I can’t lie – being a vegetable gardener is fun. Every year, I get to discover great new plant varieties to grow and play around with brand new (or very old) growing techniques.
Here are just a few of the updates you’ll notice for the 2026 growing season at Lucille’s Garden.
Woven Wattles
To be fair, I’ve used these before, but I like the technique so much that I rebuilt them this year. Woven wattles are a great way to make a quick fence, trellis or even a raised bed — and who doesn’t love a good stick? People have been picking up and using cool sticks for a long time. In fact, wattle and daub as a building technique dates back 6,000 years. Flexible branches are woven horizontally between upright stakes, and then, if daub is being used, you layer clay over top to create a smooth, waterproof wall. Iron Age sites in England have been discovered showing the remains of circular homes built in exactly this style!
I don’t use the daub in the garden because I want the exposed wood to serve as a trellis for plants to climb. But the weaving technique is the same. I collected sticks of similar length and diameter from around the Arboretum and wove them horizontally between upright pieces of rebar to create a fence. You can use upright sticks in the place of rebar, but it’s easier for me to keep the rebar in place year to year and just pull out and refresh the old woven branches as I need to.
What I like about this technique is that it’s fun and it’s free. I use branches from portions of the meadow that we mow every year, so all I need to do is cut them back with a pair of loppers. If you’re anywhere near a field that’s mown yearly, you likely have all the materials you’d need right there. This year I used a mixture of sassafras (Sassafras albidum), red-twig dogwood (Cornus sericea), witch hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) and cherry (Prunus serotina) to create a multi-colored fence.
What You’ll Need to Make Your Own Wattle
To do the project yourself, you’ll need the following items:
- Rebar or stout branches cut to the intended height of your fence, plus extra to drive into the ground.
- Loppers
- Long flexible branches (most branches work, but willow and wild cherry are flexible and plentiful!)
Herb Spiral
Ok, as soon as I saw a picture of one of these, I knew I had to try it. An herb spiral is a permaculture technique that works to create different microclimates to suit different herb’s unique growing preferences. Herbs, like lavender, that like good drainage can be planted at the top center portion of the spiral while herbs that prefer more moisture, like Vietnamese coriander, can be planted in the lowest portion of the spiral. The sun will warm the stone of the spiral, bringing the soil up to a good growing temp earlier in the season, and keeping it warm for longer. The height of the spiral also creates shaded portions where herbs that like cooler temperatures, like cilantro, can be grown into the summer.
In short, one little spiral increases not only the actual size of your planting area, but also its versatility.
I built my herb spiral in the middle of the bed where I plant my sweet potatoes. I didn’t bother laying down cardboard since the soil is full of good macro and macroinvertebrates. I had flat uniform pavers, so I just dry stacked them in a spiral until it was about 5 feet wide and 2.5 feet tall. I’m excited to plant the spiral and watch it thrive.
What You’ll Need to Make Your Own Herb Spiral
- Stones, rough cut or uniform
- Carboard or landscape fabric if you’re lining the bottom of your spiral
- Soil
Hinged Hoop Houses
Anyone who comes out to volunteer in Lucille’s Garden knows how much I struggle to put the garden to bed in the fall, and how quickly I want to get it growing in the spring. So, I’m in favor of anything that helps me extend the season.
These hinged polyhouses are two layers thick, with a small interior hoop and a larger exterior hoop. The sun heats up the interior hoop, and the gap of air between it and the exterior hoop serves as insulation. The hoop houses are attached to the raised beds on a hinge so I can prop them open with a hook when I need to work in there, then close them up again to trap heat.
These were definitely a little more complicated to build than the wattle or the herb spiral (thank you to Brian Prato in Site Services for his expertise), but I absolutely love them. I had to dig a path to them in the snow to seed my beets and carrots, but as of the first week in March, everything was already germinating. With the winter we had, I’m very glad that I went with two layers because the soil warmed up so much quicker.
I’m very excited to see what these hoop houses can do in the fall, when I’m hoping to extend my growing season into December. Who knows? Maybe we can have fresh garden salad in time for the winter holidays.
What You’ll Need to Make Your Own Hinged Hoop House
- Wood, cut to size
- PVC piping, cut to size
- Drill
- Poly house plastic
- Screws
- Two hinges per poly house
- One handle per poly house
- One prop per poly house
