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

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

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

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

"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

"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

I didn't know either so I did a google image.

K

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

"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
..

"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
..

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

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

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

"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

"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

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