Gardeners have gone gaga over stonework in the garden. But having someone build you a stone wall is an investment that may preclude sending your child to college. However, if you are fit and ambitious you could build a stone wall yourself, and this is a good time to do some dreaming, planning and research.
On a cold day that hinted of snow, Travis Callahan of Fielder & Callahan LLC of Claremont, N.H., took me around to see some of the dry stone walls he and Dave Fielder have built. Both are master dry stone wall builders certified by the Scottish Dry Stone Walling Association.
Dry stone walls are built using no mortar, the type recommended for gardens. The earth moves each winter and spring, so mortar cracks. Travis figures their dry stone walls will last 100 years or more without much repair.
He explained that there are several types of good walls, but all rely on the same basic principles.
Travis Callahan took me to a free standing wall he and David Fielder built in Meriden, N.H. The wall is unusual: it is “turf coped.” This means that instead of capping the wall with stone, it is covered with turf. They cut turf from the field nearby, and placed two layers on top of the wall. The first layer, destined to provide soil and retain water, they placed upside down. The second layer went right side up.
The wall in Meriden was built in full sun in a dry year, and the grasses all died. But Mother Nature stepped in, and now, two years later, there are native grasses and flowers such as wild black-eyed Susans growing on top of the wall. Of course, a serious gardener could also create a fine rock garden there.
Many of the walls lining roads and fields were built in the 19th century to define property lines, keep in animals, or to make plowing easier. Generally, farmers didn’t bother making fancy two sided walls, but just stacked stones atop each other, creating “single stone” walls. Travis brought me to one they had recently rebuilt in Cornish, N.H.
A single stone wall is just that. Each stone shows through on both sides of the wall. This also means there are places where you can see though the wall. But it is just as important to bridge all joints, and to shim stones to keep them from wiggling.
To see more stonewalls, go to Travis and David’s Web site, www.drystonewalls.com. A good reference book is by Vermonter Gordon Hayward’s Stone in the Garden: Inspiring designs and Practical Projects.
Years ago when I was young(er) and (more) foolish, I built an 80-foot retaining wall to create a terrace for fruit trees. I asked a neighbor what to do, but didn’t get all the information I needed. Now the wall I built is in bad shape, and this winter I’m thinking I should rebuild it in the spring. Of course, it’s easier to dream than build. At least now I know what to do.
Henry Homeyer is the author of
Notes from the Garden: Reflections and Observations of an Organic Gardener.
Write him at P.O. Box 364, Cornish Flat, N.H. 03746;
send e-mail to gardening.guy@valley.net;
his Web site is www.gardening-guy.com.
