I've been wanting to do this for years and today was finally the day.

The site:


The first course:


Up we go!


Bricks done:


And of course this is a hugel spiral.


Leaves, compost, soil, etc.


The job is finished but I haven't taken the final photos yet.

I took over 200 photos and I will soon be writing a thorough tutorial on the entire process!

That is one neat idea---even us on city lots could do it too.

Looks good.

Very cool, look forward to see it growing.

I've got a bit more to mix up in the soil before I turn it over to the Misses but she'll be planting it pretty soon. I predict this is going to be a pretty nice herb garden. I'm really looking forward to it.

A thing of beauty.

Yesterday, a huge machine knocked down the little brick church across the street from me. A big truck came and hauled away all of the bricks. I took my sack across the street after they left to see If I could scavenge a few bricks, but there were only one or two left. Now wouldn't that demolished 20th century church make a nice spiral herb bed?

I agree with Hazelnut. It is a thing of beauty.

Too bad about the lost bricks, Gloria. I probably would have cried.

Looking forward to the article, Dave.

Awesome!

Very cool Dave. How many linear feet does that equate to? Also, how do you access the center of the spiral, is it small enough to reach into?

You just keep giving me cool ideas

Great project! Even greater that it was done in one day! I'm impressed.

Looking forward to the tutorial/article!

Shoe (hmmm, over 200 pics taken. Wow!)

Horseshoe said:Great project! Even greater that it was done in one day! I'm impressed.

Yeah, but he had extra help

A tutorial would be great!

Ten-four on that, Mary.
Guess that is why he grows so many things on that farm, including farm hands!

Smart man, Dave is.

Shoe

And no mortar ... or so it appears. I despise mixing and mortaring brick. This project I think I could do.

SongofJoy said:And no mortar ... or so it appears. I despise mixing and mortaring brick. This project I think I could do.

I noticed that too, and was curious about it. Eager for the tutorial

SongofJoy said:And no mortar ... or so it appears. I despise mixing and mortaring brick. This project I think I could do.

Well, I really thought that it would be okay without the mortar, but it turns out that was a bad risk that I took.

This morning the weight of the soil had moved the bricks enough that in many places there is an inch separation between bricks. So, the effort was valiant but I'm going to have to take this apart and redo it, mortaring it this time.

As a side benefit, Trish preferred it in a slightly different place anyway, so we're starting over in a new place. I've already dug the footers and will pour concrete tomorrow. I don't expect this to be a one day job next time.

the spiral they show in Gaia's garden just had stones set every so often up the spiral. Even mentioned putting a pond, um, somewhere around the base. But I wonder if building and using mortar won't somewhat limit the ability to share and spread nutrients. I know that certain plants add or take certain things from the soil so that planting diversity sort of evens this out. Also their design has a pvc pipe running from under the base up through the middle to facilitate watering (an "L" shaped pipe presumably with threads on the lower end to hook up water. Just wondering.

That one has no mortar at all, Mary Stella?

doesn't seem to. Just rocks placed around the base on up the spiral but didn't seem to be as 'tower of Babylon'ish as Dave's. I don't know what holds it up then. Even Dave's built very sturdily with brick gave way to the pressure of the dirt (and mud as the dirt got wet). Will go back and read word for word; I too often look at a picture, skip trace through the narrative -- and don't always get it right. Seems like a great idea and I would like to try it also. Dave put in a heck of a lot of work on that tower to have to take it down. I had to smile a little when he said that the Mrs. sort of wanted it moved a little anyway. Not like moving a sofa, eh?