Gabion Walls: Holding Back the Earth
Since we bought our house four years ago, Jon and I have slowly chipped away at the massive amount of lawn in our yard. This past weekend we took out a 700 square foot chunk of grass that looked particularly horrible in our backyard. The idea was to install a path between our house and the garage/alleyway, create more vegetable garden space for me, and build a little woodland garden in the side yard. We are also going to install a screen to hide our ramshackle chicken coop. All things proceeded smoothly until we realized that the north side of our yard is about six inches taller than than the south side. This is bad news for our gravel path, which slices right through the slope.
After briefly considering the idea of digging out the extra earth, we settled on building a mini wall to hold back the soil and create a level terrace for the vegetable beds. For the wall we need a material that is affordable, attractive, and long lasting. We rejected wood (it rots too fast), landscaping bricks (too ugly), and stone (too expensive) and have decided to build a gabion wall.
Image via Nate Cormier
A gabion is basically a wire mesh basket filled with something heavy, usually stones, but recycled concrete, gravel, and even wine bottles have been used.
Images via Gabion-Mesh.com and RO/LU
Gabions are popping up in gardens as benches, retaining walls, screens, and stone pillars.
Image via Edinburgh Architecture
My friend Chris from FreshDigs gave me a hot tip that Second Use (a store in South Seattle that sells reclaimed materials) has hundreds of old locker baskets from Nathan Hale High School. They are the perfect size (11 inches by 13 inches) for repurposing as a gabion, but at ten dollars a pop, I’m not sure I can afford 32 two of them. So, unhandy me is going to attempt to make my own baskets out of welded wire mesh. Wish me luck! If you want more ideas, Studio G has an awesome roundup of gabions used in gardens across the globe.
Could you tell me where you bought the great round feed trough? Thanks!
March 10th, 2010 at 12:57 pmLove all the photos, esp. all the progress you and John have made since I was there mid-day Saturday. Kudos!
I can’t wait to see how you incorporate gabion walls. These photos you’ve included are inspirational…kind of makes me want to have to build a wall. (Well, maybe not).
March 10th, 2010 at 2:35 pm.-= gardenmentor´s last blog ..Honey, I’m Home =-.
I love the look of gabion walls in a residential garden setting – the wire basket makes it feel very modern but the rough texture of the filler material keeps it from feeling slick. If your diy baskets work out (and I can’t imagine that they won’t), would you mind sharing a tutorial?
March 10th, 2010 at 4:17 pm.-= Kirsten´s last blog ..What a Little Moonlight Can Do =-.
Heather–I got the troughs at Reber Ranch Supply in Kent. I called all the feed stores in the Seattle area and they had the best prices.
GardenMentor–I might make the walls out of the wire mesh Mari and Andrew…can’t wait for them to get back from vacation so I can ask if it is ok!
Kristen–I will definitely record the process!
March 10th, 2010 at 4:30 pmFunny! I’ve been thinking for years about building some kind of decorative/useful wire box in which to contain my innumerable rocks. Who knew that there was not only a name for my idea, but a site compiling so many well-executed examples. Thanks for the 411-I will put “gabion trellis footings” on my already-impossibly-long list of tasks.
March 10th, 2010 at 4:47 pmI really like reading your blog….could you make your font larger. I use glasses and have my eyes checked annually but for the love of Mike please increase your font size so we can read your words easier. I hate holding a magnifying glass in front of the screen. Kisses thanks
March 10th, 2010 at 10:31 pm.-= The Frugal Fraulein´s last blog ..DIY Headband Crafts =-.
Jenny–That is so funny. I guess the saying that there is no original idea just might be true.
Frugal Fraulein–I’m so sorry that the type is hard to read! Sadly, I have no clue how to change the font size in my blog, but I recently had a similar problem reading another site (I have horrible eyesight) and just zoomed in on the site using my browser (just go to the view menu in your browser and click on zoom or push control and the plus sign at the same time). Hope this helps! I’d love for you to keep reading
March 11th, 2010 at 12:27 pmGood for you Willi!!! You guys got so much done. I love these photos you’ve turned up and I was planning a trip to Second Use today anyway – I’m looking for salvaged plumbing pipe for a pergola project…nice alliteration – we’ll see how the project goes. This time I may call you down for moral support!!!
March 12th, 2010 at 10:07 am.-= Lorene´s last blog ..You can be a part of the Seattle Children’s PlayGarden =-.
Looks good Jon & Willi!
@Frugal Fraulein: If you’re using a pc you can use hold down the control key and then press the plus (+) key to increase the font size. Then, the (-) key to reduce it again.
On a mac I think it is command and then the (+) or (-) key.
March 27th, 2010 at 1:22 pm.-= frank´s last blog ..Hands-on Video of the new Compaq Airlife =-.
Do you know a supplier for gabion baskets in the Seattle area? I’m totally striking out.
April 3rd, 2010 at 5:37 pm[...] debating the pros and cons of various kinds of retaining walls we decided to install a gabion, which is basically a wire mesh box filled with rocks (or, in our case, broken concrete). We still [...]
May 25th, 2010 at 3:02 ami am going to use gabion baskets in my garden to retain soil and to protect the soil pipe i accidently exposed
September 4th, 2010 at 6:07 ami did start to have a dry stone wall built but the rain washed some of it down
Lovely stuff. We recently made our own as well if you’d like to see? I think I’m a little bit in love with this technique…
http://milkwood.net/2011/05/06/rock-science-building-our-gabion-wall
Many thanks and all the best!
May 5th, 2011 at 7:28 pm