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| Photo Credit: Jane Horn |
| Whether viewed from the balcony or just as you’re walking up the drive, Jane’s pavement garden proves a lovely surprise atop the blacktop. |
Inspiration for a garden can come from just about anywhere. In fact, the entire idea behind Jane Horn’s pavement garden grew from her finding some sedum creeping its way over the top of a retaining wall – growing in nothing more than a little wind-blown dirt and some old leaves. The sedum was heading toward an old, little-used paved area. It was unsightly, but the home gardener just couldn’t figure out what to do with it.
Then Jane came across the book Gardening on Pavement, Tables and Hard Surfaces, by George Schenk (Timber Press, Inc., 2006). The lightbulb went on, and Jane decided she had the perfect area to experiment. She made “grow a pavement garden” her gardening resolution for 2008. Of course, there were some challenges. First and foremost, all the gardens covered in the book were in warmer climates. Jane lives in Prior Lake, MN (USDA hardiness Zone 4), so she had to find some cold-climate substitutes. She joined the Minnesota Chapter of the North American Rock Garden Society to learn a bit more about the plants that would get her garden growing in the right direction. | Add Photo to Journal |  | | Photo Credit: Jane Horn | | Jane made sure to leave a little room to walk around her pavement so she can wander over and enjoy the view of her garden below. |
Next came the soil. Jane’s “garden” began with two piles of dirt left over from a flagstone pathway project. She tested the soil, which proved to be about 77 percent sand and 23 percent silt. The book suggested pavement soil be a crumbly, airy, fast-draining mix about 2 parts compost, 1 part builder’s sand and 1 part loam. Thankfully, Jane felt her soil would be adequately fast-draining for the plants she intended to use, so she didn’t do much amending.
At first she considered flattening her garden, but then Jane decided to leave it sloping and join everything together (with some leftover soil from a rose planting) to create an interesting shape with some topography. She also thought this idea would work better with some of the plants she wanted to use, having heard that hens-and-chicks like to be planted on the sides of hills for better drainage. (“We’ll see if it works,” she adds.) Jane’s pavement garden piles were near the retaining wall (where the creeping sedum first inspired her), and she enjoyed walking up to the wall to look at the garden below. So the home gardener could continue to enjoy her view, she kept a pathway clear around the far side of the garden.
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| Facts |
- Jane first submitted her pavement garden idea to Learn2Grow as her gardening resolution for 2008.
Read More... - Different plants require certain depths of soil to be able to survive. If you’re thinking of planting a garden on a nonporous surface like pavement, you’ll need at least 4 inches of soil for plants like sedums; 6 inches for annuals, rock garden and alpine plants, as well as perennials and shrubs growing up to 2 feet tall; 9 inches for many vegetables; 12 inches for root vegetables; and 2-3 feet of soil for small trees.
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| Tips |
- Erosion will wear away some soil, so keep an eye on the depth and be prepared to replace soil as time goes by.
- If the sides of your garden are steeper than 45 degrees, you’ll have to use timbers, railroad ties, bricks, rocks or plants to help stabilize the soil.
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| Faqs |
- Q: What kind of maintenance is required for a pavement or platform garden?
A: The garden will need consistent moisture during the first growing season, as well as some fertilizer. Other than that, just some weeding so it stays looking good. (Yes, weeds even find ways of sneaking into pavement gardens!)
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| Resources |
- Want to learn more about some of the plants Jane used in her pavement garden – or find some plant ideas for your own version? Visit the Learn2Grow Plant Database!
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