Garden design with gabions is very trendy. Here we explain step by step how to build your own personal gabion bench.
What would the home garden be without a comfortable seat where you can rest, put your feet up and contemplate the fruits of your work in the garden. Garden benches come in a wide variety of colors and shapes, and the materials also differ. The palette ranges from the simple plastic bench to the noble teak bench or the nostalgically playful metal bench. When looking for modern alternatives for seating in the garden, more and more concrete or stone are playing a role. You can now find out how you can easily build a garden bench made of gabions yourself.
What are gabions anyway?
A gabion is nothing more than a stone basket, a wire basket that can hold stones. Gabions are often used in landscaping or road construction. It is used to erect retaining walls or soundproofing systems. This is an alternative to conventional dry stone walls. Gabions can also be used very well as an alternative to solid concrete walls or stone walls.
Advantages of gabions?
Gabions have long since found their way into domestic gardens. They prove to be true all-rounders and cut a fine figure as fences, walls, privacy screens or flexible decorative and fastening elements. There are probably cheaper solutions, but the advantages of gabions speak for themselves.
You choose a weather-resistant material, which offers a clear advantage over wooden fences. The stone baskets are not only robust, they also require little maintenance. Wood must be cleaned and impregnated regularly. Gabions are quickly brought back into shape with a water hose. A whole range of decorative options can be implemented in the garden. Walls, fences, pillars, planters, raised beds or the bench described here are just a small part of it.
What are gabions filled with?
When filling, a distinction can be made between bulk baskets and brick baskets. Bulk baskets are completely filled with gravel. Usually bas alt or granite are used.Brick baskets are also filled with gravel, but faced with slabs or bricks on the visible fronts. In the garden there are no limits to the filling of the gabions, pebbles can be used as well as clay bricks, limestone, pieces of wood or even empty bottles. If you like, you can illuminate your gabions in different ways or enhance them with climbing plants.
How are gabions filled correctly?
First of all, you will definitely decide on a material that you like and that suits the design of the garden bench and the rest of the ambience in the garden. Also pay attention to the size of the filling material, because it must not be too small, otherwise it will slip through the grid.
So that no gaps form, the stones on the ground should be stacked individually so that a closed surface is created. Fill the gabions from the outside in by first piling up an outer edge and then filling this stable layer on the inside. Gaps can be largely avoided. To ensure that the gate can be closed without any problems, the end should be particularly straight.
Build your own gabion bench - step by step
What is required?
- Gabions as required
- Filling Material as Required
- Boards for the seat
- Spotlights or other decorative elements as required
What to do?
- Prepare the surface
- Installation of gabions
- Filling of the gabions
- Seat Cutting
- Fixing the seat
First select a location for the new garden bench. This should not automatically be your favorite spot in the garden, because it is important to remember that the finished bench will be quite heavy and must therefore be placed on a firm and stable surface. First level the subfloor to create an even surface. Furthermore, the ground has to be compacted, otherwise it can happen that the finished bench literally sinks into the ground.
»Tip: Apply an additional layer of gravel after compacting the soil.
Now the gabions are set up. To do this, the individual parts of the baskets must be connected with the spirals included in the scope of delivery. Once the gabions have been assembled, fill in the stones as already described. If you would like to upgrade your garden bench and provide lighting, the spotlights are already filledto integrate.
Once the gabions have been filled, make sure they end straight. The seat is now attached there. Cut the floorboards to size and provide the later seat with wood protection. It is particularly decorative if you use the same wood for the gabion bench that was perhaps already used on the terrace or in the garden shed. You can connect the seat with the gabions, for example, with screwed angles on the underside of the wooden floorboards.
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Build a gabion bench with a backrest
The method described here is a simple bench with a frame and a seat. If you want a little more comfort, the construction can also be expanded. Narrow gabions can be used as armrests. High wire baskets, which are attached at a slight angle to the seat, form the backrest. Wooden strips should also be attached to these gabions so that there is a harmonious overall picture and there are no sharp edges.
Further variations
We have already described the classic method of gabion benches. This consists of wire mesh baskets as a substructure and a wooden board on top as a seat. Of course, large seating landscapes can also be designed. You connect several individual elements and also attach a cladding made of wooden boards. A cozy feel-good landscape is then created with pillows and blankets.
You can also just attach two gabions to the sides and pull in a free-floating seat in the middle. This requires a stable substructure, which is to be anchored in the two lateral gabions. The resulting side pillars can be clad with wood or used as storage space. Planting is also possible.
An overview of the most popular types of gabion benches
| Variant | Explanation |
| Gabione as a complete substructure | This is the method just described. The benches are particularly stable and easy to set up. |
| two gabions as end pieces | Here the gabions are only at the two ends. The seat floats freely in the middle. |
| three gabions acrossCorner | This arrangement of the gabions creates a kind of corner seat. This is particularly practical if a seating area is to be designed on the terrace. |
| two gabions as flower columns | The gabions at the ends are worked as flower columns and can be planted. The seat also floats freely here. |
Decoration ideas for gabion benches
The construction of the gabion bench is complete. Now some beautification work can be used to set the bank in the limelight. We have already pointed out the possibility of integrating spotlights into the gabions. If you have neglected to do this when filling and would like to put the garden bench in the right light, you can use fairy lights. These can also be woven into the gabions afterwards.
»Tip: Solar fairy lights are particularly practical and save you the power connection.
To create an eye-catcher, choose different types of rock when filling. Alternating light and dark stones creates a lively picture. If you place the stones in alternating light and dark stripes, additional dynamics are provided. What would a garden bench be without plants. As already mentioned, the gabions can be used as planters. But you can also entwine ivy, vines or other climbing plants around the wire baskets and simply trim them down if they grow too luxuriant.
»Tip: Seasonal planting is ensured if you hang plant pots in the gabions and equip them with the appropriate plants as the seasons change.
How to clean gabion benches?
The gabion bench cannot do without wood. The seat should be glazed regularly, ideally before the start of the gardening season. This protects the wood and makes it less vulnerable. You can also paint the wooden floorboards in colour. This means less maintenance and gives you the option of designing a gabion bench in blue, green, gray or other trendy colors.
Dust, withered leaves or dead insects settle in the gabions over time. The quickest and easiest way to clean the gabions is with a high-pressure cleaner. The hard water jet reliably flushes out the dirt particles. If the stones have discolored over time, they will be like new again if you remove the seat, take the stones out of the baskets, brush them individually, rinse them, let them dry and againinsert. This may be a bit complex, but the result is impressive.