Make A Garden Spiral

© Beverley Paine

Do you have a patch of lawn, or perhaps a bare area in your garden that you'd like to turn into something a little more interesting? What about creating a garden spiral? This is a fun project for all the family. I was originally inspired by a 4 metre wide spiral made of single paving stones laid in a patch of grass, but you can make your spiral of anything, including plants or a continuous gravel path.

We began by marking out a square with tomato stakes and then laying a long rope in a spiral pattern, working our way from the centre to the outer edge of one side of the square. To find the centre, use two ropes crossed diagonally from opposing corners of the square.

Did you know that a spiral is the simplest pattern for a maze? Most people would not think of a spiral as a maze at all, and you might get dizzy walking it, but all maze patterns do spiral into the centre, however they twist and turn on the way.

Spirals look amazing if you put them on a turntable and rotate them slowly!

To help prepare for this activity, why not go on a spiral hunt and find as many spirals as you can? Look around your house, your garden, at the sky, in your sink, in books. You'll be surprised at the number of places you'll find these interesting phenomenon.

Why a spiral? Here are some websites to whet your appetite on your quest for knowledge about spirals. You may find some inspiration to create a truly wonderful spiral, or spirals, to help you start 2006 spinning!

• http://www.ancientspiral.com/spirals.htm
  "From magnetic fields to vast galaxies swirling in space, spirals can be seen in every aspect in nature. We see them in the physical forces which shape the Earth - the tides of the ocean, the winds in the atmosphere - and within life itself. Plants and the horns and shells of animals grow in spiral formations and some animals, especially aquatic species, possess a twisting locomotion. The spiral phenomenon within natural forms can be explained through mathematics - the pattern is a result of complex sequences, equations and algorithms which nature utilises in her designs of the Universe. But mathematics alone cannot justify the lure of the spiral to the human mind."
• http://celtdigital.org/Spiral.htm
  collection of spiral patterns
• http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/mars_spirals_040325.html
  an explanation of some spirals found on Mars!
• http://maven.smith.edu/~phyllo/CourseMaterial/Teachingmodules/phyltut1.html
  an article on observing spiral patterns in plants
• http://ipn.persianblog.com/1383_2_ipn_archive.html
  the mathematics of spirals found in plants!
• http://members.tripod.com/vismath/dima/
  more maths, including Fibonacci numbers and sequences
• http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/perfect_spirals_030917.html
  Spirals in Nature: The Magical Number behind Hurricanes and Galaxies