The Brick Herb Spiral is Finished!
I am a legend. Oh yes. Clever me. Clever, clever me. The brick herb spiral, my most out-of-comfort-zone garden project ever, is finished, and fully functional. It is a strong, thoughtful, clockwise spiral. Trailing Rosemaries and Nasturtiums spill down from the very top, and some of the lower layers are planted with bright Calendulas and Salvias.
Minimus the Cat Checks Out the Herb Spiral
Don't get the wrong, flowery idea. Obviously there are lots and lots of herbs, including my favourite golden Marjoram, and even a small lettuce patch. But, like every other area in my garden, it's allowed to be a little bit ornamental.
Tiger in the Wheelbarrow
Getting the Point...
OK - I may not be the world's best pointer of bricks - thanks, Non-Gardening Partner, for 'pointing' this out! But I've done something good and strong with those sad earthquake bricks. I feel good when I look at it. My cats love wandering around the bottom path and climbing into the terraced gardens. The late afternoon sun makes the terracotta bricks come alive. I think it looks gorgeous.
Most of the finishing happened yesterday - the laying of those final pesky bricks, and the positioning and planting of the herbs and flowers. Tiger, a cat with minimal interest in the outdoors, actually came over to sit in my mortar wheelbarrow and watch the final moments. Tiger! Be careful not to burn your bottom.
Other cats wandered the circular path while I took photographs. Today the final top-soil went in the very top, and a few more flowery things like daisies.
Grow-Vember?
But enough of this self-sycophantic gushing. While I've been pre-occupied, the garden has been growing madly. November? Grow-vember, I reckon, and so many normal things need my full attention. Seedlings need to be planted in garden gaps. More vegetables need to be sown. This morning in bed I visualised my peas, beans and carrots already sprouting up in the warm early summer sunshine. Less visualising, more planting, I say!
Hebes Flowering
Tuesday 6th November
It's oddly cold and almost drizzling, a woolly socks and slippers morning, and I'm sitting in the cottage with the door open wondering how cold I'm actually getting. My bellbirds love the slightly damp weather, and are chirping noisily, while Rusty the dog barks back at them. In this slightly argumentative creature conversation the birds are definitely winning. I wonder if dogs ever wish they could fly...
Fluff-Fluff the Cat
Two Hours Later...
I've been trimming edges and doing some rather ineffectual weeding (wearing no gardening gloves). I've also tried to take a few videos of the last rhododendrons. Cats keep tripping onto the path in front of me, and my earnest kindergarten teacher commentary sounds quite daft.
Ooh! There's the cat! He wants to come for a walk too. Hellooooooooo, Fluff-Fluff...
Camera wobbles with excitement, swishes down to large fluffy cat, who immediately sprays rudely on nearby shrub. Aargh! There's a quote about acting or filming with children and/or animals - WC Fields?
But all day I've kept going back to sneak one more look at the spiral. Just in case it's fallen down? Goodness gracious me, no! Those curvy brick walls are here for life...
Just Be Inspired...
Now if you are ever tempted to build one, don't give any thoughts to five weeks of sore hands, or mortar that falls off because it's either too sloppy or too dry... Just be inspired by the beautiful symbol of a spiral. Hmm?
Mary Rose