The other day, I read this post about making an herb spiral.
While I would love to have an herb spiral like that just dropped into my backyard out of the air, I just know I would never get around to actually building something like that, even if I did get around to buying all the bricks and other supplies needed.
Then, a few weeks later when I was at TLC Garden Centers, I saw some wide and shallow fabric pots/raised beds that gave me an idea for an herb spiral I could actually make myself, even if it might not be as beautiful as the one shown in that Modern Farmer post.
That said, I haven’t actually gotten around to doing it, so I don’t have any pictures to show you, but I think you’ll get the idea.
How to Make a DIY Herb Spiral
Just get yourself three differently sized fabric pots/raised beds.
I got myself one with a 50-inch diameter (though a 48-inch diameter would make logical sense too), one with a 36-inch diameter, and one with a 24-inch diameter, each 8 inches deep.
I’ll put the largest one on the bottom, the medium-sized one in the middle, and the smallest one on top.
The 36 inches at the center of the bottom pot/bed and the 24 inches at the center of the middle pot/bed can be filled with pebbles/branches or something other than soil, since those areas don’t need to support growth as they only need to loft up the next-smallest pot/bed.
You can also tilt the medium-sized and smallest pots/beds if you really want to achieve different levels of shade as described in the Modern Farmer post I referenced at the beginning.
Altogether, this will give you a ton of space to work with and plant all sorts of different herbs for your kitchen garden.
Where to Buy Large Fabric Pots/Raised Beds for an Herb Spiral
As I said, I bought mine at TLC Garden Centers, but they’re Smart Pot brand (which is based right here in OKC), and you can buy those online.
As of this writing, the big 50-inch Smart Pot Round Raised Bed is about $55, the 36-inch one is about $35, and the 24-inch one is about $20, meaning it would be about $110 all in.
From there, you can get soil from Fertile Ground Cooperative if you’re in or around OKC.
In terms of soil, it’s simpler than you think: Just get enough to fill the largest fabric pot/bed, since the middle of the two bottom layers can be filled with pebbles/branches or something else, as I described above.
A Final Tip to Keep in Mind
Even though I haven’t made my herb spiral yet, I have used a large fabric raised bed to plant some vegetables.
This single bed is pretty heavy by itself, especially when it’s wet.
I can only imagine how heavy even this fabric herb spiral would be once it was completed and filled with soil, so make sure you’re happy with where you set it up!
Spiral on!