Here is an idea I came up with trying to kill a few birds with one stone. Thought some other people might be interested in it and modifying and hacking it up. Unless someone else has already come up with this and named it or, Paul (i'll give him the honors) sees a better name for it, I'll call it Lirabedge (LIving
RAised BED hEDGE) or Rabedge.
Problem, you can put in two retaining walls to make a raised bed or end up with a bern after a while. Or, you can try to grow one.
a Vetiver Grass raised bed hedge. Two rows of vetiver grass as the retaining walls. Raise the soil in the middle.
I have read how great vetiver grass is at erosion control and how easily it holds soil in. It gave me an idea of planting vetiver or similar four feet apart and sheet mulch, hugakuture,
yard debris or similar between them (see first example below). Assuming the vetiver holds the soil in and does not add too much to the width, you would have a raised bed with built in chop and drop mulch. Now, if I could step them up and down (see second example below), that would be really cool for adding dimensions in landscapes, privacy living retaining walls, terraced wind breaks, noise reducers, etc. I think I could grow some small
trees and bushes in the middle. vetiver grows ~7 feet tall (2 meters). Depending on when and how often you trim it could determine what you can grow in the raised part. I believe the width of the grass will be 1.5 feet on each side.
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Example 1 --------- vetiver grass --------- -o---o---o---o---o---o---o---o---
---o-- RAISED BED TERRACE -o---o-
-o---o---o---o---o---o---o---o--- --------- vetiver grass --------- Example 2 --------- vetiver grass --------- -o---o---o---o---o---o---o---o---
---o--ONE METER HIGH TERRACE---o-
-o---o---o---o---o---o---o---o--- --------- vetiver grass --------- -o---o---o---o---o---o---o---o---
---o--TWO METER HIGH TERRACE---o-
-o---o---o---o---o---o---o---o--- --------- vetiver grass ---------
-o---o---o---o---o---o---o---o---
---o--ONE METER HIGH TERRACE---o-
-o---o---o---o---o---o---o---o--- --------- vetiver grass ---------
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Thoughts?
Experience? Issues?
Anyone with first hand vetiver grass experience know how quickly it can support 1 meter on one side of it?
How close do you would need space it in the row?
What the width of the vetiver row would need to be to retain 1 meter (3-3.5 feet) of soil behind it? How much shade it can handle (I see mixed information on this)?
Similar grasses or plants that might work? (thinking certain types of willow might).
Time permitting, I will try this and post photos this year.
