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Terrace Gardening and
Landscaping Ideas
Terraces present wonderful possibilities
in the garden. They are outdoor living
rooms during good weather and form a
transition from the outdoors to the
indoors throughout the year.
The terrace may be either at ground
level, below ground level, or raised
above it. The simplest type is ground
level, which requires only the grading we
have indicated. There is a wide choice of
flooring materials to use. One may use
cement, poured and levelled with a large
board, but in maintaining the drainage
grade or including shallow drainage
paths, smooth turf may be used, in which
case the preparation will be the same as
for other lawn areas and various other
types of bases.
The use of flagstones is made simple by
applying a load of sand or gravel to the
subsoil and digging the flagstones into
the sand or gravel. The niches between
the stones can be dug out and filled with
top-soil and grass or other cover planted
between them. This gives a very pleasing
effect.
Hollow clay building tiles can be split
and laid as units in the terrace floor,
their rough edges in the soil. Another
good surfacing material is "exposed
aggregate," which is free from glare
because of its rough finish. For this
type of surface, build a form of 2 x 4's.
Pour the flooring in squares, one square
at a time, and level with a straight
board. The material used is a mixture of
cement, sharp sand and crushed rock or
pebbles.
Redwood or cypress blocks may also be
used for terrace floors and are very
attractive, although somewhat less
durable than stone or brick. You can buy
the blocks cut to size and lay them
directly in a bed of sand, which in turn
has been laid on compacted gravel or
cinder. Un-mortared brick, laid in a
pattern, on 2 to 4 inches of well-tamped
sand, with loose sand in the crevices for
grass, makes a hardy and
simple-to-construct terrace floor. The
bricks may be laid flat or on end, and to
keep them from spreading, drive an angle
iron against the corners. Use a pattern
that follows the lines of your terrace.
The Sunken Terrace Gardening
A sunken terrace is one which is below
ground level. It can be very attractive,
and it does give a feeling of coolness on
a humid day or a hot night. The sunken
terrace requires a retaining wall to
prevent soil from continually eroding
into it, and also to maintain the topsoil
of the surrounding garden. The subsoil
must be dug to a depth of about 5 or 6
inches below the level you wish to attain
with the terrace itself. The use of sand
or gravel as a base is of importance. The
top treatment can follow your own
dictates.
The Raised Terrace Gardening
The raised terrace is generally not fully
raised, but starts at the house level and
is raised at its outer edge. Again, a
retaining wall is called for. The
principle problem with the raised terrace
is levelling. Once this is accomplished,
and the retaining wall built,
construction follows the same procedure
as in any other case. Drainage is
supplied either by a central drain, going
into a tile line, or by underground
piping through the retaining wall.
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