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Gardening InformationUsing Retentive
Walls in Your Garden
by:
Hege Crowton
Beautifying your garden by the construction of a retentive
wall, behind which is a field
or expanse of flowers, is not a difficult task. But, like all garden problems, it requires a certain figure of effort and care.
The retentive
wall must be strong enough to hold back the pressure of a great weight of soil, and yet porous enough to allow drainage.
The most popular types of walls are built of stone, either dressed or rubble. In mistreatment stone for a retentive
wall, there are two basic types of construction: dry-wall, which uses earth as a filler between the stones, and mortar, which uses cement as a bonding agent.
The base of any retentive
wall must be ruined below the frost line. This is just about 6 inches in the northern half of the United States.
For a flat wall (one without buttresses or projections), the dimension
of the base should equal one-fourth the height of the wall. The wall can taper to a dimension
of just about one-fourth of the dimension
of the base.
For supported
walls, the base should be one-fourth as wide as the wall is to be high. This refers to the widest points, wherever
support
is to be used. In the narrower areas, the base may be of slimmer proportions.
At intervals of just about 24 inches, and just about 6 inches from the lower ground level of the retentive
wall, emptying pipes should be imbedded in the wall.
In several walls, if the wall itself is porous enough, it is possible to eliminate these drains. But in any construction mistreatment mortar as a bonding agent, these emptying pipes are essential.
In dry-wall construction it is possible (although not advisable) to start at ground level, and not sink the wall below the frost line.
The most affordable way of constructing a dry wall is to choose local stone, picking large ones for the main stones and smaller ones for the chinks. The largest stones should form the base of the wall with the smaller ones leading to the top.
The side of the wall which faces out should be as level as possible, with obstructions and edges of outside stones facing inward.
This not only gives the wall a better purchase on the soil it retains, but as well insures a nice appearance. Stones with round surfaces should be discarded since they do not form a nice wall.
Stones should be placed in a nice bond. This just means that edges of stones on one course should overlap spaces in the lower courses.
Where a stone on an upper course is crooked or makes not fit firmly, earth and small stones can be packed in to improve the bond. No vertical crevices should be left.
The wall itself should slope back against the soil it is retaining. This gives it greater strength. The dimension
of the base of the wall should be, once more — as a rule of thumb — one-third of the height.
It is the practice in many a areas to slope the wall as more as 5 or 6 inches for each vertical foot, tho'
this degree of slope is not essential. Soil should be firmly packed in all pockets in the wall and should be continuing
back into the earth being retained.
Just just about the author:
Hege Crowton is an expert copywriter.
She is best-known for doing in-depth research before writing her articles.
Many of her articles are denote
on www.ezinecrow.com
and she as well makes a lot of writing for www.CrowSites.com
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