Honeycombs will brighten up your garden
Jul 06, 2007
HONEYCOMBS(above) are concrete hollow blocks that are used toretain soil on an embankment, writes Winifred Rukidi. They come in all kind of shapes and colours. Their beauty is mainly from the fact that the hollow space in the centre can be used for plants. Therefore instead of having a slope, wholly
HONEYCOMBS(above) are concrete hollow blocks that are used toretain soil on an embankment, writes Winifred Rukidi. They come in all kind of shapes and colours. Their beauty is mainly from the fact that the hollow space in the centre can be used for plants. Therefore instead of having a slope, wholly covered by a stone retaining wall, you can have a slope with beautiful hanging plants.
Now, the main question here is what kind of plants you should use. I had a disagreement with a senior gardener from Nairobi, who saw my work on honeycombs and disagreed with my pattern and choice of plants. He preferred grass all over, yet I had made rows of different flowering ground covers.
The rule one should never forget is that the client’s preference always comes first. This gardener was not a client, so I stood my ground. Nevertheless, I still believe that a slope is an element in a garden that should be brightened up instead of being seen as dead space. The effect of concrete to the eye should be minimised, thus the use of ground covers which rapidly expand and cover most of the concrete.
The only disadvantage in this is that maintenance will be costly. You need to regularly trim the plants so that they do not entwine. Then, you need to apply a fertiliser every three weeks because the hollow space in the honeycomb is so small that it cannot have adequate soil nutrients.
I use a poly feed which is a water soluble nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium fertiliser with micro nutrients. This can be got from Balton Uganda on Mulwana Road in Industrial area, Kampala.
It is amazing to see the effect especially on verbena, a lovely ground cover that has pink and white flowers, but sulks most of the time if conditions go slightly wrong.
Now, the main question here is what kind of plants you should use. I had a disagreement with a senior gardener from Nairobi, who saw my work on honeycombs and disagreed with my pattern and choice of plants. He preferred grass all over, yet I had made rows of different flowering ground covers.
The rule one should never forget is that the client’s preference always comes first. This gardener was not a client, so I stood my ground. Nevertheless, I still believe that a slope is an element in a garden that should be brightened up instead of being seen as dead space. The effect of concrete to the eye should be minimised, thus the use of ground covers which rapidly expand and cover most of the concrete.
The only disadvantage in this is that maintenance will be costly. You need to regularly trim the plants so that they do not entwine. Then, you need to apply a fertiliser every three weeks because the hollow space in the honeycomb is so small that it cannot have adequate soil nutrients.
I use a poly feed which is a water soluble nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium fertiliser with micro nutrients. This can be got from Balton Uganda on Mulwana Road in Industrial area, Kampala.
It is amazing to see the effect especially on verbena, a lovely ground cover that has pink and white flowers, but sulks most of the time if conditions go slightly wrong.