Landscaping Ideas With Naturally Draining Rock Walls
Usually, landscape gardeners would build a retaining wall made of rocks beneath a raised garden plot to prevent soil erosion from destroying that perfect row of blooming gardenias. The soil erosion may be caused by the softening ground after watering the plants or by the constant blowing of the wind over the surface soil. No matter the cause of erosion, any packed earth that form a raised step or plot above ground should be supported with rock walls landscaping experts strongly recommend.
Building a Dry Stone Wall in Your Garden
Among different methods of building rock walls, landscaping ideas with a dry stone wall comes with the cheapest price tag and seems the easiest thing to do. Large stones commonly used for stacking include round field stones, stacking stones with relatively flat sides, and uniformly cut dressed stones. Choose stones with a flatter surface because they're easier to position when stacking. Also, the type of stone you use determines the appearance of your classic stone wall.
Some garden owners forgo the digging of a ditch for the wall's foundation while others see this step as an essential aspect of building a wall through the dry stack method. Because the process doesn't involve the use of mortar, the largest stones must be stacked against the garden plot or hillside at an eight-degree angle. These huge rocks must be buried a maximum of 12 inches deep into native ground, which is the hard compacted layer below the loose topsoil. Use crushed stones or stone screenings to fill the gaps between rocks and level the ground beneath them.
The dry stack method has been used to build low-lying stone walls in Europe since mid-19th century. The passing centuries didn't completely destroy these walls because the rocks have become part of the landscape with moss and grass growing between the gaps and cracks. The hard-packed earth also grew around the rocks over time which further strengthened the wall's internal structure. However, a major problem about dry stone walls is the rocks' tendency to shift position and cause the wall to change its curvature and height level.
A Wire Mesh Retains the Shape of a Gabion Wall
An alternative way of building rock walls is to cover the whole structure in wire mesh, which maintains the shape and alignment of a gabion wall. Actually, the shape of the wall is first formed using the wire mesh. Like packing sandwiches in a picnic basket, you start arranging and stacking the rocks and stones with different shapes and colors to form a decorative pattern for your wall. Smaller stones or pebbles may be poured into the mesh to fill up the gaps.
Most landscaping gardeners agree that gabion structures are more formidable than dry stone walls. The gabion or wire basket doesn't require mortar or cement to pack in the stones more tightly. Like the dry stacked stones, a gabion wall also allows natural draining of moisture without causing too much soil erosion. The gabion is made of either galvanized or Galfan-coated iron mesh rather than the malleable chicken wire or the bendable barbed wire. In essence, the varying colors and shapes of stones make the gabion structure an ideal garden fence or as a gravity-retaining wall.
Building a Dry Stone Wall in Your Garden
Among different methods of building rock walls, landscaping ideas with a dry stone wall comes with the cheapest price tag and seems the easiest thing to do. Large stones commonly used for stacking include round field stones, stacking stones with relatively flat sides, and uniformly cut dressed stones. Choose stones with a flatter surface because they're easier to position when stacking. Also, the type of stone you use determines the appearance of your classic stone wall.
Some garden owners forgo the digging of a ditch for the wall's foundation while others see this step as an essential aspect of building a wall through the dry stack method. Because the process doesn't involve the use of mortar, the largest stones must be stacked against the garden plot or hillside at an eight-degree angle. These huge rocks must be buried a maximum of 12 inches deep into native ground, which is the hard compacted layer below the loose topsoil. Use crushed stones or stone screenings to fill the gaps between rocks and level the ground beneath them.
The dry stack method has been used to build low-lying stone walls in Europe since mid-19th century. The passing centuries didn't completely destroy these walls because the rocks have become part of the landscape with moss and grass growing between the gaps and cracks. The hard-packed earth also grew around the rocks over time which further strengthened the wall's internal structure. However, a major problem about dry stone walls is the rocks' tendency to shift position and cause the wall to change its curvature and height level.
A Wire Mesh Retains the Shape of a Gabion Wall
An alternative way of building rock walls is to cover the whole structure in wire mesh, which maintains the shape and alignment of a gabion wall. Actually, the shape of the wall is first formed using the wire mesh. Like packing sandwiches in a picnic basket, you start arranging and stacking the rocks and stones with different shapes and colors to form a decorative pattern for your wall. Smaller stones or pebbles may be poured into the mesh to fill up the gaps.
Most landscaping gardeners agree that gabion structures are more formidable than dry stone walls. The gabion or wire basket doesn't require mortar or cement to pack in the stones more tightly. Like the dry stacked stones, a gabion wall also allows natural draining of moisture without causing too much soil erosion. The gabion is made of either galvanized or Galfan-coated iron mesh rather than the malleable chicken wire or the bendable barbed wire. In essence, the varying colors and shapes of stones make the gabion structure an ideal garden fence or as a gravity-retaining wall.
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