How to landscape around an immovable object?

In my backyard, off one corner of the house about 15 feet, is a 4' x 4' x 8" high body of concrete. It is the base for a HAM radio tower put up by my soon to be ex-husband. I don't have any ideas on how to get rid of the thing, and am not sure how to landscape around it.

I have some landscape blocks with which to make beds and thought of making two at right angles to each other off of sides of the block so the entire structure makes an L, but wonder if anybody has any other ideas?

Can you provide photos?

Yes, photos would help, but I did have one offbeat idea. How about making a pillow-top shaped trellis or climbing support and then planting climbing/clambering sorts of things around the perimeter of the monstrosity? Or a squat tipi? Or just the top part of an arbor?

And I think creating beds along two of the sides sounds good.

Good luck!

Or paint the concrete, with a trompe l'oeil sundial or something? Paint the edges of the concrete too? Or build a real, large sundial , or a birdbath, or piece of statuary? If you can turn it into a focal point it would be a "so there" to the ugly thing.

Or build a picket fence all the way around it and make people wonder what the heck you have going on in there. Mystery can be a really good thing in a garden.

Or build a raised garden on top of it, with routes for water to drain of course, and then face the edge of the concrete with something that looks like the blocks you've used. (You can use landscape fabric to prevent the soil exiting with the water.) Or if you make it a stepped raised bed you can lay a first/ second course around the edge. Heck, build a whole pyramid!

Yes, pictures would be a great help. I agree with 13Turtles about making it a focal point. There really are so many things you could do to incorporate it into a garden rather than trying to hide it.

Even using it as a pedestal for container plants that you want to add height to would be easy to do. The idea is to make it into something you'll wonder how you ever did without, rather than something you wish wasn't there.

Try inviting a few local Vandal's and supply a few hammers, then let them loose with the promise of a few bottles of beer, then call the cop's about the mess they made, LOL,

Try asking your soon to be ex to use his head to break up the concrete, ha, ha, ha.

But on a more serious note, a picture would help, because IF this structure is a real eye sore or BIG, then you want the best ideas as to how to either hide it , turn it into an attractive feature or get rid.

Best Regards.
WeeNel.

Here's another idea.
If you make an "L" shaped bed with this concrete base in the corner, 4' X 4' is a nice size for a mini raised Patio/Deck. If you have any spare landscape blocks, you could use some to build up steps on one or two sides and put a small bench or a couple of chairs with a small table. It can be done very inexpensively if you're creative.

Here's a picture of that bad boy in my backyard...it's just plain concrete, flat on top except for where the three tower supports are (the tower will likely go to some other HAM, and I can saw off the supports flush with a hacksaw.

I like the idea of a sundial; maybe a mosaic of odd bits of tile? I do have a four-legged bird feeder that I made in a welding for garden art class that I could put there...

Cover with a pile of soil. (min 12" deep for small plants, 2' for mid sized plants.)
Presto!
Instant mound.

Surround with rocks, big ones, little ones... make a rock garden. Many plants in rock gardens are small, so would work with just a foot or so of soil, if that is all you could add on top.
Do not 'outline' the 4' x 4' shape. Make the rocks an irregular layout.

If the antenna also stays, what a great trellis for a climbing vine!

Superb base for a fountain.

This message was edited Sep 15, 2013 7:38 PM

I think this concrete structure could make a brilliant plinth for either a water fountain, bird bath, or have a brick wall built all around and use as a planter, maybe even a centre piece for a larger bed and place some nice filled pots on the plinth.

The picture don't show the area around the plinth and tall structure, is there a view from the house you could enjoy once this structure is removed, that could indicate better how to reclaim that area and make it nice to view from indoors, it didn't show how tall the structure was either as IF not too high, you could train climbing plants up it to disguise what is was.

So there are several things you could do to enhance this area without a lot of expense or maybe use it as a good reason to rework that whole area.

Hope everyone who has got ideas gets you thinking or even helps you get more ideas of your own as only you will iknow what cash you have to hand, or how much help you can muster or even manage yourself and that way you can alter things as you work and make it suit your needs.

Good luck and best regards.
WeeNel.