Anybody use broken concrete for raised garden bed?

Venice thank you, you're too kind. I look at it & think 'too much, too hot, too sunny.' lol
The area where the pine tree is will eventually be planted with trees & shrubs, meeting up with the rock area....I need shade, privacy, and a windbreak.
Philsgal, we spent a weekend in Baltimore a few weeks ago, had a great time!
Judy we cross posted....I haven't found the pictures of the bad back area yet...when I find them you won't be envious!

This message was edited Aug 18, 2009 8:04 PM

this was done with broken concrete and mortar

took me 2 summers to build

now just need to landscape and plant it next summer

Its on a rental propertf of mine

need to replant it next summer and hopefull the tenants will take better care of it or I will have to. But it was impossible to mow and was going to cost me almost @300 to have the concrete removed and only spent about 50 on mortar and lots of sweat lol

Art -- Looks great! I bet that did take a lot of sweat!!! Planting it should be a breeze after all that work!

yes lots of it but real happy with the problems it solved now just need to get tentant that likes to garden the one I have now started out but lost interest in it

Artwestallis, that looks beautiful! You must be so happy with the way it came out!
The mortar looks great.

I would think the broken concrete would be easier than natural stone if only because it has at least one flat side. The following are pics of a wall I did last year by dry stacking native sandstone from the hill behind the house. I offset each layer towards the rear to strengthen the wall and help hold back the soil. I would just lay each layer and backfill with dirt then start the next layer. Time consuming (less than you think) and laborious but the results are great.

Doug

first pic: 06/23/08

Second pic: 07/27/08

Doug

Also from 07/27/08

Doug

Pic from 04/18/09

Doug

yes that was an advantge was one flat side and uniformity in thicknessdidnt need to do a puzzle lol

And finally 05/29/09. I need to take some more tomorrow to show you just how much the grasses especially have grown.

Doug

Beautiful Doug! I offset mine too, but mine is more a raised bed than a retaining wall, doesn't have to hold back so much, so I didn't step it back as much, yours looks very stable & sturdy.
Artwestallis mine was like a puzzle, but i found the process relaxing somehow.

VERY relaxing and therapeutic...

Doug

Amazing! Great rocks! And all those were from the hill behind your house. How convenient. Many of them are fairly similar in size except for those large ones. How did you move all of them? I especially like it when you did a curve with them. Seems more organic.

A garden tractor, a trailer, (see my username for a pic) a friend every once in a while, a crow bar or spodge bar to lift them out of the ground and quite a few beers!!! It really is like putting a puzzle together. I have done several more since then although smaller in scale. I thoroughly enjoy it!

Doug

I see why you enjoy it now!

Art and Doug ...
Two different types of projects and both beautiful. Y'all keep inspiring me and maybe I'll do more than move my "rocks" mentally. Mine is going to be just lining flower beds and stacking (no more than two or three high) to make the bed level in some places. Nothing like the humongous projects you two took on. Waiting for these August temps to drop down a notch or two so I can get started. It's great being able to have someone to share it with. :-)

Judy

What is a spodge bar?

Iam thinkin ,we call it a spud bar,its a very heavy duty 4-5 ft long pry bar.

art,nice work,if I were your tennant id gladly take care of those beautiful beds.

sad thing is all she has to do is water and weed and shes not doing that this year I pay for everything else

dug,All that stone for free,man o man,great work.we live in field stone country,lime stone too but its not the slab kind,thats a little more south of us.

art, I couldnt take being a land lord,peoples disrespect ,I would be biting my toung off.LOL

lynnie,Ive been wanting to tell you ,scarf up all those rocks and boulders ,before he finds out he can sell them. seriously,boulders and field stone go for $100.00 a ton.We bought 3 loads 10-10-12 ton, each load was $ 60.00 20 yrs ago,The farmer boys down the road used to give it away,not any more they pile it up "for sale".So get it while the gettin is good. LOL I never would have spent 1000S on field stones.

Doug, I looked up spud bar. One could think it has to do with potatoes! NOT I saw a photo of it and that is some tool. They say it weighs 15 pounds!

I can't imagine you digging up a ton of boulders and stones to sell. How long would it take you to dig up one ton? I imagine your friend would need to help you with it also. So in the end that would be $50 a ton!

I use all of mine, I wouldn't dare sell them!

Doug

My uncle lives in Waupaca, WI and has an antique shop and makes and sells garden and birdhouse items. His shop is well known through central Wisconsin. He used to keep reindeer and the kids loved to come around Christmas time, but they didn't last well. Some died from a bad batch of reindeer foord (lawsuit recooped some of his investment), and others got a hold of some twine that wrapped around their organs. Poor things. I was there for the autopsy on one of them, and we buried it behind his barn afterward. He has quite a bit of land and has huge boulders and stone all over his property. When I was young I used to help him dig them up. He has a small bobcat and would roll these things around. I'm sure some of the large ones weighed a couple tons. Fun times! I wish I had some stone that accessible for my landscaping...

Art - What part of Milwaukee do you live in? I have another uncle in Milwaukee, and a lot of family (including my mother) in Racine and Kenosha.

art, thanks for the pix that is great. two years huh? cant wait to see it planted. you could always try boring but extremely tough plants, low maintenance. i can imagine mowing it to be difficult. I have a heck of a time with just the hill.
My front yard has a similar hill in front, just slightly taller and a bit deeper. My problem is that mine is on a corner so that hill wraps around the house and gradually levels out (sort of) in the backyard. the side of that hill is trampled from dh walking from worktruck to front door, so that's where the idea for the urbanite steps came from.

doug, i love the way that looks! i kinda thought the process of fitting the rocks would be kinda zen. it is a puzzle. thank you for the pix.

OK found a pic from when we moved in
front of the house from the corner

this is the spot under the awning where i put the sitting area.

side of the house with slope

deck from just inside the back fence

the back of the house. These are all from when we bought in 2002. boat is gone. we've moved the fence to the edge of the property. the concrete pads you see are the ones we will be breaking up. the veg bed will be on the far right next to the sidewalk.

This message was edited Aug 19, 2009 11:06 AM

corner of the house last month. since the old photos, we have removed the evergreen in the front and the garden bed that surrounded it. I used the broken up garden bed to create a border for the sitting area under the awning. i'll post pics of that later. also the small white decorative fence w/rosebush behind is gone. the holes are still there though as I am reminded every time I mow the lawn. lol
got rid of 8 inch wide (only 8 inches and in the direct path of the deluge of the gutterless awning???) bed surrounding the porch. Removed rosebush planted too close to house in said bed. also stripped ugly outdoor carpet from porch, removed layers and layers and layers of adhesive, repainted porch and front door. sanded, painted, primed railing all two summers ago. oh yeah painted the Adirondack chairs I got for mother's day. unfortunately they got rained on right after so they're peeling now.Whew, forgotten how much we/i've really done out front!

so now we are down to a blank slate in the front at least.

side of the house last month. behind dh's work truck is an arborvitae that i want gone. you can see it in the older shot. nice tree, just in the wrong place.
when our friends give us the fence to replace ours it will line up with the front edge of the house instead of the back edge like it does now.