Adrian's Immaculate Modern garden entertaining space

With an eye for design Adrian has cleverly transformed his back garden from a difficult to use sloped area into a modern entertaining space. Utilising clean straight lines and cleverly mixing materials, (including 2 types of stone infill) we think he has achieved a spectacular result. The gabions function both as a retaining wall, to flatten out the lawned area and as a framework for the seating area.

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After

An example of Gabion Seating around a firepit in a country setting.

The Gabions are in 4mm, cut down to 381mm high. They had to be shorter due to the thickness of the sleepers. The Sleepers were clamped down by fixing a piece of timber under the lid, at either edge of the basket, upwards to the sleeper.

The gabion basket under the table  was 457mm high again with 100mm sleepers on top.  The sleepers are separated by 8mm to stop water pooling in the surface.

To prepare the sleepers, they were sanded with 36 grit then 60 grit before finishing with 3 coats of Osmo Decking Oil.

David's curved retaining wall set on a solid footings, curve created on site using extra panels. This shows what possible even with difficult access.

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We bought the banking at the side of our house in February 2013 and as you can see it was overgrown and we wanted to create an additional parking space (the bricked area). We thought about building a dry stone wall but decided against it due to cost and the fact that others would have the benefit of seeing the wall and we wouldn't. We looked in to gabion baskets having seen them used around our area for various projects including a retention wall by the local water authority. We thought they were a very good alternative and would also provide a habitat for wildlife, something we were keen to do.

We did a search on Google and found your website and found it very helpful and informative. We measured the area we had to cover and were able to use your website to gauge the best way (and cost effective way) of creating the wall that we wanted. We live near a local Cemex Quarry and arranged to order sugar stone from them to fill the baskets. We arranged for Dean to come along, dig out a base for the baskets (and that was also an advantage that we did not have to put a concrete base in), the baskets stood on solid ground. We used the digger and many helping hands to fill the baskets and wire them up and we used the coils to join them together. They created a very solid base for us to work with. When I say we, I mean John my husband and his father David. The next thing was to level the earth on top of the baskets and then decide how we were going to create the parking area. We decided on block paving, so hardcore was laid with a sand base and then the bricks were laid. John also installed some steps down on to the parking area. He then grassed the rest of the area (around the elderberry tree and we sat back and waited for the grass to grow, it took some time due to the late Spring/Summer but has now flourished.   John then decided to top off some of the baskets with Indian flags and then erect fence panels to create a private area. We now have tubs of trees and plants on top of the flags and it has made a fantastic area for us to use. I have to confess that we don't use it to park our car on but use it as a patio area. It has been fantastic in the recent sunny weather and has been much admired by neighbours, family, friend and passersby. I am now the proud owner of a sun bed, my first in 30 years as I now have somewhere to sit out and soak up the sun.

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photo of our rescued and restored footbridge (12' span) over our little stream supported by your gabion baskets. (due to be re-assembled week commencing 8th July - our holiday project - pray for good weather) This bridge has been swept away by floodwater four times now and each time we have been able to retrieve the bridge downstream so with the help of your gabions it will not be going anywhere in the future.

I am so grateful to Helen for all her patience and knowledgeable advice -please pass this on to her.

All the best

Sue Catterson

Andy Beard

Gabions drinks bar using cutom sized 2 inch mesh gabions and pebbles.

The gabions were perfect for the job I needed and very competitively priced. As a DIYer, the design and installation instructions on the website came in very handy too

Gabions can be cut down to 225 or 300mm to make the ideal long lasting vegetable bed. The benefits of a gabion planter are:

They are porous. If lined with a weed membrane you can control water retention without it becoming saturated.

You can choose decorative infills for your gabion planter.

Long lifespan of 60 years.

You can dissasemble 1 gabion basket to gain easy access if replacing the soil is necessary in your gabion planter.

Beautiful pond and driveway made using gabion baskets. Immaculately planted and filled using local stone. Installed by Rhino Construction 07932753328 install in the Surrey area.

Garden project reclaiming lawn and elegantly restraining small river.

Lake and resevoir created using 5mm gabion baskets

The above shows using hand laying partitions so a cheaper stone fill can be used behind

Marshall's display at RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2019, Using narrow 5mm gabion baskets with large cobble infill.

'We used Fine Mesh to supply us with Gabion baskets to create a more decorative level change at the back of our development at Barn Lane, Golborne. I truly believe that it has enhanced the aesthetics and as the planting grows will look like the rock garden we intended. The product from Fine Mesh was easy to use and delivered efficiently.'

A couple of years ago I purchased the small bungalow.
Part of the garden a 3:1 slope I considered unusable/unsafe.
Unfortunately one had to cross the 12m slope to reach decking with views of the sea.

At 68, & just retired I decided to terrace the the slope for ease of access to the decking.

Gabions appeared to be a good idea.

20 ton of stone later, plus many 25 kl gravel bags, sand, cement, & paving slabs lifted up a steep drive, thence 22 steps to the slope the job was completed.
A friend assisted me with the first 6 ton of 100/250m stone other than that I completed the task alone.

You may be able to imagine lifting 20 ton of stone from the drive in two plastic buckets - soul destroying LOL.

The gabions were laid on 100 to 150mm depth of 10/20mm gravel.

Tools used.
Various spades, various picks. sawyer, wire cutters, string, bubble levels, plastic buckets, marking material.

Conclusions.
Gabions are fine, but the site should be close to material delivery point.
Good wire cutters, work gloves, & boots are essential.
Like any other building work time setting out/levelling is the mot important part of the exercise.
On cannot just dump stone in the baskets, each facing tone has to be set.
Basket bracing is essential.
Only good comments from neighbours.
A way to lose weight, in the open air..
 
The slope is approx 12 x12m.

1. Thanks to Steve at Glendinning Ltd., Marldon who arranged for 1.5 tons of stone to be delivered at irreguar intevals in a wagon small enough to squeeze into my drive.
2. This month because of the quality of the gabion baskets I have ordered more from Fine Mesh Metals to complet my garden project.

Regards,
Ray.

This project involved levelling a sloped garden in a clay area with poor drainage. Within this area a new water treatment plant and soakaway was put in. The owner also wanted to replace a poorly installed cracked concrete drive with gravel. The stone from the concrete drive was smashed up and used as the infill for the basket. As the baskets were not on show the entire basket could be filled with this stone. The brand of water treatment plant allowed discharge directly to a waterway so plastic soakaway crates were allowed to be used to create a new soakaway. Terram was used on top of the baskets with a wooden sleeper on the edge retain 100mm height of soil. The terram behind the basket is semi porous and ontop of the basket impervious to stop the grass drying out.

A burn had eroded the ground away and the banking was slipping away in slices and endangering the property. We detailed to client what we would do to stop the slippage with gabion baskets. Our client is a great gardener and wanted something that would work with the old property. Since photos were taken the burn has been in full spate with the winter rain we get here in the west of Scotland and no further slippage! We have now installed handrails down the steps and owner has started planting in the gabions. Happy client.

Deans Dividing Gabion pillar fence with timber panel. The Gabion pillars are supported by scaffolding concreted into the ground.

These are gabion baskets installed by Rock and Water for a project at Twycross zoo.

Image of wall – client wanted a very contemporary look to a small back garden space – gabion baskets and white cobbles gave just the right look. Image of seat – client wanted an unusual seat for a front garden space to sit and read books. Gabion baskets were the answer.

Contractor Wild roof: We cover most of Cumbria and build mid to high end gardens. We are Association of Professional Landscapers members and Trustmark approved. Our website is www.wildroof.co.uk

Haileybury College in Hertfordshire wished to create a "trench trail" for their students and to share with schools in the area to come and learn about the First World War. Through the Trenches for Teachers project, historian Andy Robertshaw helped bring history alive to include a reproduction trench system complete with two fire steps, a dug out and first aid post along with the supply of reproduction items and teaching pack to enable students to interpret and experience elements of the conflict and life as a British soldier.

The frame work for the structure is made using custom made gabion baskets in 3mm wire.

photos www.andyrobertshaw.com / www.trenchesforteachers.co.uk