[greg9504]

A few pictures of a small retaining wall (25') I'm building. Yes I didn't put down any gravel base. Once the top soil was taken off it's sand.

I've spent two weekends on it, could go faster but I've had to get the stone to. Probably take another weekend to finish. I've done most of it myself, except moving the gravel and topsoil back fill which I had a backhoe do, since I had hired him for a day for some other work.

I tried to mix in some small stones with the bigger ones to vary it a bit.

[greg9504]

And it's done. A few more weekends (lost count) and one winter later. Added 3 6' Norway Spruce, 1 3' and some Hosta and Husker Red. I think I'll add some more plants but I don't know what I'm doing... I know the soil shouldn't be over the roots of those trees but they are both weed trees and after the Norway come in they'll come down.

[HardDaysKnight]

It looks okay and what would be expected from a homeowner.
I applaud you for effort but, a professional woul have
done a much better job, and this finished product would be
more appealing and without the mistakes i.e. No movement,
poorly stacked , too many smaller,thinner stones together etc..

[greg9504]

What exactly do you mean by poorly stacked? Vertical joints? In the last picture I can see one vertical joint and one small "zipper" joint. The vertical joint has stones that are fairly large so I accepted it. Something else? I would like to know.

As I mentioned in the first post I actually made a consious effort to mix the smaller stones in. In the back of my head I was thinking it would look like a natural stratified layer. I guess not

I'm not worried too much about movement. I removed all the organic matter and top soil. After that it's well drained sand.

[sleepy]

I kinda like it, it looks really old . Like mabye it was made in the 1800s before landscaping was a profession like today. Id try to break up that "line"of rocks in your hosta bed, that looks like a soilder effect and its obious man put them there. Id take a few out and stagger them more. just my 2 cents.

[start2finish]

it looks nice, and you should be proud of your work, especially if you don't do this everyday for a living. I guess some of us are too used to working for perfectionist homeowners. And we also must strive to do things perfect to set us apart from the competition.

as for staggering the stones around the hostas that is a good point as a easy adjustment.

[phototropic1]

I think it looks really good. Earlier posters (one in particular) were a little harsh. And I think they are a little misguided as well. Some pics I've seen on this site of professionally-built walls look horrible! Most of them look entirely too perfect, with no real artistic vision apparent in the builder. If you look at old stone walls, really old ones like have been in Europe for centuries, you'll notice that most of them contain many imperfections that add to their character. While they could have shifted over time, I'll bet they were nowhere near what Hard Day's Knight envisions as acceptably built.
The only real "set in stone, haha" rule for building stone walls, especially small ones such as yours is to stack two over one and one over two. You followed that rule in most cases. No wall builder (at least who uses natural stone as it is found) ever follows that rule to a tee. And if the stones that have joints aligned have significant mass, as yours do, you have very little to worry about.
I applaud you and your wall. I think it looks great and will stand the test of time. If you ever need a need a dull, straight out of the book segmented retaining wall above a parking lot, call HDK.

[GLAN]

half a year after starting.......looks real nice.....My preference is the fern and more green side of the wall........but in a couple years the Hostas are going to look real nice.

The other side with the boulders....I'd prefer a difference placement of the rocks.

Good job.

[NCSULandscaper]

i think it looks very good

[greg9504]

The round stones... I have a friend who is a landscape designer and she said the same thing. I swear they looked staggered to me when I put them in. I'll try to move them around. Thanks.