Using wagon wheels in your garden design pays homage to the plight of frontier settlers and would be right at home in a Pacific Coast garden where the area is rich with Western history. Wagon wheels are a traditional garden decoration, whether they're hung on privacy fences and garden sheds or used as legs for a cozy garden bench. A rustic wheel flanked with colorful plants provides rustic decoration while serving a function for plant growth. Use the wagon wheel as a trellis to support climbing vines or use the spokes to separate plants in an herb garden.
Wagon Wheel Trellis
Dig a small furrow in the soil in front of a fence, garden shed or other structure. Make the furrow wide enough to accommodate the edge of the wagon wheel and long enough to cover the wheel when standing upright. Dig 6 to 12 inches away from the structure so the wagon wheel can lean back against the fence or wall.
Place the wagon wheel in the furrow so it stands upright, leaning back slightly to rest against the structure for support. Fill the furrow in with soil to bury the bottom of the wagon wheel to provide base support.
Anchor the top of the wagon wheel to the fence or wall with screws, if desired, to stabilize the wheel. Climbing plants may pull the wheel down as they grow if it is not securely anchored to the support structure. If you'd rather not drive screws through the wagon wheel, install an eyelet screw to the fence or wall and tie the wheel to the screw.
Plant climbing vine plants around the base of the wagon wheel, following individual plant needs for spacing. Cucumbers and tomatoes both benefit from a support trellis or you can plant native flowering vines. Consider plants such as pipevine (Aristolochia californica), a deciduous vine that grows up to 12 feet long and is an attractive host for caterpillars of the pipevine swallowtail butterfly. Pipestems (Clematis lasiantha) is a native drought-tolerant flowering vine that works well for gardens in dry areas.
Water the plants regularly to keep the soil moist. Refer to the specific watering needs of the plants you choose. Some plants require much more water than others.
Train the vines to grow within the spokes of the wheel as they grow. Check the ends of the plants regularly for growth and feed the ends between the spokes as they grow long enough to wrap comfortably without pulling on the plant. You may need to temporarily tie the stalk to the wheel with twist ties or string, especially if the vine doesn't have tendrils that latch onto support structures.
Divided Herb Garden
Measure the circumference of the wagon wheel and install a raised, circular garden bed to match the size. Build your own circular bed with materials such as bricks or stones, or purchase a raised garden bed kit for easier assembly. Alternatively, you can build the raised bed and buy a wagon wheel the same size.
Fill the interior of the raised bed with combination of gravel and clean fill dirt, leaving about 12 inches to the top of the bed to add fertile potting mix. Skip this step if the raised bed is only 12 inches high. The roots of common kitchen herbs may need as little as 6 inches of fertile soil for growth, so adding filler material for the additional depth saves soil. The gravel provides drainage for the plants.
Fill the raised bed to the edge with potting soil that allows plenty of drainage or amend your own soil with a mixture of organic compost, sphagnum peat and sand to lighten the soil texture. The compost supplies nutrients to the soil for healthy plant growth. Most herbs need well-drained, loamy to sandy soil; sphagnum peat and sand improve drainage but may not be necessary if you're using soil with a loamy to sandy texture. You'll know the soil texture is correct when a bit of watered soil squeezed in your hand forms a slightly crumbly ball.
Water the soil in the garden bed and add more soil to the top of the raised bed if the soil settles.
Place the wagon wheel on top of the circular garden bed and tie it down with wire if the edges of the bed are too thin to fully support the wagon wheel.
Plant a different type of herb in each wedge created by the spokes of the wheel, using a trowel to create holes for planting. Choose herbs that you are likely to use for cooking. Common herbs to consider include basil, oregano, thyme, chives, cilantro, rosemary, lavender, mint, lemon verbena and sage. Transplants are ready to harvest faster than seed, but if you wish to plant from seed, start them indoors in cell packs about six weeks before planting. Wait until the frost danger in your area has passed before planting, although raised garden bed soils do warm up faster than ground-level beds.
Complement the look of the wagon wheel with a similarly rustic plant marker for each section of the herb garden. Paint small tiles with the plant names, use a wood burner to mark wooden markers or punch the names into weathered tin cans. Ensure that each plant marker is firmly anchored in the soil or tie them to the spokes of the wagon wheel.
Things You Will Need
- Shovel or trowel
- Power drill
- Eyelet screws
- Climbing vines
- Twist ties
- Circular, raised garden bed
- Fill dirt
- Potting soil
- Sphagnum peat
- Plant markers
- The raised garden bed isn't limited to planting herbs. You can also plant colorful annual flowers or vegetables.
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