Spiral and Mandala

o d Spiral and Mandala Fact Sheet Spiral Herb (or plant) spirals are a way of growing herbs together that have different requirements. It is an elevated spiral of soil held together with rocks or hardwood creating a diversity of conditions that is easy to water and harvest.

Step 1 Choose a sunny spot, close to your kitchen or back door.

Step 2 Place soaked cardboard over the ground to smother weeds. Larger rocks are used to build the base spiral shape.

Step 3 Build up the layers of rock and add soil as you go. The top of the spiral can be up to a metre off the ground.

Step 4 A small pond or water container can be placed at the bottom to catch run off.

Step 5 Herbs with less water requirements, such as rosemary, sage, oregano and thyme can be planted at the top and/or on the northern side. Those that enjoy some shade can be planted on the southern side with moisture loving plants like water cress at the bottom.

o d Mandala A mandala garden is a circular garden divided by walk-through paths and keyholes, much like an apple pie that has been cut into equal parts. This provides easy access for planting, maintenance and harvesting. It provides more efficient watering as you put a sprinkler into the centre of the circle or a keyhole. It also encourages either a mix (guild) of plants that increases resilience or a crop rotation regime to reduce disease.

Step 1

Choose a sunny spot on a flat piece of ground and decide on the diameter of your mandala.

Step 2

In your circle, lay wads of overlapping soaked newspaper to smother weeds.

Step 3

take out the centre point and the centre of 6 to 8 keyholes. String the keyholes stakes to the centre S stake to identify the pathways.

Step 4

Line the pathways with woodchip or pebbles.

Step 5

sing the No Dig Garden method, U put down layers of soaked lucerne, fertiliser and compost to create the future soil.

Step 6

lant green manure crops such as P lupins or tick beans (nitrogen fixers) to improve the soil before your spring planting.

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Spiral and Mandala Fact Sheet

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