Two weeks after the scouts and guides helped to build the herb wheel garden, they returned to the Ladner Community Garden to plant it. I had done up some instructions on a white board so the kids and their helpers could figure out where and what to plant.
I had grown many herbs and decided to donate them to the project. A few herbs could be transplanted from the old herb garden as we had sage, thyme and chives back near the community garden’s food bank garden.
The team quickly went to work weeding out the planting areas and moving the mulch to pathways. With almost thirty people we split into groups. Some groups were weeding, some painting herb garden markers and others hauling soil for the new garden.
Each planting area was filled with fresh soil. It was hard work hauling soil in wheelbarrows but we didn’t need too much. A yard of soil filled the herb wheel garden nicely.
The centre container was half filled with soil so we could transplant a large sage plant to it. The sage was going to be our focal point in the garden. We could have used rosemary or lavender but neither are hardy enough to withstand the cold winter winds that blow on this garden. Sage will be the one to survive.
Each group rotated so everyone would get a turn working on the new herb wheel garden. Over the first hour all the sections were filled with soil. It was almost time to plant! This was the moment we were all waiting for.
I helped to place the plants in position. The children were shown how to remove the plants from their pots. In this section oregano, thyme and parsley were planted. I hope to have some evergreen herb plants in the garden to have it looking good all year round. The annual herbs are planted around the outside edges and it will be easy to remove them in the fall.
The next section was planted with both sweet basil and holy basil in front and a lemon verbena in the back. The holy basil is loved by hoverflies in the garden. Hoverflies are aphid busters so they are great to have in the garden.
Under the container we had the younger children plant some Marigolds around the base. This will give it some colour until the herbs get settled in their new home. This is a Marigold called ‘Bonanza Mix’ and will spread to about 10″ across making this a wonderful splash of colour.
This is the finished herb garden wheel. The children watered it in well and I will be following up to make sure the herbs get established. I hope they come to the community garden again. It was such a fun day.
The basil looks like soldiers but they have now been pinched back so they will branch out over the next few weeks. It was a great team effort and I want to thank the scouts and guides for all the hard work that went into this new project. This has turned a bare area of the community garden into a work of art.
For information on how we came up and designed the herb wheel garden, read Creating a Herb Garden Wheel.
