite or pondweed. Especially irises are an eye catcher here. It is best left in the pot for more hold. In addition, different variants of a balcony swamp bed are possible.
As a true herb gardener, one is ecologically oriented and also cares about the welfare of the animal world: water fleas are available in aquarium trade, as well as aquatic snails. The water runners, frogs, lacewings and various dragonflies come by themselves, if they like the biotope. A root, a stone and some bark in the water can serve as a starting point. Newts or toads, which could find refuge in the natural stones of the spiral, spawn ideally on site.
The pond gives the lower plants moisture, the rising stone wall provides shade. At the top, the earth is quite dry. On the smallest surface, the spiral thus meets the requirements of wet shady - over half-moist, half-shady - sunny to dry.
Such beautiful flying insects as the Common Cup Lady visit the herbal spiral, when an ecological pond for the wet zone was created to the south side. (Image: goldi69 / fotolia.com) Construction of the bed
For a herbal spiral, the gardener first looks for a sunny place of at least 2.30 meters in diameter. This is either on the north side (if necessary, northeast / northwest) of an existing pond - or we can make ourselves according to the above description a mini-pool. With pegs we put the plan of the spiral from - do not forget the winding. A string connects the pegs to the overview. Then we lower the ground 30 cm at the bottom.
The wall is best built as a drywall. The stones are stacked without mortar. This allows many beneficials to find shelter in the garden - lizards, wild bumblebees and slow-slugs love dry walls. Which stones we use, is left to the taste. Of course, boulders and slates look natural, but brick, clinker and bricks fulfill the same purpose. Maybe there is a remainder of stones, these can be combined at will. Important is only a certain size, so that the wall is. If the stones are too small, mortar must be used. We stack the stones in a staggered manner; The wall should be about 60 centimeters high at the bottom and wind up to the middle of one meter. The staggered stones not only keep the spiral stable, they also provide a habitat for insects, woodlice, spiders and newts.
For the spiral, we pull the stones up in a staircase, that is, we start at the wet zone and leave out a stone at each outer row. This creates a slope. At the bottom the spiral remains flat, at the top it becomes steeper.
As in the picture very different stones can be chosen to build the wall. Tip: Incorporate remaining leftovers.(Image: fotoak80 / fotolia.com)
In the resulting spiral, we fill gravel or gravel as ground, down only a thin layer; Half of the middle part is filled with small stones. Pumice, coarse sand and lava are ideal. This layer is used for drainage: the Mediterranean herbs are used to dry summers, in case of waterlogging their roots die off. The drainage is applied from top to bottom: water flows to the plants on the ground, the wet love.
On the gravel layer we fill earth. Below we take normal garden soil and enrich it with compost. In the middle we use garden soil without compost, and we fill the "Mediterranean" with a mixture of gravel, limestone, sand and earth.
plant locations
The herbal spiral offers space for annual as well as perennial plants. The piquant-tasting watercress grows right at the "pond" and the delicious water-nut in the pond. Perennial are mint, woodruff, lemon balm and lovage. They feel comfortable in the humid, lower part of the spiral towards the pond area. The peppermint continues underground and quickly becomes a curse - as delicious as it tastes and as important as a medicinal herb. To multiply the mint, we can easily move parts of the plant to other shady places in the garden. The same applies to lemon balm, and this spreads quickly. For mint and lemon balm, it is therefore advisable to use them in a bottomless pot, so that they do not take the space for the other herbs.
The herbs can be purchased preferentially in the trade. Likewise, the own sowing in Pikierschälchen or cold frame is possible. (Image: vege / fotolia.com) We have to plant or sow basil, dill and tulsi every year, as well as coriander, marjoram and cress. These can be sown just a little time-delayed, even in the late autumn to harvest fresh. Lavender, sage and rosemary, on the other hand, continue to thrive every year and continue to proliferate. Thyme, mountain savory, tarragon and wild garlic are also perennial. Chives and parsley are consumed in heavy frost, as well as rosemary and thyme. The sage can greatly proliferate in height and width. We just plant it in a corner like the lovage, so it does not spill.
Placement of the plants
It is planted in spring or early summer, the hotter it is, the better the herbs have to be watered. Cress, chervil and even the parsley can be sown directly on the spot early in the year, they also grow well in cool temperatures. Even in autumn, plants can still be brought into the ground, if this happens in time for the frost.
If the herbs are to thrive, the same applies as in the garden: The tall and robust take the sensitive, the earth, the water and the sun. Chives and garlic herb are well-tolerated. Oregano, mint and thyme are also alike, and they also provide a good defense against herbivores in their plants by the contained essential oils.
Pimpinelle, borage, chives, parsley, chervil, cress and sorrel are required for the famous green sauce. If all this is in the bed, it can be prepared for most of the year. (Image: Peteers / fotolia.com) Basil, marjoram and dill harmonize; Borage and parsley are a heart and a soul. Chives and parsley - this is the death sentence for the latter. Dill and sage can not stand, cumin and fennel hate each other, chervil and coriander are like fire and water. It is therefore advisable to consider whether there are inappropriate neighbors before planting. A plan of the spiral on paper can help to see incompatibilities between the planting neighbors. It is also possible to place delimiting intermediate stones in the spiral in order to better separate the plants from each other.
Cutting & harvesting the herbs
The most important care measure for herbs is pruning or regular harvesting. Only then do the plants develop numerous new shoots and remain beautifully bushy. By the end of February at the latest (before the renewal) we cut back, possibly even in early summer and autumn. Depending on how well the herbs sprout, a larger amount can be harvested for drying at this time. Lavender, thyme, rosemary and sage are lignified - in these semi-shrubs, at the latest after flowering (until September), the flower stalks are cut off with a few leaves.
The more of the wood we cut away, the better the green sprouts. At the same time, we can cut away a maximum of two-thirds of the green mass, otherwise the plants will take a long time to recover. The pruning in the spring can be stronger than the fall cut, as the plants drive out more. Herbs, which belong to the small perennials (perennial), are cut off at a maximum of five centimeters above the ground before re-emergence in spring. If a large part of the crop was already harvested in late summer, the cut in spring should only be light. The harvested herbs can be eaten fresh, hung dry or frozen to fit.
Woody herbs (like the rosemary here) should be trimmed a little on thicker twigs as well, so they will be strong in the next season. (Image: Marek Gottschalk / fotolia.com) Pouring and fertilizing
The herbal spiral is indeed a permaculture whose drainage uses the rain as a watering can; but at the beginning we have to water carefully, once a week. We start from the top and pour down more and more. In the second year, we water as needed, so when herbs are limp and discolor, or if the rain stops longer. But once the "system" herbal spiral is up and running, we occasionally pour the lower area - the water pulls up alone.
We have to keep an eye on the drainage. When the soil hardens, not enough water penetrates to the roots. Raking once a month is enough to prevent it.
Chemical fertilizer is a no-go in the natural garden and also changes the taste of some herbs. We fertilize once a year in the spring and once in the fall with compost, a one-time light nitrogen fertilization with self-agitated Jauchen is also possible at the beginning of the growing season. Attention, after fertilizing the weeds sprout all the better, this should be regularly weeded.
The compost for the herbal spiral can be quietly used for the bedding plant in rough form, the plants like drainage. For fertilization, it should then be better sifted rough. (Image: ArTo / fotolia.com) Broth to strengthen the plants
The seedlings do not have high fertilizer requirements on average, but they need a balanced supply of minerals in the soil. If it lacks these substances, a broth made from comfrey, stinging nettles or field horsetail can do wonders.
Jauchen quickly supply the plants with the substances they need to grow and apply the fruits in the spring. Especially nitrogen and potassium are abundant. In contrast to compost, the liquid mixture can be absorbed much faster by the plants. The nutrients are present in a plant-available form, they do not have to be converted by soil organisms.
If the manure is prepared expertly, it does not stink odor-intensive, but only smells slightly. To make a manure, simply pick the nettles or the horsetail and chop it down a bit. This can be done by ripping or with a pair of pruning shears, with stinging nettles it is better to put on gloves. Half a kilo of fresh herbs are needed per five liters of manure, plus five liters of water. The best way to do this is to use rainwater; the bacteria contained in it help the putrefaction processes of the manure, and it is also less calcareous.
Vegetable feces are a low-cost organic fertilizer that can be self-produced. Here in the picture, the bone meal must be added to avoid strong stench. (Image: Patryssia / fotolia.com) As a vessel for making an old bucket or a disused large bowl are suitable. It is advisable to cover this airy after mixing, so that no animals fall into it or snails climb over the edge. Leave leaves and water together in the container, stir. Make sure to add a small handful of stone flour, which dampens the unpleasant odor. Now stir once a day, if necessary, add a little stone dust. The manure takes at least two weeks to be usable. It can easily stand in the garden for several weeks until the leaves have decomposed strongly. For pouring dilute at least 1:10 with water, pure the broth is too strong for the plants.
winter care
Many herbs from the Mediterranean are not hardy. Especially rosemary and lavender are quite sensitive, they only last a few degrees Celsius below zero. We can have them overwinter in pots, in the garden hut or in the conservatory. Even styrofoam pots, a garden fleece, brushwood or foliage can provide sufficient protection. Even in winter, plants need water, and many supposedly frozen herbs are really just thirsty. On frost-free days, we pour in particular in the wet zone. This happens best in the morning, as the roots work better at higher temperatures than during the nighttime cold.
Dry stone walls and field stone bed
If you can not find a suitable place for a herbal spiral, you can achieve the same success with a drywall and a raised bed. Such a dry raised bed requires much less space than a complete herbal spiral, three square meters of surface can usually still be found on the edge of the plot, on such a bed can be planted a lot. A herbal spiral is nothing more than a spiral dry wall - and if such a wall is used to demarcate the garden from neighbors, it hardly takes up any space. In a raised bed we can pull herbs that need a lot of sun. Likewise, chilli and peppers like this root warmth, in the trade there are many varieties that are also suitable for outdoor culture. For planting a small fragrance garden, such a bed is also suitable. The flowers attract wild bees and bumblebees.
Such a field stone bed (pictured here with steppe milkweed) offers numerous beneficials a sheltering shelter. (Image: Ruckszio / fotolia.com) If you have a lot of space, you can create a fieldstone bed instead of a herbal spiral. On level ground, large natural stones provide the same interplay of sun and shade, cold and warm as the layers of the spiral. If the spiral is too elaborate, it can also pile up a heap of readings. For this purpose, we only dump collected field stones in one pile and enrich them with the same soil mixtures as the spiral. For this purpose, however, some large stones should be used, otherwise the resulting holes are not suitable as a planting hole.
Species protection and pharmacy
The same applies to the spiral as to other dry stone walls: they are important habitats for endangered species. Snappers, lizards, slow-slugs, common toads, wild bees and ground beetles love them. So we can do something against insect killing and insect repellent. If we make sure that there are some gaps, cracks and cavities between the stones, then we can observe the snakebird, the robin and the wren looking for insects.
In addition, dry stone walls protect the ground because their drainage slows down the water and thus stops the erosion of the ground. The water seeps slower and the roots absorb it just as slowly. The gaps between the stones make sure that the water does not press on the wall.
Wall lizards (like those in the Mediterranean) love stones that heat up in the sun. The cracks in the natural masonry are excellently suited as a retreat in case of danger. (Image: Manfred / fotolia.com) Dry stone walls were once widespread in small-scale agriculture, but today they have unfortunately often fallen victim to land consolidation. Who creates a herbal snail with natural stones, so also the nature and species protection. In addition, we help out by supplementing our culinary herbs with useful natural plants: On the sun layer, these are, for example, stone bagels, hunger flowers, whitewash and celandine, on the dark side, wall rhizome, yellow lark spur and ferns. Typical species are white stonecrop, common adder's head, cinquefoil, corymb and cypress spurge.
Some wall plants are almost forgotten medicinal plants: the Braunstielige strip fern can be boiled to "tea"; the gold varnish contains the glycoside chiranthin and the rooftop houseleek helps against skin sores, stings and sunburn. Except for kitchen herbs, we can also use our herb spiral as a home pharmacy.
In such dry stone walls not only toads or amphibians find a retreat area - in a sunny location also sand lizards love the loopholes between the roots. Every gardener is fortunate to be able to house these species in the garden by eliminating tons of snails, larvae and beetles. The use of pesticides or chemical insect repellent is so unnecessary, especially in ecologically planned garden is desirable.
(Dr. Utz Anhalt, dp, updated on 02.11.2018)