Crack Garden

 I have a driveway to my detached garage in my backyard. My garage is
not used for cars and I am wondering what to do with it.

The concrete is in good shape and it's very expensive to remove. One
idea is to paint it terrazo style and have pergula or raised beds with
benches. Another is to plant a crack garden, or to make cracks in the
concrete for plantings. Or both.

My lot is 6000 sq.ft. and my house is 900, so I have a good amount of
space for the lawns and two spots for vegetable gardens.

Has anyone experimented with crack gardens and what have you planted?

Thanks,
Karen

 Karen wrote:

If you are going to grow plants there you will need to take down the garage
as plants need sun, or at least strong light depending on what you grow.



If the concrete is in good shape making cracks in it will be a big effort,
probably requiring machinery.


I am not sure what you mean by this.  Some plants will grow in cracks in
rocks and walls etc but it is no way to set up a garden as in most cases the
very limited room for roots will severely stunt the plant.  Also any plants
that do grow there will risk being sun baked on the concrete.

If you are going to the effort of taking down the garage and breaking up the
concrete why not go the last (and probably easiest) step further and have it
taken away.

David

 
Oh I'm not taking down the garage. When I said I didn't know what to
do with it, I meant the driveway. My garage is going to be a cottage
thing.


Yeah, I was wondering about that. I was thinking about making the
cracks in a pattern. I have no idea what jackhammering is like.


check this out:

http://www.neatorama.com/2009/06/04/the-crack-garden/

Karen

 

http://www.neatorama.com/2009/06/04/the-crack-garden/

Those are not cracks, those are channels chipped into the concrete.  I don't
find it very attractive... it in no way looks natural and looks like
something someone who is not very decisive would do, in case they decide
otherwise they can patch those channels, but probably won't hold.  Were I
going to assume the expense and go to the trouble of cutting channels I'd
just as soon remove it all in one fell swoop.  And there's a big risk in
cutting channels with a jack hammer, it's more likely than not that the
concrete will break up in ways one didn't plan... could end up with a
disasterous mess, where the entire thing will need to be broken up and
hauled out, would probably end up costing more than had it been entirely
removed from the onset. Normally when one wants to remove a section of
concrete for a garden/water feature, etc, they would have it cut out neatly
with an abrasive wet saw...  jack hammered channels in poured concrete look
awful... looks like something a mentally deficient juvenile would dream up.

 Karen wrote:

Hard work.  The better the quality of the slab (ie thicker, stronger, more
steel reinforcing) the harder it gets.



Looks daft to me, much work for little gain.  Design awards don't always
consider the real cost and effort of implementation.  Note that most of the
growth is up trellises around the edges not in the cracks.

Is your slab level?  In most cases it would be.  Water will not run off and
so there is an excellent chance of having a big drainage problem unless the
cracks go right through the concrete to some porous soil.  Stunted roots,
plus baked when it's dry, plus drowned when it's wet equals dead plant.

David