my herb spiral and the bees - part 2

I finalized my very own herb spiral! In a previous post, I mentioned the ideas and steps on how to build one. I had to adapt my initial plans a bit, but all in all, I am quite happy with the result. My first concession, was the location: due to many reasons, I could not build one just next to the kitchen door. The current location is still reachable "without making your slippers wet from the morning dew when you pick your herbs” (freely adapted from Bill Mollison). 

The current location of the spiral, will provide me with an indirect advantage: an extra shelter from the wind (and view) at my future private spot. It will create a little protected area between herb spiral,  the flower beds, and the garden shed. A partly hidden place where I can be on my own, between the butterflies and bees and surrounded by different scents floating to me from the herb and flowers nearby.

Strawberry runner inserted in outer wall

The second concession I made were the choice of stones. I inherited some old stones found in our garden and from my neighbour. I decided to use these as a base for the herb spiral and then to buy some of the same kind to be able to finalize the construction before the autumn. There was no room for a big spiral so the stones were piled up with rather big crevices between them and it all looked a bit too square to me. The result is not exactly what I had dreamed of, but with some luck the matured plants will make the difference. In permaculture, one is encouraged to turn the problems into solutions. I really like that way of thinking! The many crevices between the stones turned out to be excellent spots to squeeze in a lot of  strawberry runners! I added wild strawberries on the shady side and regular ones on the sunny side.

Solitary bee shelter protected from rain

Here and there, I left some bigger spaces between the stones to insert my solitary bee shelters. My son selected a mixture of plant stems found in the garden with a soft or hollow core for the bees to use as nesting places. These stems were then cut in pieces of about 20cm long and inserted as bundles on the South-Eastern side to provide them with as much sun as possible. Little pieces of broken plastic pots served as a roof to protect them from rain and wind. In the coming months, solitary bees of all sizes should find their way into these little caves, lay their eggs inside, and then close the entrances with chewed plant material to leave them to develop into baby bees by next spring.

Bumble bee nest integrated

The inner parts of the bumble bee nest

The bumble bee nest was made of bits and pieces found in the shed and the garden: a flower pot, a piece of chicken wire, a piece of flexible tube, some pebble stones for drainage and aeration, and some soft nesting material, like dried moss. With the entrance turning South-East, all of it was then covered with the soil and plants. Unfortunately, I did not find any mouse droppings to add to the nesting material, which should be a bonus to attract the bumble bees to start nesting there. Hopefully, this will do the trick.

Drainage layer inside the spiral

The sandy layer inside the spiral

Let us return to the construction process. With the help of my son, we figured out the precise shape and the number of stones needed. I added a lot of stones for drainage at the bottom, then sandy soil from an old sandpit, my own harvest of organic humus, some extra humus coming from a garden center, and some extra sand mixed in at the very top for the rosemary and thyme.

Rosemary, sage, oregano, and thyme

Thyme, oregano,and savory

I just loved to do the final bit: adding the plants. I took some shoots of lemon balm, some mature thyme and chives from the old herb patch. The other plants I bought at an organic farm: several species of oregano, summer savory, garlic chives, sage, rosemary, spearmint, and of course the strawberries. All the plants have their own specific niche: in the shade or sun, dry or wet, sandy or soil with humus. This should be the base of a self-supporting ecosystem with very little maintenance.

Grass clippings added as a mulch layer

Just before we left, I added some grass clippings on top of the bare soil between the plants. This should prevent too much weed from popping up and protect the soil from sun, wind, heavy rain fall, or drought. To make up for the square look of the brick stones, I added some round shaped pebble stones collected on our beach to decorate the spiral. The two water collecting devices are also important to me: to provide some drinking and bathing water for birds, who will then leave their droppings as fertilizing presents for the plants, but also to provide water for bees and butterflies and other useful insects. The dish at the bottom  is meant for the little hedgehogs (and other small mammals) which we are hoping to see in our garden. 

An herb spiral like this, gives an excellent opportunity to combine several permaculture principles, like edging, creating micro climates, gardening for wildlife and people, stacking functions, recycling material, low maintenance gardening, etc. 

The final result: my own herb spiral ready to go!

I look very much forward to follow the life in and around this little wildlife hotel the coming seasons!

time to reflect

The only advantage of having a garden abroad is that one is forced to leave it and then can look at it from a distance and reflect on it. It was very hard for me to leave our garden in Denmark at the end of the summer and I admit my heart and soul are still there. I hope this blog will help me to get some peace inside of me and to digest, to assess, and to plan all the next moves.

What a wonderful spring and summer! The weather in Denmark has been amazingly warm and some records have been beaten. It also was surprisingly dry (except for August). While I had expected only to have to deal with humidity issues, I now had to make plans for drought spells as well! Being in our summerhouse only part of the year, this changed weather pattern turned out to become quite an extra challenge. It made me investigate expected climate change in the area and adapt some plans accordingly.

Vanessa atalanta, Atalantavlinder, Red Admiral, Admiral sommerfugl (c) Ilke Bee

After the first “stones” of the new garden were laid in April this year, I managed to come back briefly at the end of June and then a second period from end of July to end of August. Both returns after a long absence were an interesting experience with lots of surprises. I learned a lot by observing the changes, but also to let go all control and my expectations. A very positive learning curve in many ways.

I truly enjoyed taking time to observe the garden and its inhabitants. My aim is to learn to identify all the different types of butterflies, solitary bees, bumble bees, and other insects like dragonflies visiting my plants and flowers. In between, I would like to learn more about all the different wild plants present and how to encourage some of them to flourish and how to contain invasive ones. Armed with my camera, I took a lot of photos which I will analyse the coming months. While I was there, I rather spent my time outside than in books or behind a screen. Now, being back home, I will have more time to look up things and still feel a connection with my garden.   

Gonepteryx rhamni, Citroenvlinder, Common Brimstone, Citronsommerfugl

(c) Ilke Bee

It is funny to read some of my previous posts now and see how much has changed for the better or worse since I wrote them. I have such a big pile of extra information, questions, photos, and notes to process that I feel a bit lost on where to begin... One post at a time? I hope some of you are willing to exchange some ideas with me on this learning curve and enjoy it as much as I do.

my herb spiral and the bees - part 1

My garden would not be complete without an herb spiral. Some years ago, I designed a big one for an outdoor workshop in Brussels (Scheutbos, Molenbeek) and I immediately fell in love with it. An herb spiral is a beautiful summary of maximizing space and functions on a small scale. Creating a three dimensional structure in an organic shape is a nice implementation of the so-called edging technique as used in permaculture.  In addition, it is a structure beneficial for pollinators, giving food for people, and a good educational tool for both kids and adults ;-) I like to insert animal shelters and strawberries in mine as described in my model at the bottom of this post and as shown in these photos:

Solitary bee shelters inserted in the herb spiral (IBee design, 

Molenbeek)

Entrance of the hedgehog shelter and strawberries inserted in the herb spiral (IBee design, Molenbeek)

With a bit of luck and patience, one can find all the material nearby. I got my first load of stones from our kind neighbour who was cleaning up his garden. I found a flower pot and left overs from chicken wire in our shed and started piling up pieces of tiles, stones and some odd pebbles as my drainage layer. Once I find new material, I will continue building it. I would like to fill it up with my own compost, so you will have to be patient to see the photo of my finalized and then full grown herb spiral.

The basic layers of my future herb spiral with a bumble bee nest inserted, spring 2014

Here is how I did it:
1. a layer of cardboard or garden fabric to suppress weeds and grass.
2. draw (or use rope to outline) the shape of the spiral
3. first row of stones (bricks, stones, whatever you can use or reuse)
4. first layer of gravel stones, pieces of tiles, anything to make some drainage
5. insert bumble bee nest (and hedgehog nest if it is a big spiral) - this is the stage of the photo above
6. fill up with compost and mulch layers while creating a slope going up towards the middle of the spiral
7. on the way, insert solitary bees nests (made of branches of 20cm of different sizes or wood with holes drilled in it, or bricks with holes in) roofed with a tile (see photo at the top) and on the sunny (not windy or rainy) side
8. leave holes for plants to hang from the wall, like strawberries
10. plant herbs on correct position: moist lovers at bottom and those needing a dry spot on top
11. add a layer of bark chips or plant some cover plants to suppress weed both outside the spiral and on top of the soil in between the plants
12. add a little shallow pond at the bottom of the spiral

The bumble bee nest is rather easy to make: a flower pot turned upside down; gravel at the bottom; a piece of folded chicken wire on top and then some dry material like dried moss (or the nest material from an old mouse den, which bumble bees love); a 3 cm thick and approximately 20cm long piece of pipe going from underneath the pot upwards and sticking out of the spiral wall; some small pebbles and a roof on top of the flower pot to leave space for air and avoid rain coming in from the top. This whole nest will be covered with soil once the herb spiral is finished.

our future asparagus bed

I would love to try asparagus. I know it takes a few years before you can harvest the first ones, so I wanted to set things in motion. I will not have time to plant the first ones this spring, but at least I could prepare the spot for them.

Asparagus, source: wikipedia (and hopefully my own photo posted here in the future)

With a recycled wooden sandpit border, I created the future raised bed. To suppress the grass underneath, I put some recycled garden compost bags at the bottom. I think I will have to remove these bags and the wooden border once I start planting, because the asparagus need some depth and the border will attract too many slugs.

The recycled sandpit as temporary border for my future asparagus bed

I added some good soil, but I still need to find out which type of soil and (organic) supplements are needed for asparagus. In the meantime, I already sowed some recommended pioneer plants and future companions for our asparagus:

- nasturtium
- pot marigold
- white clover
- sunflowers

These four companions will prepare the ground until I have time to plant my first asparagus plants.

Flower mandala (see earlier post) with square asparagus bed on its northern side

Other good companions, which I might consider:
- yarrow
- parsley
- strawberries
- borage
- oregano
- lupine
- petunia

I read one should avoid allium, potatoes, and garlic in an asparagus bed.

sowing block and edging issue

I had been so much looking forward to sow all my precious gathered seeds according to my ambitious plan, but when I finally came to the summer house, I kept on postponing the sowing bit. I redesigned and reviewed the guild and flowerbeds, over and over again. I used silly arguments, like "it is not wet enough to sow", "too sunny", "too cold", "I am not ready" ... until there was no more time to postpone it any longer. We would leave the place and country in two days. 

I realized I had a something like a "sowing block", like you can have a writer's block? I was afraid to get those seeds out there. Afraid that I had chosen the wrong place for them, the wrong partners, the wrong time, or the wrong way of sowing.

European Peacock (Inachis io, dagpauwoog, dagpåfugleøje), Photo: ©Janus

When I finally realized, that my fear for doing things wrong was blocking me, I took a deep breath and time for a cup of coffee in the midst of the garden. I closed my eyes and imagined my dream garden. I saw a colorful garden filled with flowers, bees, and butterflies. A well designed garden with nice idyllic spots and details, but also a rather wild garden with a lot of spontaneity.  

Once I had this picture in my head, I relaxed. I knew it would be ok. I decided to take it bed by bed and took a tray with seeds needed one bed at a time. I just managed to do it all and felt so relieved at the end of the day that I had done it! From now on, it was up to nature to decide and I just would have to wait and see.


I also struggled with the edging bit. In permaculture, one should try to create a lot of edges because that is where things happen e.g. between ecosystems. In nature, one rarely finds straight lines and thus waves, spirals, curves are better designed to mimic real life out there. I myself also prefer organic shapes to straight and square ones. However, I did not feel happy with what I had done with this organic approach so far. I had designed and created some round shapes and a herb spiral as well as a bend curve in one of the paths, but that was it.

The paths between my trees were square and straight. The fact that I used rope to define my future paths and beds certainly had something to do with it. It was rather tricky to use some sticks or pieces of branches to pin the corners of the rope down in the grass. Making squares turned out to be much easier than making waves or curved lines. Since I had not enough wood or bark chips yet, I would need to have space enough to let a lawn mower pass on the grassy paths for the time being. Again, straight lines would be easier to maneuver. I decided that I would leave it the way it was and promised myself to reshape the beds with a bit more curving later on.

I guess both frustrations, learned me to look at the garden in a more progressive way. Nothing I do is final. I needed to look at it as a dynamic project and do things in steps adjusting things all the time. Patience and one step at a time...

Sunset Northern-Sjaelland, Photo:©IBee

strawberry fields

I felt so lucky to get good advice and some wonderfully thriving plants from our neighbour! She came with a whole wheelbarrow filled with plants for my garden! I did not mind to alter some of my plans and integrate her presents into my garden. Besides columbine, garlic, forget-me-not, common mulein, and linaria, most of the treasure consisted of strawberries. I do not yet know which variety she gave me, but the plants look strong and healthy.

I created two strawberry "fields": one as part of the little orchard and a central one close to my future herb, veggie, and flower garden. In both fields, I inserted their best friend: borage (borago officinalis, komkommerkruid, hjulkrone). 

Borage (borago officinalis, berganie, hjulkrone)

Borage has several advantages for strawberries:
- it attracts pollinators
- it attracts predators, like mantis and wasps to get rid of pests 
- it is a good nutrient accumulator (e.g. K, Si, Ca and P)
- it improves the flavor of strawberries!

Additional advantages: 
- it is a pretty flower
- the flowers (and leaves) are edible and look very pretty in a salad
- the bees love it
- it is one of the host plants of the painted lady butterfly 
- it is an excellent mulch plant 

Knowing that I would not be there to manage the beds for two months, I had to plant the strawberry plants and borage seeds immediately. I chose for two strategies: 
1. for my bed on a slight slope, I removed the grass sods and added white clover seeds as a future ground cover (see photo below).
2. in the other bed, situated between the fruit trees, I just removed the moss between the grass and threw my white clover seeds in between on the cleared spots.

One of my strawberry fields with borage and clover, with thanks to Karina

For a week or so, I irrigated both beds thoroughly each day and then, with a small heart, I left them for themselves... 

Then, my kind sweet neighbour gave me another present. When I told her about my frustration to have to leave my plants and seeds for some months, she said: "the birds might eat some, the slugs might take some, and the lack of rain might kill some, but some of the seeds will survive and they will be strong". To let go. I will try!

the guild for our little plum tree

Our little plum tree is also situated in the fruit orchard. I have been told it is a "Victoria", which is one of the self-fertile old English varieties.

Our little plum tree to the left

The tree will be protected from the north-western wind by a ribes sanguinum and some pine trees in the neighbour's garden. I also added three sea buckthorns. I love the sight and powerful taste of their berries. When I found out that they also are excellent nitrogen fixing plants and wind barriers, I did not hesitate. We bought one male and two female bushes and hope that will do the trick to get some berries.

sketch in my notebook on the little plum tree guild

The plants we added to create our little plum tree guild are:

- sea-buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides, duindoorn, havtorn): nitrogen-fixing, edible berries, wind barrier, shrub layer, berries and shelter for birds, host plant for butterflies, medicinal, pioneer plant
- vetch (vicia lathyroides, lathyruswikke, vaar-vikke): ground cover, nutrient accumulator, nitrogen-fixing
- red clover (trifolium pratense, rode klaver, roed kloever): ground cover, nutrient accumulator, pollination insects, nitrogen-fixing
- wild strawberries (fragaria vesca, bosaardbei, skov-jordbær) : edible fruit, ground cover, nutrient accumulator
- borage (borago officinalis, berganie of komkommerkruid, hjulkrone): herbaceous layer, supporting the taste of strawberries, edible flower, pollination insects
- nasturtium (tropaeolum, Oost-Indische kers, tallerkensmækker) : vine layer, attracts aphids, pollination insects, edible flowers, mulch, barrier
- gooseberry (ribes uva-crispa, stekelbes, stikkelsbaer) "Invicta" and "Rolanda": shrub layer, pollination insects, edible fruit
- chives (allium schoenoprasum, bieslook, purloeg): herbaceous layer, edible, pollination insects,
- phacelia (phacelia tanacetifolia, bijenvoer, honningurt) : pollination insects, nutrition accumulator, ground cover, aeration of soil

 Or to list them by some of their functions:
- nutrient accumulator: sea buckthorn, vetch, phacelia, red clover, strawberries
- mulch: nasturtium, vetch, red clover
- edible fruit: strawberry, gooseberry, sea buckthorn
- edible flower: borage, nasturtium, chives
- edible leaf: chives
- attracting pollinating insects: phacelia, chives, berries, nasturtium, red clover
- ground cover: strawberries, phacelia, red clover, vetch

It sounds pretty impressive, but most of the plants mentioned here were planted as seeds. I have no idea which of these plants will ever reach the full grown size. In addition, other challenges might turn up, so we will need to monitor the guild and add or maybe remove plants as we go along. 

Victoria plum

our hedgehog hill

While making the butterfly mandala, we created a huge pile of grass sods. What to do with all of those sods? The kids opted for a little hill to bike over and to use it as a slope to sledge on in winter time. While we started piling up the pieces of grass, I got the last minute idea to make a hedgehog shelter inside the little hill.

drainage and dried leaves inserted in the flower pot

In the shed, we found a large damaged terracotta  flower pot and made an entrance big enough for a hedgehog. Inside the upside down pot, I added some gravel and odd stones to provide for drainage. On top of it, I piled up some cozy dried leaves. With the help of my son, we designed an entrance tunnel out of plastic left over flower pots strong enough to hold the weight on top.  Fortified with half circle shaped beams and with branches and a couple of tests, we were satisfied.

Fortified tunnel and then some branches in the length on top

The entrance was turned towards the east to avoid rain and wind. Then we added more sods until we had a little hill. The last layer of sods, were turned with the grass side up. We hope the hibernating hedgehogs will not mind some small and bigger kids to bike and sledge over their heads once in a while...

Our hedgehog hill

Finally, I made some holes at the bottom of the iron fence surrounding our garden to provide many little gates for our slug and snail lovers. Welcome hedgehogs!

the butterfly mandala

The initial idea was to make a horse-shoe shaped veggie bed with a wild flower bed around it. With the summerhouse being far away and the urge for low maintenance garden, I first want to make a butterfly mandala shaped bed and add veggies later on. I love butterflies. One of my main goals for this garden is to attract many of them and this includes providing for host plants for their eggs and caterpillars. Many of the host plants, like nettle, are regarded as weed, but I intend to make sure they will have a space somewhere.  

Butterflies love to flutter from one plant to another while being protected from wind. The north-western wind will find a barrier with our maples, firs, and elderberries. I will increase the barrier with two extra fruit trees which will be planted later in what is now designed as our wild flower area. In addition, they prefer flowers in several heights, like in steps. Finally, the more species of flowers, the more butterflies and species one will attract. 

Mandala flower bed almost ready to sow

The challenge was to create the bed and sow the seeds before the summer. I did not opt for a mulch layer, because that would take to much time to decompose and make the soil right to sow. We simply removed the grass surface. All the grass sods were used for our hedgehog hill, which I will show in another post.  

During the past months, I had carefully collected some seeds beneficial for butterflies. I made a first sketch to place all the lower flowers on the south-east side and making the mandala gradually higher towards the north-western side.   



Sketch in my notebook of the future flower mandala

The plants I have selected for the mandala are the following:

- spring vetch (1)
- flax (2)
- red clover (3)
- flax, different from (2) and slightly higher variety (4)
- cornflower (5)
- common vervain (Verbena officinalis, ijzerhard, læge-jernurt)(6)
- sea holly (Eryngium) (7)
- echinops (8)
- borage (9)
- purple coneflower, (echinacea purpurea) (10)
- cornflower (11)
- white coneflower, (Echinacea alba) (12)
- yarrow (a. millefolium) (13)
- echinops ritro (14)

echinacea purpurea, photo: ©Janus

The numbers between brackets correspond with the area numbers in the drawing above. I also have added some white clover in those beds where the seeds were scarcely spread. I hope this will keep the unwanted weed, like grass, at bay. Around the entire mandala, my daughter planted giant sunflowers which will follow the sun with their pretty heads. I doubt the bed will ever look like the drawing...

verbena officinalis, photo:©Janus

I admit, I have no idea, whether this flower bed will be successful. There are many challenges in leaving such a freshly sown bed on its own for two months: drought, birds, slugs, cats, and invasive weeds, just to mention a few. But there is nothing I can do about it and I will just need to let go! With a bit of luck, I might be able to sit in the midst of my butterflies and flowers during the summer months. In my mind, I am already sitting there...

a mini hugelbed for heather and blueberries

My husband loves blueberries. The kids and I planned to surprise him. We selected a good place for the future blueberry bed: a sunny site at the base of some pine trees. I read that blueberries do not like to have too wet feet, but that they cannot survive drought either. On a permaculture website, I found the solution, a mini hugelbed.   

Trench with branches of wood to keep soil moist

First we dug a trench which we filled up with some branches. This is supposed to keep the soil moist. I was not sure how deep to dig and how many branches to add, but I hope this will do the trick (see photo). Then we removed some of the grass sods along the trench and topped it all up with a more acid compost. There was a bag of fertilizer for rhododendron standing in the shed (when we bought the house), so I used this, moderately mixed up with soil. I also added some sand and pine needles from our garden. Once the plants were inserted in the mounted bed, we covered the bare soil with pine bark chips.

At the garden centre, we found different species of blueberries. We went for four high blueberry bushes, four different varieties in order to spread the harvest and to create more diversity and hopefully resilience. In between, we planted some low blueberry bushes, spring and autumn heather for the bees and bumble bees, and we added some cranberries:

-high northern blueberries (vaccinum corybosum, blauwe bes, Storfrugtet Blåbær): "Elisabeth", "Liberty", "Birgit Blue", and "Darrow"
-European blueberry or bilberry (vaccinum myrtillus, bosbes, almindelig Blåbær)
-common heather (calluna vulgaris, struikhei, hedelyng)  "Loki" (autumn) and "Jysk naturform" (spring)
-spring heath (erica carnea, sneeuwheide - een soort dophei, vår-lyng)  "Challenger" (autumn) and Erica x stuartii "Irish lemon" , a natural occurring hybrid (klokkelyng)
-large cranberry (vaccinum macrocarpon, grote veenbes, storfrugtet tranebaer)

Now, we'll just need to wait and see whether this will work. Later on, I hope to find some small cranberries (vaccinum oxycoccos, kleine veenbes, almindelig tranebaer) to add to this swale.
 

My little blueberry and heather swale

We do not know how many blueberries we will get the first years, but I am sure each of them will be enjoyed with 100%.