Ever wondered where to find free rocks; especially here in Joburg? I was dying to build a herb spiral and needed to do it on the cheap. And guess who came along? Grudgingly though because I was cutting into his gaming time.

I’d been going on and on for a few days about needing rocks and eventually B agreed as he couldn’t bear the thought of me been out there all alone rock gathering and wondering if there were any weirdos hanging about – he’s so caring.

Rock hunting can also be quite tiring on the ear; you’d never say, but geez was I getting words after an hour of driving around without any success.

But then finally… we hit rock heaven in the form of a reject rock quarry/dumping ground. At about the same time the wind decided to hit and stir a few things up the wrong way – the sand and B’s patience. Though, in the end all turned out well. My homeless reject rocks found a happy home and I had my long awaited herb spiral.

Spots to find free rocks:

• the quarry grounds out near Fourways, going towards Lanseria
• any illegal dumping spots (shouldn’t have a problem finding those).

Where I didn’t go rocking around:

• the veld or where things still looked natural ie. Where nature is still nature which is obvious but had to mention, just in case…
• the big house which had zillions of rocks outside their front wall (tempting when you’re fed up and driving around with no success).

Now onto the best part because I know you want to know how I built it so I’ve laid it out step for step and also the stuff that you’ll need if you ever decide you’d like to try it as well.

Building a no-dig herb spiral (1m diameter x ½ m in height)

Things you need:

• More rocks than you think you’ll need (whatever fits into an Opel Corsa, seats down, x 2 loads)
• Newspaper/cardboard
• Small stones/gravel to cover the bottom of the spiral base
• 3 – 4 bags compost
• 2 – 3 bags manure
• 2 bags wood chips
• Herb seeds / seedlings

How I built it:

• Started by marking out the border, 1 metre diameter
• No need to dig out anything, I just sprinkled some bonemeal over the surface and laid down cardboard and newspaper over the top (this is to suppress the weeds and grass). Make sure you don’t have any spaces, that grass can be a pest when it comes through.
• For the wall: biggest rocks to the bottom, layering them on top of each other to fit well (was having to do a bit of undoing and redoing now and again to make sure it was all snug)
• What I was aiming to do was create a rock slope border from the bottom rising a half metre uphill ending in the middle of the spiral.
• As I reached a quarter of the way I got ready to feed my spiral with the stones, compost, soil and manure
• I covered the base well with all stones
• Chucked on the compost (at least 20 cm depth), then manure, then more compost
• Spiral looking good and stable and then…
• B popped in with ‘advice’ and suggested I add some decor which was this kitschy 3-tiered fibre glass bird bath that was hiding at the bottom of the garden. Don’t know how I was conned into putting that in.
• Best part, seed time. I put in rocket (probably wasn’t the best idea, they really take off too quickly, never mind size), Italian leaf parsley, sage, purple leaf basil and a few others.
• Google ‘companion planting’ to make sure that your plant is beneficial to its friend next door. Also, herbs that like drier soil to the top, wetter conditions to the bottom. Eg. Rosemary to the top, parsley at the bottom.
• Lastly, I topped it with bark chip (keeps all the moisture in and just to make it look pretty as well).

Cost to make: approx. R150 – R200

Cheaper if you have a cow or horse wandering about and also if you put in seeds which I did. I got my seeds from Mahlathini Organics (Durban area) and also Food Gardens Foundation (in Parkhurst). But I later found out those Mayfair seed packets you get in Spar are also organic and just fine to use.

A favourite site of mine, Urban Sprout (good resource by the way), has a seed directory listing all suppliers: http://www.urbansprout.co.za/directory/offering/seeds/

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