Spring is here and the garden season begins again. If you want to place a new functional emphasis on your garden design you can integrate gabions in your home green. Stone baskets are not only suitable for large-scale projects, like noise protection in industrial areas, but also can be used for cultivation of fruits, vegetables, herbs or flowers.
A raised garden bed made of gabion grids or even complete stone baskets offers many advantages compared to a ground-level cultivation. The raised working position protects your back and due to faster warming of the soil, which is additionally heated from the side by “elevation”, harvesting can take place much earlier. Another advantage is that a raised garden bed can also be used for areas and grounds which normally are not suitable for this kind of cultivation.
If you want to create a large massive raised bed, you should choose a double-walled solution. This means each four gabion grids are assembled to a large and a slightly smaller rectangle. In between both rectangles you can fill stone material depending on your taste and availability. The inner rectangle should be covered with a geo-textile to prevent soil and roots from pushing their way through the stones.
We recommend to fill the raised bed in two layers. First layer can be bulk material, like sand, grit or gravel, which should be two-thirds of the total height. Second layer of one-third is garden soil, which may be enriched with fine compost. Please note that plants in a raised garden bed must be watered more frequently than in a ground-level cultivation due to the faster warming of the soil.
For those who like to tackle the subject of plant cultivation with gabions, we have a small project, which can be realized without much effort: a mini potato field made of gabion grids. Take four 50×50 cm gabion grids and connect them to a square. Cover the inside with willow mat or cardboard which is put into a potato sack. Fill in peat-free soil and pre-germinated seed potatoes – and your private potato field is ready!
If you like to use your potato field on your balcony place a suitable shell underneath and your eye catcher at the next barbecue party with fresh organic vegetables is guaranteed!