Fasten a slope with gabions - explained step by step

Gabions are becoming more and more popular. No wonder, because they are versatile. They can also be used to attach a slope very well.

At first you only saw them as fences or screens. Now they are true all-round talents. We are talking about baskets that are filled with stones. Also called gabions. These stone baskets can be used to build privacy and noise protection walls, flower and raised beds, seating, fireplaces and much, much more. Gabions are also a great way to secure a slope.

Hanging can become a source of danger

A slope may look pretty, but it can also be dangerous. Especially if it's not attached. Then it can happen that the soil is washed away when it rains. If you have a sloping garden, you should always pave it for safety reasons.

This works very well with gabions, for example. There are even special gabions for it, which have an L-shape and perfectly serve as a retaining wall. Due to its shape, the gabion reliably supports the soil behind it. The only problem: these L-gabions are not available everywhere. I found them on bausep.de, for example. Here they are available in the dimensions 80 x 100 cm (H x W), 100 x 100 cm and 60 x 100 cm. Or even bigger (120/150/170/200 x 100).

Of course you can also fix the slope with plant rings. That looks nice too. But if you like it modern, you should rather rely on gabions. They support the slope securely and can also be staged much more beautifully than plant rings. After all, gabions can be filled with a wide variety of materials. For example, sandstone, bas alt, granite, pebbles or broken glass stones can be used. You can even illuminate the latter indirectly. In addition, gabions are easy to transport, set up in no time at all and are very stable.

How to secure a slope with gabions

Step 1:

If you want to fix a slope, you first have to create a firm base. To do this, dig out a foundation about 35 centimeters deep and about 40 centimeters wide.

Step 2:

In order for the gabions to be really firm later, we recommend theTo place mesh baskets on a damp concrete foundation made of stamped concrete. That means: place the gabion in the tamped concrete, align it with the spirit level and then put more concrete in the smaller part of the mesh basket. Then line up basket by basket.

Step 3:

Now you can already fill the gabions. You can choose, for example, sandstone, bas alt, marble, granite, pebbles or broken glass stones. You are spoiled for choice here. Anything you like is allowed. You can see a few ideas of what the filling can look like at deavita.com. I personally like the variants with broken glass stones and tree trunks, for example. In any case, the grain size of the quarry stone filling must always be slightly larger than the mesh size of the steel grid.

Step 4:

Now you still have to equip the back of the gabions with a drainage layer. To do this, you can backfill the stone baskets with gravel, for example. You can also lay a filter fleece behind the gabions. A knobbed track is better. Then fill everything up with topsoil.

Step 5:

In principle, you are already finished with fastening the slope. But since the whole thing still looks a bit sparse, it is advisable to plant plants on the fortified slope. In principle, you can plant whatever you want on the surface of the earth.

If you like, you can also plant in the gaps in the gabions. To do this, look for places in which you can fill a mixture of equal parts of potting soil and coarse gravel. By the way, this works very well with a small spoon. Then you have to put the small plants deep into the joints and fill everything up with substrate. You can find out which plants are suitable for this in our article Planting garden walls - Here's how!

Conclusion:

As you can see, fortifying a slope with gabions is not difficult at all. In addition, they offer a number of advantages in general and in relation to slope stabilization: