Labyrinth 2.0, bigger, better, stronger

By beccajo

created on: 06/21/08

Ok so my mom, dad and I built a Labyrinth in their lower yard about 3 weeks ago.

We planted some low groundcover, but unfortunately, while they were on vacation, the weeds took over.

created on: 06/21/08

Even though she put yellow flags in the ground at our 'terminal lines' and 'bridges', we could no longer see the rows of flowers that we planted, or really anything else. Since the walkways were kind of narrow to begin with, we decided to start over from scratch. So we pulled up the flags and marker stones and re-raked it lightly. There will be pink soapwort growing up the middle of the paths, but we don't care!

Anything I revised for the second version is in bold, below.

So! Version 2 of the Labyrinth, you need.....

A hoe

A shovel

A rake

A friend

Flower seeds (choose something low-growing with little flowers, we used pink soapwort flowers)

Grass seeds

Small Rocks (we estimated we used about 1/2-2/3rds of a cubic yard of river rock in grey, white, and pink.)

Larger marker rocks

Some sticks or garden markers

A long string

A design (check out old art books or look online)

created on: 06/04/08 (I edited an image i found online, but this second time, I kind of improvised, and it worked out just fine! I walked it several times before laying down the rock to make sure it worked.)

AND:

Wheelbarrow

Old plastic jugs or pitchers

WHAT YOU'RE GONNA WANT:

Bug spray

Garden gloves

STEP ONE: Decide on the diameter of your Labyrinth, ours was 25 feet across. Level the land and add dirt if you need to. Remove large rocks or pieces of debris from the site to make the next part easier!

STEP TWO: Make concentric circles, about a foot and a half or two feet apart, this time, we went with three foot paths, either eyeballed or using a pivot in the center of the labyrinth. Easiest way is to place a PIPE in the middle of the Labyrinth, put a dowel in the pipe, and place a bulldog clip onto the dowel to tie the string to the end. Hold the string in one hand as you pull a hoe along with the other. Move down one and a half or two feet (3) on the string, and make your next ring.

Don't dig too deep, you're gonna fill these in with your rocks!

created on: 06/04/08

STEP THREE: Using your design and a friend, determine where the 'bridges' need to be, the lines that go from ring to ring, and where the terminal lines need to go, the areas where the rings don't continue. PLACE A LARGE ROCK at these junctions.

created on: 06/04/08

We also used peices of an old venetian blind to mark the lines, in case it rained and we lost the stones.

Work in the cardinal directions, to make sure you're keeping in line with the design.

created on: 06/04/08

STEP FOUR: After you've made the bridges and terminal lines, walk the labyrinth to make sure it works! Don't step over any lines, and make any fixes that need to be made.

created on: 06/04/08 (This photo is from the first labyrinth, see how skinny the paths were?)

STEP FIVE: Shovel rocks into your wheelbarrow. Use the pitchers to lay rocks down in the troughs, and use your feet to tromp down the mounds of dirt. My dad shoveled rock, my mom filled pitchers, and I dumped them in the lines. It took us about 4 hours total to re-do the whole thing because we picked up EVERY rock, branch, and weed that interferred with the design.

created on: 06/21/08