Thursday - May 22, 2014

Mr. Sneaky Builds a Garden

The main reason I wanted to build a low wall was to hold back a quarter ton or so of topsoil, which I’ll need to fill in the area that’s going to become a raised garden bed. But since I most likely won’t be allowed to build an 18” tall wall, the best I could hope for would be raising the lower end the length of one of the stones, which is 11.5”. And honestly, that’s probably enough to take out most of the slope and to give me a decent depth of soil.

But if I just set a few stones on end at ground level, they’ll topple over when I fill the area in. So I came up with a solution. I’m going to set those stones in just below ground level, but they’ll be glued together and glued to a flat plinth underneath. So I get 10.5” of raise, the plinth is invisible below the soil, and it carries 4"x33"x10.5" of soil, which is about 50lb. That adds even more mass to the 208lb unified block, and I’ll probably sneak a plinth under the next 3 uphill vertical edge stones too, and then glue them to the assemblage on at the corner. No way that will ever move, and the raised bed area will be almost 2 feet long at the deep end. After that the next 3 stones will just go on edge, but be a stair step up, then another step up for the next 3, etc., as I work my way uphill alongside the patio. It goes mostly flat then for about 9 feet, then the land goes steeply uphill. So my plan for that steep part calls for individual stones to take steps up. No plinths needed, just dig a hole and tamp a bit of gravel and sand level in the bottom of it.

I need to go buy more stones. It’s actually takes less stones to build a low wall than to set a line of them on edge, especially if I use 6 of them as plinths.

Posted by Drew458     on 05/22/2014 at 11:33 AM   
Filed Under: • Daily Life •  
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