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Steel or brick herb spiral

Updated: October 2026

You know you want a herb spiral, and the weekend splits two ways: slot steel rings together on the patio, or shift bricks until a coil rises in the lawn. Both appear in UK writing under the same name. They are not interchangeable. Steel kits in the amazon.co.uk set we track are low prefabricated beds. A brick or stone spiral is a masonry feature roughly two metres across, with a dry crown you walk around. This page compares those methods. Ranks for the three listings are not repeated here. The overview is the [herb spiral comparison](/hub/plant-accessories/herb-spiral).

You know you want a herb spiral, and the weekend splits two ways: slot steel rings together on the patio, or shift bricks until a coil rises in the lawn. Both appear in UK writing under the same name.

Our top picks

Relaxdays Relaxdays herb spiral, 43 cm, 3 sections

Best overall

Relaxdays Relaxdays herb spiral, 43 cm, 3 sections
6.4/10about £60.90
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Relaxdays Relaxdays herb spiral, 30/60/90 cm rings

Best value

Relaxdays Relaxdays herb spiral, 30/60/90 cm rings
5.9/10about £47.90
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Relaxdays Relaxdays herb spiral, 40/80/120 cm rings

Alternative

Relaxdays Relaxdays herb spiral, 40/80/120 cm rings
5.6/10about £51.90
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On this page
  1. 1.What the steel kits are
  2. 2.What a brick or stone coil is
  3. 3.Rust finish and stated corten
  4. 4.When to pick steel, brick or the pyramid
  5. 5.Which method fits the garden

What the steel kits are

In this trio, steel means rings at ninety or one hundred and twenty centimetres across and twenty centimetres high, plus a pyramid about forty-three centimetres tall on a sixty-one by forty-one centimetre base. Empty weights run from about 4.4 kg to about 6.43 kg. A rust finish is named. Thickness is not. One review headed Germany describes thin metal. Height per ring is each wall, not a stack. About 127 litres on the ninety-centimetre page matches a shallow cylinder. You supply soil and drainage. The pyramid page suggested drilling. Steel can be planted the same weekend. It is not a walk-around coil.

What a brick or stone coil is

The British Beekeepers Association note is a coil about two metres across, in stone, brick or wood, with an optional pond. Diaries land around one and a half to two metres across and often sixty centimetres to a metre at the centre, with brick counts from about one hundred and twenty-five to two hundred. Those counts are memoirs, not a pack size. Garden Organic A37 adds cardboard, layered fill and about a week of settling. Mortar is optional in many dry-stack accounts. Masonry buys height. Cost is bricks and time, not a checkout near £47.90.
Relaxdays Relaxdays herb spiral, 43 cm, 3 sections

Testsieger

Relaxdays Relaxdays herb spiral, 43 cm, 3 sections
6.4/10about £60.90
View offer

Rust finish and stated corten

Relaxdays rust-finish steel has no millimetre line. Bellissa corten spirals in Europe state one millimetre, about eighty centimetres tall, supplied bare so the oxide forms outside. No GBP price was captured. Prima terra listings at 1.5 mm often refuse delivery to Great Britain. Set an unknown-gauge ring against named corten, if you can import it, and against brick. Thin steel may show surface rust and flex. These kits do not state a thickness.

When to pick steel, brick or the pyramid

Pick steel for a bed about twenty centimetres deep on paving, for parsley, chives, thyme and dill, once you will check the holes. Pick brick or stone for a dry crown at the two-metre scale. The forty-three-centimetre pyramid is only a compact column. Ask the council for listed curtilage, a flat, a platform above thirty centimetres, or an Article 4 direction. A twenty-centimetre kit does not answer a tall front-garden coil. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own pages.

Which method fits the garden

If the job is a low mixed bed on paving this weekend, use steel and plan the holes yourself. If the job is rosemary on a dry crown you can walk around, use brick, stone or timber at the two-metre scale and allow the fill to settle. If you only needed a compact column, the pyramid is that object and not a substitute for the coil. A rust colour on a listing is not a thickness, and a diary’s brick count is not your order quantity until you measure the site.

Common questions

When is a steel ring set enough, and when do I need brick or stone?
Steel is enough for a shallow mixed herb bed on paving. Brick or stone fits when you want a tall dry crown and a walk-around spiral in the lawn.
How big is a proper herb spiral in the UK?
Working references for masonry centre near two metres across. Height in garden diaries often lands between sixty centimetres and a metre at the centre. That is a different object from a twenty-centimetre ring.
Is rust-finish steel the same as corten?
Not unless the listing states a corten grade and a thickness. The Relaxdays rust finish is not documented as corten.
Does a 60 cm brick centre need planning permission?
Not automatically. Height, location, whether the property is a house or a flat, and listed status all matter. Planning Portal’s thirty-centimetre line is about raised platforms such as decking, not every stone herb mound. This is not legal advice.
How many bricks should I buy?
Diaries cite ranges from about one hundred and twenty-five to two hundred bricks for their own plots. That is guidance, not a specification. Measure your footprint before you order.
What happens to thin steel in a wet UK winter?
Expect surface rust, and possible flex, if the sheet is thin and the load is heavy. The listings do not state a gauge. Move or cover the bed if water sits in the base.

Related pages

Herb spiral buying guide

Best herb spirals

How to plant a herb spiral

Herb spiral

Herb spiral for a small patio: footprint and weight

Sources

Public UK sources used for this comparison. Shelf prices, stars and review counts are the amazon.co.uk figures captured for these three listings on 20 October 2026.

  1. RHS: herbs in containers (retrieved 20 October 2026)
  2. RHS: grow your own rosemary (retrieved 20 October 2026)
  3. RHS: growing herbs (retrieved 20 October 2026)
  4. British Beekeepers Association: building a herb spiral (retrieved 20 October 2026)
  5. Garden Organic A37: making a herb spiral (retrieved 20 October 2026)
  6. Planning Portal: decking and raised platforms (retrieved 20 October 2026)
  7. Consumer Rights Act 2015, section 22 (retrieved 20 October 2026)
  8. amazon.co.uk listings for the three herb spirals (retrieved 20 October 2026)