Fruit Walls In the Home Garden

[Britesea]

I think a wall made from stacked cinderblocks would work, but if you could fill the holes with something- sand? gravel? cement?... it would increase the heat mass. It's possible just cinderblocks might run out of heat before the night runs out of cold?

The other thing walls protect plants from is drying winds. I'm planning on using lathes wound through my wire fencing (like snow fencing?) to protect my seedlings and seed beds from drying out so quickly.

I have a peach tree planted on my south facing wall for two reasons- one is for the warmth it will get during winter, and the second is the coolth it's shade will provide the house during the summer. Shade on a wall can reduce the heat inside by as much as 10 degrees (F). I had a sour cherry planted along that wall too, but gophers ate the roots and killed it. We got the gophers before they'd moved on to the peach though. I need to replant that one.

 

[Hinotori]

We don't have any trees around the house. Last owner clearcut the front. I have encouraged the willows and alders to grow on the fenceline 60 some feet away to reduce wind. It's much less now than it was 8 years ago. Still no trees by house. Don't want to worry about branches dropping in the windstorms. Plus no leaves to clean from gutters.

I've been thinking about a concrete wall of some kind for the south side of the garden to let me grow some of the marginally zoned plants. Like the eucalyptus that I tried twice with. Both times the trees grew well for a couple years then we'd get a nasty winter that killed them. A wall might be enough to get them through.

 

[Calista]

Britesea, maybe fill the cinderblock holes like this, so I'd not only have a thermal mass black wall but also cute little planters:

I'm also intrigued by using the concept of earth berms, both as a "wall" and as an effective windbreak:

 

[Britesea]

@Hinotori you don't need to have trees that are tall enough to drop branches on the roof- you can get some of the cooling effect from planting espaliered dwarf or semi-dwarf fruit trees along the south and west-facing walls, like I'm doing. I am very much aware of the dangers of tall trees around the house as I was nearly widowed a few years ago when a pine tree crashed through the roof of our house one morning. One of the branches punched through the living room ceiling and stopped about 6 inches from my husband's head; you could almost see that angel straining to keep it off of him!

@Calista I've seen that cinderblock planter wall before and I love the look of it; a great way to grow herbs. Instead of earth berms, maybe you should try hugelkultur mounds?

 

[Hinotori]

Dang that's a close call with a branch.


I'm not sure I want anything that can hide MORE spiders against the house. Chickens have a hard enough time trying to keep up in late summer when they are breeding.

Actually that's what is keeping me from planting lilacs against the house. I got starts from my great aunt a few years ago that she had from some great grandma planted back in the 1930s. These get a good 20 foot tall.

They are in pots right now but are ready for me to find them a permanent spot this year or next

 

[milkmansdaughter]

I really enjoyed the link on the walls @Calista! I don't have any experience with them though, and now I am too far south to really need them, although I am thinking ...

In Wisconsin, our hollyhocks and asparagus always grew up on the south wall. Here in northeast Alabama, we're experimenting with a few trees that would normally grow better further south.

We're close to the highest elevation in the state. The last two nights we had frost, but it'll be about 65 later today, and we had 6-8 inches of snow this winter well before my family in Wisconsin had any (enough to build a 6 1/2 foot snowman, and then some!). Two weeks later, things were flooding with 6" of rain in one day. Already, we've had over 5" of rain in the last week, with thunderstorms, with a 100% chance of rain again for the next two days. (My rain barrels are filling up!!)

Sooo (what else is new?) the weather can be unpredictable. We bought a few borderline lime and olive trees at the end of last year, and have been experimenting (they were 75%off!) We put one lime tree in a big raised bed, and covered it with a pop-up greenhouse for the winter. The olive tree is also in a pot in a bigger greenhouse for the winter. Two lime trees and a peach tree went into the ground, and should be good until -20. It rarely gets that cold here. Unfortunately, it'll be years before I can say how well this will work. Some things are worth trying just for the experience. How cool is it to have our own olive tree??We do plan on adding a few fruit trees every year for the next several years. And I'll probably add a few trees on our west property line to provide a windbreak. Our north and east property lines are woods on both sides.

The berm wall here would probably just wash away here, and look like they take up more space than I want to dedicate to a wall. We're planning on trying some hugelculture walls in a few areas, but even those might take more space than I like. The rock walls would probably get way too hot in the summer.

I really like the picture you posted of the cement block planters. I could probably paint mine white and still be ok.

Soooo many possibilities!!

 

[Calista]

Another idea, closer to the idea of an actual cinder block wall:

 

[Hinotori]

Hmm. A wall painted white would be good for grapes. You want the sun reflected on the plant during the day. Night doesnt matter with them and frost doesnt bother them. Getting enough day heating units for most varieties is hard here. Putting white rock under them is also used.

 

[Britesea]

@Hinotori maybe this?

 

[Hinotori]