I have been re-building a stone retaining wall (painfully by myself) in front of my own house and I have to say, it is a lot harder than it looks. I think the same is probably true of building gabions, but I think while they are hard work, they are not so technically complicated and they are easily adapted to your use and the materials you have on hand.
1. Gabion Wall, 2. Gabion, 3. Wetland park oyster shell gabion wall, 4. dominus_gabion_detail, 5. Stone Filled Gabions Background, 6. St Albans
Gabion walls are widely used in major landscape construction for retaining but their application in the garden is something that is the average homeowner can use to create beautiful garden features often using materials that are recycled or that are readily available onsite.
1. gabion building, 2. Image17, 3. Hillier gabion 2, 4. Going Postal
This wall was created with precast concrete barrier (overturned) and gabions filled with square cut stones.
1. gabion landscape, 2. gabion + precast + lights
ROLU, rosenlof/lucas, ro/lu design studio located in Minneapolis, Minnesota created this inspiring gabion fence for this small modern residential garden.
1. gabion fence, 2. fence driveway and garage, 3. gabion grass close, 4. in the air
Edrich Badenhorst of Badec Bros Deco has created a huge variety of garden features based on the gabion design. These containers and container plinths really provide alot of opportunity to get creative.
1. Cubedec D Range Powder Coated, 2. Cubedec A, 3. DSCF9855, 4. DSCF9614
This image from the Maccaferri website is so interesting to me, and I am convinced that this feature has a purpose other than just looking interesting….but can’t figure what it might be. Any one have any ideas?
Gabion retaining walls don’t have to be big square, space consuming pieces, this tilted gabion wall provides the same function with a lot less space and a sleek look.
Badec Bros Deco not only created the beautiful terraced landscape but the mosaic planters as well. (I think I might have to feature them in their own future post).
Gabion forms can be created with chicken wire…but if you want a more long lasting a professional look, you can find some great advice and buy the baskets from Maccaferri or Terra Aqua among others. I read recently that if you have materials to fill them with, you can create walls for about 15$ a sq. foot (about a quarter of the price of a dry stacked wall). There is some excellent engineering information here and here.
This post is fantastic! I’ve always felt kind of sorry for gabion walls – they’re cheap and efficient and do their job well, and yet they’re not very attractive, unless plants like virginia creeper have decided to colonize them. Poor things. Now I have some ideas for how to use the old mussel shells we used to use as mulch on our garden.
I have been enamored by gabions since seeing several projects offering creative and yet practical solutions to grade issues. here are a few more innovative links:
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://i.treehugger.com/files/Chelsea%2520032%2520-%2520not%2520in%2520rubbish%2520garden-thumb.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.treehugger.com/files/2005/05/more_on_the_rub_1.php&usg=__s70vs1y0GdkgK7z-o8YftUA_KX0=&h=345&w=460&sz=57&hl=en&start=13&um=1&tbnid=I0yQ8-zmBhlYQM:&tbnh=96&tbnw=128&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcreative%2Buse%2Bin%2Bgarden%2Bgabion%2Bwalls%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26channel%3Ds%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DG%26um%3D1
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_QL5zNKdGxiQ/SdvYEFEIt8I/AAAAAAAAA9I/ID73suvVfR4/s1600-h/IMG_0004+(2).JPG
The one you aren’t sure about looks like a check dam of some type to slow really heavy water flows.
Love the gabions! Have to say, I don’t think I’ve ever seen them used anywhere though. How long do they last before the metal cages are replaced?
You have my sympathy on the retaining wall. I’ve never built one, but after learning how in college, I resolved never to be a party to the construction of one. All I retained about retaining wall construction – dead men. I see a lot of walls are built without them – big mistake I think.
I immediately thought about the broken pot filled gambions from Chelsea and a project by Bernard Trainor that he calls Byron. It’s a gambion water feature filled with yellow tumbled glass that is also internally illuminated.
I think the maccaferri gabion is on the website to show how strong their gabion wire is. It could be a passage to let wildlife pass. I don’t think it has anything to do with water, because gabions already let water pass through and if they needed an opening this big they would have had to armor the ground with stone.
Great post. I’ve always loved gabion walls and love the really skinny ones toward the end of the post. I’ve been trying to figure out how to build one in my own yard, that might be the perfect solution for my small scale lot.
This is an AWESOME site! Lots of inspirations and ideas to my Spring/Summer garden projects. Keep up the goodwork guys/gals.
thanks Rick — so glad you enjoy it…but it’s just me – one gal.
check out KUBRIC wall systems website, good exaples of gabions
Thi9s is a beautiful site. Good work. We have been looking for the galvenized mesh to create a small dividing wall in the garden. We have noticed these dividers as property divisions in Europe. They look fantastic. would you have an address in Ontario where I can buy the mesh for a wall about 6 inches thick, 4 feet wide and 6 feet high, 2 inch squares holes. Thank you.
Hi peter — thanks for stopping by….but unfortunately I don’t know who to forward you too in you neck of the woods…will email you though if I come across anyone. good luck.
my previous comment didn’t post so sorry if this duplicates….
we started a HUGE gabion project at our house last year. we live on the river and flood almost every year – comes with the territory. my husband works in Environmental so was familiar with gabions and decided to overhaul our yard & beach with them to help with erosion. the effect is actually pretty cool – i think it looks better in person than in pics.
if it helps Peter, we got our wire from Tractor Supply and it’s called Hog Confinement Wire. it’s much more durable than the wire that we found from pre-made gabions. making our own also allowed us to create custom sizes. and the most important factor…cost – we paid a lot less making them ourselves than had we bought them.
we fill ours with old concrete from several demo projects that we and friends had – 4 of our friends are commercial & residential contractors so they just loved us when we asked for their concrete scrap!
http://blondemafia.blogspot.com/search/label/gabions
It seems that the funny looking sloped gabion wall you’re wondering about from the Maccaferri website is directly over a drain. This would allow servicing of the drain and in a flood condition would also likely help prevent the drain from pile up.
I had not understood the use of gabions in landscaping. After looking at some pictures i have learnt that gabions can be erected anywhere.
It’s not a horse jump is it !?
You can see the article I wrote about the stone cage net, it should help you.
https://www.qswiremesh.com/gabion-wall-basket/