Got a small garden that you’re struggling to fit everything into? Or do you have a larger garden but just want to get the most milage out of it? Whatever the size of your garden, there’s a simple and easy way to gain some more usable space – by installing a retaining wall.

Retaining walls are very effective at preventing erosion and water run-off, and adding form and structure to the garden. They can be used in creative ways to design a space that’s both functional and beautiful and which adds to the value of your home. However, they also have another purpose – to expand the usable space of your garden. Here’s how.

Retaining walls allow you to utilise previously unusable areas

While level and slightly sloping ground is ideal for gardening or recreational use, steeply sloping ground creates challenges for the gardener. It’s hard to install or use any type of recreational facility, such as a courtyard, outdoor area, BBQ or sporting facilities on a steep slope. Plus, it can be difficult to create garden beds, and plant and care for gardens in steep spaces. Plants often will fail to thrive in a sloped garden, causing frustrated gardeners to give up on using such challenging conditions.

If your garden has steep, problem areas, it can be tempting to just write them off – but a retaining wall gives you options when it comes to previously unusable areas.

Retaining walls provide strong structural support for steeply sloping gardens, and can turn an undulating landscape into a much more usable space. They can make your outdoor area more functional by flattening and grading the land, and preventing the problems caused by water run-off down steep slopes and erosion. Valuable topsoil is frequently lost through rain run-off and wash-out, which can also destroy plants in the lower levels of your garden. Retaining walls will stop soil movement and keep your soil in place, and prevent damage caused by erosion.

The installation of a retaining wall will allow you to use the space far more effectively, rather than letting it go to waste – and it’s also a very cost-effective way to do so, too.

Retaining walls allow you to utilise vertical space

Your garden may be limited in terms of square footage, but it has plenty of vertical space that can be used. If planting space is tight, a retaining wall effectively allows you to “create” more space in your garden – and can double or even triple your planting space. Retaining walls can be designed to incorporate terraces or pockets of earth that can be used for plants – and what’s more, this type of retaining wall use can create an eye-catching garden

feature. And when horizontal space is lacking, vertical space becomes even more important. Vertical plantings create quite a different feel to horizontal ones as well, and can be a very attractive and striking part of your garden.

A retaining wall can transform the steepest slope into a thriving garden bed, and can create usable vertical space that increases the size of your garden very effectively. National Masonry offers a wide range of retaining wall products that will do just that for your garden – have a look here