How to build a retaining wall that is DIY friendly - Low Cost Retaining Wall - GABION WALL

If you're stuck on how to build a retaining wall that is both low cost and DIY friendly then I'd highly recommend you consider gabion walls.

Gabion cages, sometimes called gabion wire baskets are so easy to put together - especially when you buy pre-made gabion kits that include all the materials you need and then you just add the stone or rock fill once you've put them together.

Here's my tips on how we built our gabion wall, that doubles as a seat across our back lawn.....

My favourite things about gabion walls or gabion retaining walls:

1. They are very DIY friendly and easy to piece together, especially when using gabion kits. 

2.  You can make them shape, width or height you want (just be careful if you want very tall or structural walls, you may need a permit and engineered designs) 

3. You can fill them with builders rubble/old tiles/broken bricks or pavers at the back (if it has an unseen bit) and then use the nice rocks for the front - saving you money on rocks! 

4. They become a lizard habit

5. Lower gabion walls - like the one in our garden - make the perfect seat when topped with timber or eco-timber. 

6. Because gabion kits are made out of lots of smaller, light “pieces” they are easy to carry into tight places

7. Gabion walls self anchor to the ground (depending on height of course) 

The gabion kits that we used come in various sizes that you could piece together to form straight sided shapes really easily - they are Rhinoweld brand from Stratagreen and we've been really happy with the quality of them. 

For the shape we created (shown below) we used 5 of the 0.5 x 0.5 x 1.0 kits plus 1 of the 0.5 x 0.5 x 0.5 kits.

 To help retain some moisture for the hedges planted behind the gabion, we chose to add some rigid plastic root barrier cut to size, but you could also use builders plastic or similar depending on how much space you wanted covered. Adding this barrier isn't essential - but it's certainly helped keep our plants water supply and soil moisture consistent. 

Would you ever considered gabion retaining walls or gabion seats in your garden? 

#gabion #gardenideas #gardendesign #gardeninspiration #gabionwall