How to plant vertically

Dry stone wall: home for plants and small animals

A typical element for the rock garden is the dry stone wall. Here the individual stones are not mixed with mortar or the like. ä. but instead with earth and Grit(€ 49.99 at Amazon *) stabilized. Most of the time, dry stone walls are slightly inclined - ideally at an angle of 10 to 15 percent - and support one embankment respectively. a slope. In this case you do not need a deep foundation, because higher dry stone walls in particular stand on a substructure made of gravel and / or chippings. Dry stone walls can be planted and provide both Rock garden plants as well as many endangered animals such as lizards, common toads, mason bees, stone bumblebees, newts and Ground beetles provide a valuable habitat: for this reason alone, their ecological balance is significantly better than that of one that is not greenable wall. Furthermore, dry stone walls can be flexibly dismantled and converted, as well as subsequently corrected and repaired.

Different dry stone walls for every need

In contrast to rigid concrete walls, dry stone walls are “mobile” and can compensate for minor slope movements without damage. Due to its unsealed construction, pressing slope water is simply drained off via the joints and the dreaded water build-up behind the walls does not occur. Aside from slope reinforcements, dry stone walls are also used for

• Construction of room boundaries in sunken gardens
• for seat walls
• Herb spirals
• Sea walls
• on steep pond slopes
• for the construction of Raised beds
• and much more

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Build drywall yourself: This is how it's done

You can also make a low dry stone wall yourself. Sometimes, for example, garden centers or larger gardeners also offer workshops where training walls are built under professional guidance. Inexperienced wall builders should, however, prefer to outsource larger projects to gardening and landscaping companies. However, here's how to build a simple, low drywall to support a slope:

• First of all, you need stones and filler material.
• Depending on the type of stone, you need around 1 ton of dry stone per 3 square meters of wall.
• The backfill is calculated as follows: Wall height x wall length x 0.6 gives the backfill in cubic meters.
• as foundation and backfill you use crushed stone, grit as well Mother Earth.
• The individual stones are "grouted" with one another with rock garden soil and chippings.
• You can plant the plants in there while the wall is being built.
• Planting becomes more difficult later.
• Build in layers, starting with a corner or curb.
• All stones must not wobble, but must lie flat and firmly on top of one another.
• Avoid cross joints, as these will destabilize the wall.
• Cap stones close off the masonry at the top.