Don showed how to transform a sunny spot in the lawn into a culinary herb wheel. Although some of the herbs will die down in winter, the wheel will still look good because of its geometric structure.

What to do

1. Choose a sunny spot for your wheel, because herbs need sunshine to grow well. Position your wheel so it will look in perfect balance with the rest of the garden. Put a timber peg in the centre of your wheel.
2. Hammer a nail into the peg, so you can attach a tape measure to the nail.
3. Our wheel is 2m diameter, so we extended the tape 1m and walked in a circle, using marking spray to create a perfect circle for our wheel.
4. Using a sharp spade, cut along the edge of the circle. Make sure you remove all turf runners and roots, to stop grass coming up through the wheel.
5. After you have removed all the turf, go around the edge of the wheel with a spade to make sure the edge is crisp and well defined. Fork over the soil to remove any clods.
6. Calculate the area of your circle, then divide this by the number of segments you need. We divided by six. Peg out the segments on the circumference of the circle.
7. Dig a hole in the centre of the wheel for the terracotta pipe/pot, then place the pot, using a spirit level to get it perfectly upright.
8. Fork in some well-rotted manure (Don used stable manure) or compost to enrich the soil prior to planting.
9. We planted ‘Red Coral’ lettuce around the base of the terracotta pot. We then put a stake into the centre of the pipe pot, attached string to it and marked out the six segments for the wheel.
10. We used a 180mm length of bamboo to help space plants at perfectly even intervals. The outer rim is golden oregano. The segments are filled with garlic, chives, sweet basil, triple-curled parsley, rocket, English spinach and coriander. We filled the pot with potting mix and planted a kaffir lime tree. Water well after planting, and give it all an application of Seasol to help plants settle in.

Further information

Herbs are readily available at nurseries. They cost about $5 for 125mm (5") pots.

Kaffir lime (Citrus hystrix) costs around $38 for a 15 litre bag.

For top design ideas and growing tips for herbs, see the December edition of the Burke’s Backyard magazine. It’s available from newsagents and supermarkets for $5.70.

Copyright CTC Productions 2003