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Planting in Gabions
I am thinking of using Gabions to retain a 12 ft bank approx 8o ft in
long and situated on the North side of may property. Any advise on in planting would be appreciated. I would hope that the Gabions would be a better option then a brick wall and after a couple of year will be covered by plants of one sort or another. Regards Steve |
Planting in Gabions
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Planting in Gabions
On Sun, 16 Nov 2003 08:01:02 +0000, Pam Moore
wrote: On 15 Nov 2003 11:09:58 -0800, (Stephen Ward) wrote: I am thinking of using Gabions to retain a 12 ft bank approx 8o ft in long and situated on the North side of may property. Any advise on in planting would be appreciated. I would hope that the Gabions would be a better option then a brick wall and after a couple of year will be covered by plants of one sort or another. I have to ask; What is a Gabion? This from my Concise Oxford Dictionary gabion // n. a cylindrical wicker or metal basket for filling with earth or stones, used in engineering or (formerly) in fortification. -- MCC |
Planting in Gabions
My heart sinks at the word "Gabion". Several years ago (in our younger days) we were heavily involved in canal restoration. At weekends, we travelled all over the UK helping out on restoration projects. One such weekend was down on (I think) the River Soar. The aim was to reinforce the banking with gabions. They are basically large wire baskets (about 3' x 3') with small/medium sized stones. It was an incredibly boring task!!! A couple of years ago we were boating in that area and certainly the top of the gabions had grassed over. I would imagine you would think of them as a form of dry stone wall - in which case I agree you should be able to cover them in plants Jeanne Stockdale "Pam Moore" wrote in message ... On 15 Nov 2003 11:09:58 -0800, (Stephen Ward) wrote: I am thinking of using Gabions to retain a 12 ft bank approx 8o ft in long and situated on the North side of may property. Any advise on in planting would be appreciated. I would hope that the Gabions would be a better option then a brick wall and after a couple of year will be covered by plants of one sort or another. I have to ask; What is a Gabion? Pam in Bristol |
Planting in Gabions
"Stephen Ward" wrote in message m... I am thinking of using Gabions to retain a 12 ft bank approx 8o ft in long and situated on the North side of may property. Any advise on in planting would be appreciated. I would hope that the Gabions would be a better option then a brick wall and after a couple of year will be covered by plants of one sort or another. Regards Steve Nice pictures and lots of info at : http://www.pavingexpert.com/featur04.htm#gab If you want to plant into them you could perhaps add some soil in with the rocks....... Jenny |
Planting in Gabions
On 15 Nov 2003 11:09:58 -0800, (Stephen
Ward) wrote: I am thinking of using Gabions to retain a 12 ft bank approx 8o ft in long and situated on the North side of may property. Any advise on in planting would be appreciated. I would hope that the Gabions would be a better option then a brick wall and after a couple of year will be covered by plants of one sort or another. Steve We thought of this quite seriously to control a steep bank (but later went another route). I've seen them planted up with ivies of various sorts to quite good effect. -- Sally in Shropshire, UK http://stonybrook.users.btopenworld.com Reply To is spam trap If you need to email use sally=thompson@btinternet=com and replace the = with a dot Do not use Reply To |
Planting in Gabions
"Pam Moore" wrote in message ... On 15 Nov 2003 11:09:58 -0800, (Stephen Ward) wrote: I am thinking of using Gabions to retain a 12 ft bank approx 8o ft in long and situated on the North side of may property. Any advise on in planting would be appreciated. I would hope that the Gabions would be a better option then a brick wall and after a couple of year will be covered by plants of one sort or another. I have to ask; What is a Gabion? I'm glad you asked. Franz .. |
Planting in Gabions
"Pam Moore" wrote in message ... On 15 Nov 2003 11:09:58 -0800, (Stephen Ward) wrote: I am thinking of using Gabions to retain a 12 ft bank approx 8o ft in long and situated on the North side of may property. Any advise on in planting would be appreciated. I would hope that the Gabions would be a better option then a brick wall and after a couple of year will be covered by plants of one sort or another. I have to ask; What is a Gabion? I'm glad you asked. Franz .. |
Planting in Gabions
On Sun, 16 Nov 2003 10:38:54 +0100, "JennyC" wrote:
"Stephen Ward" wrote in message om... I am thinking of using Gabions to retain a 12 ft bank approx 8o ft in long and situated on the North side of may property. Any advise on in planting would be appreciated. I would hope that the Gabions would be a better option then a brick wall and after a couple of year will be covered by plants of one sort or another. Regards Steve Nice pictures and lots of info at : http://www.pavingexpert.com/featur04.htm#gab If you want to plant into them you could perhaps add some soil in with the rocks....... What happens to stone filled gambions, when the wire mesh finally rusts away? -- Martin |
Planting in Gabions
On Sun, 16 Nov 2003 10:51:49 GMT, Sally Thompson wrote:
On 15 Nov 2003 11:09:58 -0800, (Stephen Ward) wrote: I am thinking of using Gabions to retain a 12 ft bank approx 8o ft in long and situated on the North side of may property. Any advise on in planting would be appreciated. I would hope that the Gabions would be a better option then a brick wall and after a couple of year will be covered by plants of one sort or another. Steve We thought of this quite seriously to control a steep bank (but later went another route). I've seen them planted up with ivies of various sorts to quite good effect. I also had a very high bank to "retain". Cormaic suggested gambions but as the job was too big for me I had a large landscaper in, he did it by using vertical girders set in concrete with railway sleepers forming the walls. It looked good and as the resulting wall was south facing it is ideal for growing trained fruit bushes up. Sadly Cormaic (I should have known) was right and the walls are now bowing very badly, and the landscaper keeps promising to come to fix it, how exactly I can't imagine, and as he has not turned up yet I suspect that he does not either. :-( Cheers John T -- To reply direct please remove the wet from the towill |
Planting in Gabions
On 15 Nov 2003 11:09:58 -0800, (Stephen
Ward) wrote: I am thinking of using Gabions to retain a 12 ft bank approx 8o ft in long and situated on the North side of may property. So, several of us have learned something today! There is an alternative on the Gardeners' Question Time site; http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/gqt/ which has been there for months! Bunny Guinness suggests building a turf wall. Instructions are there. Also on a TV gardeing prog a few years ago someone had built a retaining wall of old tights filled with soil. By the time the tights rotted away things had grown into the soil. I suppose it would take a lot of turf or tights if your bank is 12 ft high! Pam in Bristol |
Planting in Gabions
"martin" wrote in message ... On Sun, 16 Nov 2003 10:38:54 +0100, "JennyC" wrote: "Stephen Ward" wrote in message om... I am thinking of using Gabions to retain a 12 ft bank approx 8o ft in long and situated on the North side of may property. Any advise on in planting would be appreciated. I would hope that the Gabions would be a better option then a brick wall and after a couple of year will be covered by plants of one sort or another. Regards Steve Nice pictures and lots of info at : http://www.pavingexpert.com/featur04.htm#gab If you want to plant into them you could perhaps add some soil in with the rocks....... What happens to stone filled gambions, when the wire mesh finally rusts away? Gabions Franz |
Planting in Gabions
"John Towill" wrote in message ... On Sun, 16 Nov 2003 10:51:49 GMT, Sally Thompson wrote: On 15 Nov 2003 11:09:58 -0800, (Stephen Ward) wrote: I am thinking of using Gabions to retain a 12 ft bank approx 8o ft in long and situated on the North side of may property. Any advise on in planting would be appreciated. I would hope that the Gabions would be a better option then a brick wall and after a couple of year will be covered by plants of one sort or another. Steve We thought of this quite seriously to control a steep bank (but later went another route). I've seen them planted up with ivies of various sorts to quite good effect. I also had a very high bank to "retain". Cormaic suggested gambions but as the job was too big for me I had a large landscaper in, he did it by using vertical girders set in concrete with railway sleepers forming the walls. It looked good and as the resulting wall was south facing it is ideal for growing trained fruit bushes up. Sadly Cormaic (I should have known) was right and the walls are now bowing very badly, and the landscaper keeps promising to come to fix it, how exactly I can't imagine, and as he has not turned up yet I suspect that he does not either. :-( Why would gabions have been better? Franz |
Planting in Gabions
In article , Franz Heymann
writes "John Towill" wrote in message .. . I also had a very high bank to "retain". Cormaic suggested gambions but as the job was too big for me I had a large landscaper in, he did it by using vertical girders set in concrete with railway sleepers forming the walls. It looked good and as the resulting wall was south facing it is ideal for growing trained fruit bushes up. Sadly Cormaic (I should have known) was right and the walls are now bowing very badly, and the landscaper keeps promising to come to fix it, how exactly I can't imagine, and as he has not turned up yet I suspect that he does not either. :-( Why would gabions have been better? While the wire framework is in place holding the stones together each gabion is in effect a huge block of stone, and so a wall of them i going to be a lot stronger (and more suitable for a retaining wall) than what is in effect a fence of railway sleepers. It'll take a good many yers for the framework to corrode - if indeed it does - I'm not sure what they're made of - and by then it would have been consolidated into the ground by soil washing in and plants growing over. They're often used in motorway cuttings. -- Kay Easton Edward's earthworm page: http://www.scarboro.demon.co.uk/edward/index.htm |
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