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Gardening on Cement
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Posted by rainydaywoman_z8 Oregon (My Page) on Sat, Sep 19, 09 at 2:57
| I read a book called 'Gardening on Flat Spaces', so decided to take a chance. My long driveway is beneath both my living room and office windows--ugly. SO I ordered potting soil and chicken compost & covered half of the driveway. It piled up approx 3 1/2 feet before it compacted. Then I dug a path down the middle & put in stepping stones. Since I like tropicalesque gardening, I followed that theme, with 2 windmill palms. a gunnera & a tree dahlia (not on the driveway--behind it in deep soil), ricinus, musa basjoo, cannas, crinum lilies, tons of 'blue' gladiolus, lots of vertical vines climbing up the house, nasturtiums, dahlias, loads of lilies, datura, tigrinia, honeysuckle, dk pinkish red asters, red zinnias, elephant ears, many grasses, & a clumping bamboo. I was planning a groundcover to keep the soil in place, but a stray mullein (verbascum) seeded itself all over & covers the soil well. Also,a "woodpecker" and finches enjoy the seed pods on the 6 ft-tall flower stalks. I love to just sit under my fig tree & look at the mass of growing that is going on where it used to be hot, ugly cement. Most people thought it wouldn't work, but so far, so good. I like this garden because it is so concentrated & I can also walk thru it.
I will probably edit the garden next spring, as I meant it to be strictly big, green, & tropical, but I found myself putting things into the soil just because there was room. Has anyone else tried this type of gardening? Some examples from the book were: gardening on a table top, or using a tiny layer of soil over rock or cement. Very interesting. |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Gardening on Cement
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| Wouldn't it have been simplier to just use big pots on the driveway? That's what I do and, since there is a garden bed backing them, they integrate well into the garden but can be moved out of the way easily if need be. Here in my zone, pots also makes it easier to move things into the garage for winter storage. |
RE: Gardening on Cement
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| I think most of the over-cement concepts are for thinner soil layers and plants that adapt to that, or especially not being deterred by gravel, which tolerates a lot, but your approach may work, too and is just on a much larger scale; not much different from gardening in a container in which there is a container bottom--the driveway, though cement, presumably allows water runoff beneath the soil layer. So you would only be limited by plants that require deep root systems or possibly pH issues if cement leaches out alkali. My question is, how are you "corraling" the soil so it won't just wash away or into your path, or whatever? Are there some natural slopes or contours that you are using to advantage? Woodyoak's question is reasonable for someone who wants a tidier, contained system,as on a deck or patio, but if you really want a lot of room to garden, then perhaps you are trying to think more in terms of creating large raised beds on top of your driveway and not be limited by the idea that concrete is somewhere below. Sort of like a potager garden on top of concrete. So the main thing would seem to be how to prevent the soil from washing into areas where you still need driveway, if any or doing any inappropriate soil buildup too close to your foundation or wall. Otherwise, you could do okay experimenting with creating your shallow garden over cement. |
RE: Gardening on Cement
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| If it piled up 3 1/2 feet before compacting; what level did it compact down to? What's holding it up on the exposed sides? With an impervious base, I'm wondering if sour soil won't eventually happen, if rains don't start washing it out from underneath first. |
RE: Gardening on Cement
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| If the book is "Gardening on pavement, tables, and hard surfaces" by George Schenk, then I have it too, and it is quite inspiring. I'm working from memory and a quick flip just now, but he talks about plants that edge the berms and "control erosion" by which I understood that the roots themselves hold the soil, but that would only apply once they've grown in, and it sounds as if the verbascum has grown in enough to work. But I'm sure there would be initial erosion with that much soil. On the other hand, with 3 and a half feet it's almost just like a real garden - so much the better! I haven't tried it yet because I don't have a driveway, but I think a table-top planting on a marble slab is somewhere in my future. KarinL |
RE: Gardening on Cement
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| UK Garden designer Beth Chatto has a book on a gravel garden of drought tolerant plants that she created over what had been, I believe, a compacted gravel parking area. It's been a while since I've looked at the the book, but if I remember correctly she did not try to break up the ground beneath to create the garden but created berms with the original surface as hard pathways between. What I really liked was she had a take no prisoners idea - she would not baby any of the plants that she tried to grow - it was either sink or swim - if they made it and thrived it was all good, if they complained they were tossed. It was amazing to see what a cohesive garden with impactful plantings she achieved through this method. |
RE: Gardening on Cement
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| Thank you karinl and accordian---you have read the books and see where I got the inspiration. I thought it over for 2 years before finally starting. I was totally on my own, & friends looked at me blankly when I tried to explain my new gardening adventure. Actually, I feel very brave for having 'desecrated' a driveway! I planted short grasses for erosion control, mullein planted itself, I water very carefully, and so far have lost no soil. The book by George Schenk says to tramp down the soil and compact it before planting, which I did, so I now have about 3 ft of soil, which I will amend constantly. There is a hard pathway dug down to the concrete through the center, which does get soil, but not much. I too will do what Beth Chatto says: 'take no prisoners...sink or swim'--if the plant doesn't work there, it has to leave. The reason I didn't plant into containers is because I wanted to put all of my tropicals in one place. They were scattered all over my large yard, & this way it is more esthetic and easier to care for. I don't have much luck with containers, altho I intend to have 2 huge pots of pink muhly grass outside the gate at the start of the garden. In addition, my driveway was immensely long; with the garden in place, I now have room for 2 cars to park, neither of which is under my dining room window!
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