Building brick walls
With Louisa Bell of City and Country Gardens
Design and construction
Bricks and mortar Bricks are wonderful things. I remember first learning about them at college, and becoming a complete anorak later, looking at walls to see how they had been built at every opportunity. If you look at a wall, you can see that the bricks are laid in different ways. A ‘stretcher’ is the long side of the brick and the ‘header’ is the short end of the brick. If a brick is laid with the stretcher edge, side by side, and then one over the top – laid in the middle of the gap – this is called a stretcher bond. An old brick wall may be laid with English Bond. This is where there is a row of stretchers followed by a row of headers. This makes the wall very strong, and thick too. There are walls with alternate headers and stretchers, and other patterns too. Once you start looking, it’s really interesting to see how walls have been built (honestly!). Our house was built with alternating headers and stretchers which is called Flemish Bond.
Bricks enabled buildings to be more permanent. The original mud bricks were far more susceptible to weather conditions, so clay bricks started to be used across Europe from around 1200AD. The ancient Egyptians used mudbrick extensively, and the ratio for the dimensions of their bricks was 4:2:1, the same ratio used today! Those Egyptians were a clever lot. The Roman legions operated mobile kilns and introduced bricks to many parts of their empire.
During the Renaissance, visible brick walls were unpopular so the brickwork was often covered in plaster. It wasn’t until the mid 18th century that brick walls regained their popularity.
Before the age of transport – canals, railways and trucks – it was difficult to transport bricks from region to region so local bricks were made using local clay. Transporting bricks by horse and cart doubled their price. Pink coloured bricks show more iron content, and white or more yellow bricks have more lime. Most bricks burn to a red hue, but if the temperature is increased the colour moves through dark red, purple and then to brown or grey at around 1300°C.
Bricks can also be made from stone – granite, limestone and sandstone – but these need far greater foundations due to their enormous comparative mass. Skilled labour is needed for construction, but they look wonderful and are incredibly durable.
Bricks are used today for low-rise buildings as other materials are far better for taller buildings. Bricks are slow to lay and labour intensive. Huge sheets of steel and glass can create wall and division far more quickly.
A brick wall will last for many years. It is frost proof and will age slowly and beautifully. Lichens will grow and the brick will hold warmth from the sun, providing a popular environment for climbers or peach trees. Old or new bricks can be used and the old Victorian walled kitchen garden was often the warmest place in the garden to sit. I can just imagine how lovely that must have been on a warm spring day.
Plants
Ferns
This is a huge family of plants with thousands and thousands of species. The fern dates back to the dinosaur age, and the coal that we mine today is made up of many prehistoric plants including ferns. It’s no surprise that the Jurassic Park monsters lumbered around the forest floor through huge groups of ferns. Someone in the film crew had clearly done their homework. Ferns are actually far more exciting than you would think. They look really wonderful planted near or around statues, water features and old fashioned bird paths or pedestals. They like a shady spot and, apparently, a more alkaline soil than I have ever given my specimens. If you have an especially damp and dull spot, then think about buying something special to go there – some artefact. Visit a salvage yard and look for something made of stone – an old plinth, a gargoyle – and plant some ferns around the base. It works really well in any garden – modern or traditional.
The Victorians loved ferns and created special glass cases for them called wardian cases. They decorated glass, china and jewellery with fern images. Ferns don’t have flowers and for many years it wasn’t understood how they could reproduce. It was even believed that they produced invisible flowers on Midsummers Eve! Now their spores and reproductive life is no longer a mystery, just a marvel. I love watching the new fronds unfurl from their spiral home.
Things to do
Seeds of wisdom
This is a good time to order your plant and seed catalogues. When it’s too wet to get outside – or even dry, but too cold – you can sit by the window with a mug of tea, and the last of the Christmas cake, while looking at seeds and plants that you intend growing this year. Now this is a bit like going shopping when you’re starving. The pictures look wonderful, the descriptions are irresistible but the ‘serving suggestion’ shown in the photograph is not necessarily what you’ll see, so don’t get carried away!
If you’re new to gardening, stick to hardy annuals and just a couple of perennials. If you want to grow vegetables, think carefully about the space that’s available and don’t be tempted to try and grow more veg than space. Things like cabbages and cauliflowers take up a lot of space and time for the yield. Tomatoes and potatoes are great value for money, and even the smallest garden can have space for a tomato plant. I love growing plants from seed. There’s such a sense of achievement as they germinate and start to grow into healthy little plants. You’ll grow far more than you need but it’s lovely to give a friend some plants to take home. When the window sills are full of seed trays, all with their own little labels, I can believe that spring is on the way again. Seed catalogues are free and my favourite company is Thompson and Morgan. I read a report recently that also said their seeds were among the best for germination success.
Happy seeding!
City & Country Gardens
For all the things in your garden – talk to us!
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