How to create a spiral herb garden

An herb garden located close to the house gives you easy access to flavour-enhancing herbs, as well as many useful medicinal ingredients. An open window is all it takes to fill your home with the refreshing scent of growing herbs.

It needs a sunny area with loose, permanent soil. Raised spiral herb gardens, built with rocks and soil, have been used for many generations to get maximum productivity out of small spaces. Two additional bonuses: they tend to suffer from significantly fewer pests, and the garden is accessible from all sides. The basic design calls for a spiral or knot of rocks, enclosing soil in which many species of herbs are planted. The rocks warm and humidify the soil, and the design allows for a wide variety of soil conditions.

• Plant an herb spiral in the spring or fall on a surface of at least 10 metres (32 feet). Sketch out the spiral shape in advance.
• Add a small pool about 80 centimetres (31 inches) deep at the beginning of the spiral; line it with pond film and reinforce with stones.
• Dig out the remainder of your herb bed to the depth of a shovel and fill it with a mixture of sand and humus. Create a small mound about one metre (three feet) high in the centre of the bed and reinforce it in a spiral shape with stones.

• In and around the pond at the base of your spiral, the loamy soil should stay moist; watercress, brooklime, calamus and water mint will thrive.
• The next level provides a sunny, compost-rich moist zone; plant chervil, garlic mustard, parsley, peppermint, sorrel, chives, garlic chives, wild arugula and lemon balm.
• The normal area will be partly shaded, with rather dry humus soil, creating the best conditions for basil, dill, coriander, lovage, lemon balm, oregano, marigold and hyssop.
• Plant herbs from warmer climates in the dry zone atop the spiral. The soil is permeable and water will drain naturally to the lower levels. This is where savoury, lavender, marjoram, sage and thyme grow best.

Tip: Only natural fertilizers should be used in an herb bed — if any are used at all. The plants lose flavour if they get too much of a good thing. A little compost worked into the soil is all they need.