How to make a raised flower garden from a pile of old concrete & rocks

Starting from an unsightly pile of broken concrete and paving slabs, we decided to make a rock garden. This also allows for the garden to be raised allowing us to plant bulbs, which otherwise often rot over winter in the wet ground here.

Step 1

Get the plants ready for your garden in advance. For this garden we wanted to have some bulbs, and also some lavender on top, so the bulbs were buried in loose potting compost around 30-50cm deep to encourage them to sprout roots and shoots, and cuttings of lavender were potted up in soil and allowed to sprout roots.

Comments

[bruc33ef]

Nice one!  

The concrete will also store heat  from the winter sun and release it at night. This will keep frosts at bay and extend your growing season.  

It will also provide habitat for wildlife.  But when working in this garden, be careful of snakes, which love rock piles!

[jezzieann]

Yes well the bulbs seem to be doing really well, hadn't thought of the extra heat but I'd say its probably because of the heat. I will upload some more once they have got alittle more established. About the wildlife- good point, didn't think of that one... We live in New Zealand so no concern about snakes in this particular garden!