A left-over from the 1980's fashionable stone look alike wall, one of those trends, people used to make a shelf at the sides of fireplaces supported by a useless blocked in wall.
The space underneath was totally unusable, mine was ripped out and replaced with the same wood top, and the space underneath is now useable with a pair of home made oak doors attached to a simple framework of pieces of wood screwed to the walls.
The stone blocks have been used to support a built up area under my Horse Chestnut tree. It was simple to do, the blocks laid first in a semi circle, no base required as the shape holds it up without extra support. Some cement to hold them together, and presto, a cheap way of making a built up bed.
To fill it I had a lot of soil and leaves dug from a drain which runs along the front of the property and had been dumped around the base of the tree, on top of piles of leaves which were pushed there until the compost bins were made.
I grow ferns, hellebores, cyclamen, crocus, tiarella and pulmonaria there, which suits all of those plants with the gritty soil and leaves. When the tree is dormant and bare of leaves in the winter the plants get the required water, and more dryness in the summer with shade.
I have been thinking I would like to make it look more natural but hadn't come up with an idea until I saw bonitin's concreted recyled stones and bricks which are moss covered. Now all I need to do is cover it with rough cement and rub in the dirt! I will have an ancient wall!
The link to show bonitin's structure
http://davesgarden.com/forums/p.php?pid=3214815
And method
http://davesgarden.com/forums/p.php?pid=3217823
Has anyone else done something similar?
Recycled fireplace reconstituted stone blocks.
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