"Nick Maclaren" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Warwick Dumas wrote:

I'd just resigned myself to spending another 100 pounds on granite
blocks on
a garden I still might move away from this year, when I heard this thing
about granite mining destroying tigers' habitats. I always thought they
were
just blowing up bits of Wiltshire or something! Durr, like there's any
granite in Wiltshire. They sell rockery stone at B&Q but they don't seem
very reliable about it, and I'm not sure of the source there either, and
ideally at this point I need something I can work with with more easily
than
jagged rocks.

The mind boggles. As half of the north and west is granite territory,
importing the stuff is just plain insane. Many farmers would be happy
for people to take away granite boulders for nothing!


Indeed. Though here is Devon there are no tigers either, so clearly the
quarrying here is working effectively too - it wouldn't be nice to have
tigers shitting in the garden, chasing dogs and children, etc.

I tend to just build stuff with available stone, but if your ground doesn't
have a lot, then I guess you have to buy.

A couple of thoughts regarding using concrete to make fake stone - empty
drinks cans placed in the lump to create voids would reduce the weight
("earthship" style). Also you don't need to use ordinary stone (often
flint) chippings if you're not laying a drive or path - use vermiculite,
pumice, or some other lightweight aggregate, you could even use sawdust in
place of some of the sand.

Also it's quite simple to make structures from earth if your soil has a
high clay content - many of the older houses in Devon are built from earth,
which gives a nice rounded cottage look. So a rockery could probably be
built with very little stone if you're prepared to craft something from
subsoil and then create a thin (fake?) stone shell.

Michael Saunby