Sustainability
A Wonderful Tool to Teach Sustainable Practices
We have an herb spiral in our community garden.
Herb spirals provide a space to grow a running fifty feet of seasonings. Find many flavors for your food. Pollinators find a lot of food here and love it, too.
Look back to my previous post where we discussed herb spirals as a concept. Permaculture founder Bill Mollison developed them. He designed them after working with Australian indigenous people — modeled after Aboriginal sand art. You can also learn how to construct one in that post.
These whirly garden features make a great teaching tool for sustainable practices. Mollison designed them using permaculture practices he learned from native peoples. Ergo, herb spirals include much of that knowledge.
Do you want to know more about this permaculture staple? Interested to know how it offers important lessons? Follow along as we detail what herb spirals can teach, our experience with one, and more information on what grows in it.
Lessons of an Herb Spiral
The dreamlike and fun appearance of an herb spiral harkens to its roots of aboriginal elders drawing spirals in the sand. Whether to focus on a spiritual state or nourish one’s body, these garden features lead one to such meditations. They help one to find their creative center.
Different plants grow near and support one another. Not every garden or farm must be acres of a single crop. They support the idea that poly cropping can work.
Microclimates are spots in the landscape that have unique environments to the area’s average. Examples include proximity to a water source or whether there is shade from trees or elevation. This reminds us of the master gardener principle of planning to put the “right plant” in the “right place.”
This leads you to consider other factors. From what direction does the sun shine? One notices over time how the east side of the spiral gets cooler, morning sun. Meanwhile, the west side gets the more intense afternoon light.
Which leads to thinking about water. How does water drain when it rains on the spiral? The southern, western, and higher portions of the spiral will be drier. The eastern, northern, and lower sections will be wetter.
These are but a few examples of how herb spirals teach important lessons. Besides these, they display other important concepts by design. Designs like astronomy, companion planting, building with upcycled materials, earthworks, and more. Now that we touched on important subjects, let’s discuss our lived experiences.
Spiral in Our Garden
After researching herb spirals, we decided to build one at Murfreesboro Community Gardening. We broke up some old pavers to use as our retaining wall. We included an old stump in the center to give it some height.
Ours spirals in a clockwise fashion and opens to the north. We managed to include nearly two dozen varieties. Some may be a learning opportunity, but I think they are mostly placed correctly.
Mediterranean herbs are accustomed to rockier, drier soils like those found in Greece. Herb spirals often put them at the top to create this environment for them. You’ll find rosemary, yarrow, lavender, thyme, and aloe at the top of our spiral.
As you travel down the spiral, place plants that like increasingly wetter soil. The spiral intends to cycle water to the bottom. That’s another reason why placement matters.
After the Mediterranean herbs, it runs into wetter-loving ones like basil, chamomile, fennel, chives, and dill. The oregano occupies this area, too. It’s a drier-loving herb, but it overtook its spot last year. We moved it to where it wouldn’t crowd others out.
Bees and butterflies love our spiral. As things start blooming, we will see even more of them popping up. We’re excited to see them assist in pollinating our other crops, too.
Conclusion
The herb spiral turns out to be a resounding success. As a teaching garden, it helps us incorporate many subject areas into a single module. When new gardeners arrive, we can use this important tool to teach sustainable practices.
Remember what all an herb spiral can teach? Sure, seasonings for cooking taste great, but there is more to know than what first appears. These ideas include placement, companion planting, resource management, and more.
We must remember where these important lessons came from. They don’t come to us through conventional, profit-seeking sources. Indigenous people passed these lessons down.
These are the people who lived in harmony with the land for thousands of years. Surely we can learn from the folks who survived in places before modern practices diminished life there. They know how to interact and live with the landscape for mutual survival.
If you want an easy way to grow flavors and teach others, build an herb spiral today! Use materials that you find, and it can be inexpensive. Thanks for your stopping by, and keep reading for more info about what grows in our spiral.
What’s growing in our spiral?
Rosemary: “People brought this “dew of the sea” to China in 220 CE, and it now grows worldwide.”
Tarragon: “Legend says the Greek goddess Artemis gave it to Chiron the Centaur, Cronus’ son with Oceanid Phylira.”
Thyme: “Classic French herb combos — like Boquet Garnis and Herbes de Provence — contain thyme. So does the Mediterranean blend called Za’atar.”
Lavender: “Ancient Egyptians used it for mummification, and the Romans infused it into baths. Its name comes from the Latin “lavare,” or ‘to wash.’”
Aloe Vera: “Stories tell of Cleopatra using it to soften skin. Alexander the Great used it on the battlefield.”
Basil: “Basil derives its name from the Greek “Basiliké Stoà” for royal gateway. Or it comes from the myth of the Basilisk, a venomous viper.”
Oregano: “Its flavors can be so intense that it tingles the palette. Some say Aphrodite created its sweet, spicy scent to symbolize happiness.”
Marigold: “Cempazuchitl or Mexican Marigolds are often misnamed African Marigolds, but they derive from central America.”
Chamomile: “Chamomile has been used since ancient Egypt. It was burned as incense in an offering to the sun god Ra.”
Fennel: “Hesiod’s Theogony recounts how Prometheus stole the gods’ fire on a stalk of hollow fennel.”
Chives: “Like their onion cousins, chives get their characteristic scent and pest-repellant qualities from sulfur concentrations.”
Wormwood: “Also known as “The Green Fairy,” absinthe at one time contained wormwood, anise, and fennel. They gave its characteristic bitter flavor and green color.”
Dill: “Eastern European and Nordic cuisine includes a lot of dill. Often used as a garnish, fresh dill packs a more robust flavor than dried.”
Lemon balm: “Melissa demonstrates antimicrobial activity. So, folk practitioners long dress wounds with it.”
Lemon grass: “Some call it citronella grass, a central part of mosquito repellants. Herbal infusions often include lemongrass, and India is its largest producer.”
Sage: “We call wise people sages. The herb is chock full of antioxidants, and countless cultures used it to improve memory and brain function.”
Become a Patron
I no longer wish my work to be a commodity I restrict behind a paywall. Knowledge should be free. However, producing quality content comes with some costs.
Each post takes several hours to research, compile, edit, choose graphics, and more. Your support goes a long way towards helping me reach a greater audience and explore new ideas.
Instead, you can support me by reading my work, commenting, and sharing it on social media. If you can spare even $5 towards my continued writing and community work, I would love that, too. Become a patron on Patreon or Buy Me a Coffee below.
Thank you for your ongoing support of my work!
