About my garden spiral . . .
So, I promised a while ago that I would make a detailed post about my garden "spiral" feature. Here's a pic of the finished design:
For background, keep in mind that I started with a blank slate for my small yard -- 30 x 50 feet of sand and dirt in the desert surrounded by a rock wall, so I spent several months out there imagining what could be. It can be difficult to make a nice garden in the harsh conditions of the Chihuahuan desert -- very cold, very hot, harsh winds, etc., so bold designs seemed like a good solution. I am a creative and imaginative person, so I wanted something different than the typical grass (not very ecologically sound out here) or completely covered rock yard, which some people think constitutes "xeriscape."
From the beginning I had a circular feature in mind. Why?
--I'd always said, "I'd rather live in a yurt in the desert than buy a cookie cutter tract home in the sprawl." So what did I do? Yep, I bought one of those homes. So, it's a symbolic yurt.
--I wish I had a pool. Something small. Like . . . a circle. So, it's also a symbolic pool.
--I like the idea of a "walking spiral." It's the spiritual heart of my property.
--Circular garden features are cool! There are so many things you can do with them. I have a whole Pinterest board collected. You can see it here. Garden circles and spiralstuff
Anyway, enough with the hippyness. It took me a couple of years to complete it (mostly worker problems), but here are some more pics of the progress. I started out just making designs in the dirt, thinking about placement, size, and design.
Next, I got someone to build a rock retaining/planter wall to break up the space, add dimension and height. It had to fit around the future circle, so I had them install steel edging to actually make the circle.
At this point, I struggled a lot with how to actually make the design. I stupidly thought I could do it myself. Ha! I finally got somebody to help me, and it all came together. Since the soil is so sandy in the first place, I didn't put a layer of sand down, but we did put landscape fabric and gravel as a base. I chose trapezoidal landscape blocks from the big box store.
Comments (6)
violetwest
8 years agolast modified: 8 years ago(continuing):
When it came to the actual design, I kept wanting to do a continuous spiral, but it just wasn't working with the already existing steel circle. So finally, I decided on a "galaxy" spiral, which looks great. I marked the center, and then marked the diameters at right angles (or however that would be described) with string. Then, I fiddled with the arms of the spiral until they were evenly spaced. I wanted the center to be at least 30 inches across, because I may want to put a small fire bowl there, and the smallest are 26" across.
Someone asked me how I decided the orientation and the direction of the spiral. I researched and decided that there was no "rule" so I did it how I wanted. The open ends are oriented toward the main part of the yard on one side, and the spot where chairs go on the other. This makes for easy walking on and off.
Finally, the spaces between were filled with the same crushed gravel (called "chat" or "screening" here) that the rest of the yard was covered with. (By the way, I love the gravel cover -- it makes a wonderful sound when walked on, and I'm having fun making designs in it with my rake.) With the chat installed, the steel edging was almost hidden, which I didn't like, so I had my guys emphasize the circle with river rock. I'm not sure how I like that, but it works for now. I also have "glow rocks" set in between each paver, which gives a really nice effect at night.
And yes, I do walk it; from the outside, in, turn around, from the inside out. And repeat!
Hope you like my little photo essay -- please leave comments if you like it or have questions.
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8 years ago
emmarene9