On our 20 acres, there is only one flat area which is clear of trees. It happens to be our side yard, the only area we can entertain ourselves and guests outside. Over the past 20 years, I've tried and failed to put rock walls, ponds, garden beds, ~ anything fun in place of the grass out there. No matter what, it stays grass.
About that "Gardening Restraining Order"....
Occasionally, I find myself with too much time on my hands. One day last May, was one of those times. Who knows what triggered it; it could have been a review of perennial herbs or just an image of a circular garden but right then, I became obsessed with creating a herb spiral. In our side yard. The side yard I've unsuccessfully tried to put gardens in for the past 20 years. I was thinking HUGE ~ "Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind" huge. Sketches of spirals, plant lists and material checklists littered the kitchen table. A carp pond, waterfall, flowers for all seasons: you'd be able to see it from the International Space Station! Images would be on Oprah.....
All it took was a simple "Hey Jean, what's all this?" from my husband and my "Close Encounters" dream wilted away.
"Oh, Tom, this is soooo cool! I'm going to make this really neat herb spiral! There'll be a wetlands on the downhill side - I'm thinking a bit of irrigation to run a small stream going into a small pond. I can put my salad garden - you know we keep talking about growing our own greens - in the spiral, right outside in the side yard and with it close to the house, hose, and full sun...."
"Side yard??!!"
"Well, yeah. It's the only flat spot ..."
From here, the conversation isn't worth repeating. It ended with a "Gardening Restraining Order" on me concerning anything in the side yard. Not only is any form of gardening forbidden in the side yard, tools left there are subject to confiscation and mentioning or alluding to digging is out of bounds as is even asking to bury spring bulbs in the grass. Violation of said order is subject to the cold shoulder and the toilet seat being left up in the middle of the night.
Bummer. My bet is Doris Robison never had a gardening restraining order out on her... Or maybe she did and that's why we have the Robison Herb Garden!!!
Not one to give up on really cool garden concept, I went out and choose an overgrown bed that I'd been eying for a re-do. I dug up all the rubeckia, oregano, bee balm and daffodils and created a herb spiral. So there, husband of mine!! Take that!!!
This is the view this week. You can see the "bones" of the garden: the plants are all asleep.
Granted, it's not huge but it is functional and within the standard size recommended. Most sources suggest a spiral no larger than 6' across so that you can reach what you need. easily. My "Close Encounters" spiral, although cool, would have been a bear to weed and harvest from.
To create this garden, I used the area I had and applied the principles of a spiral to make it work. A rosemary lives in the very top area (it's currently overwintering in the shop) with sages below and lavender and thyme in the dry, shallow soil areas in the "front" of the bed. The larger center area has a peony on the downhill side: it was living in the original bed and LOVES it. I'm not messing with a happy peony! Mints, hyssop and chamomile were added in that bed. My mints are sunk into the garden in plastic pots to keep them from spreading. To control the oregano, I placed it in the small, contained area at the "bottom".
On the "downhill" side of the Rosemary wall ~ the area to the left, I started planting succulents in the rocks. This is a very visible wall and I wanted to add interest to it. We'll see how they do in a few months: I'm hopeful the majority will last and multiply. :) You can see a few in this image.
This will be year two of the spiral and I have high hopes for it this spring. As the season progresses, more pictures will be added.
Do you have a herb spiral in your garden? Tell us about it!
Alternatively, do you have or have you ever had a "gardening restraining order" out against you??!!!
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