Very nice I like the idea of using the fill that you did, I bet you could do bales of hay also for the inner part. Keep us posted on how it winters over

Marly, That is unbelievable! Love the fossiled shell idea. Billie

Great photos and an awe-inspiring project!
Laura

I'm struggling to think of something more complimentary to say but I'm so stunned all I can think of is "Wow".

Marly, it is fantastic!

I would ask your advice. I have a retaing wall between our backyard and the neighbours, we are on the slope, they are higher than us. Because the wall is wet, moist, I can't paint it. I want to cover it with tufa, similar to what you done, but mine is much taller, 7ft x 15ft.What do you think, would work? I don't want to cover the whole wall, just "build arches", I'm going to put mirrors under the arches, fantastic trick.
Thanks for any help.

Andrea

WOW I wish I had a wall and the time to do that with. just AWESOME!!!!!!!
Paws

WOW! What a transformation to that wall! Will your friend leave it a natural tufa color or stain/paint it? I think a few years of plant maturity and a nice growth of moss and that wall will be a strong, but subtle feature in the landscape.

Marly did it again! And thanks for the progress pics.

David

WOW!! Fantastic and wonderful. You do some really incredible projects that truly inspire. Thank you for sharing. I have lots of places that could use that kind of work. You don't hire yourself out do you?
spiderwoman

Hey Marly!This is amazing!!! Where do you find the time to do all the things you do?
))(()())(()))((()Wonder Marly Woman!!!((())))(((()))((

gorgeous!!!!

That looks great, but I have two concerns - slope and weep holes. The wall looks fairly verticle and over time the weight of the dirt may push it out. I couldn't see if you allowed for drainage weep holes.

I really love the texture. Great job!

I just can not believe that a cinder block wall could ever be transformed into something so beautiful. Great work, Marly! You are a fabulous designer.
Daisy, what are weep holes and how would you put those in? Wouldn't rebar hammered into the cinderblock hold up a wall like this?

Daisy, I hear ya! I asked Janice about that very thing but she wasn't worried in the least about the rebar and drainage. She said that wall has been there for four years now and she feels very confident that it won't budge now. Thanks for mentioning this. Folks that are building a retaining wall from scratch need to be aware that one needs to do a proper construction.

And thanks EVERYONE for your kind comments. You always make my day!

Marly

Just got back from vacation and what do I find - Marly has "done it" once again - what a great job you do. Congratulations.

Jilly

Marly, I sent you an email a few days ago through GW concerning your trade list. I sent the one to you and a few to some other members and have had NO responses so am wondering if they actually went out? Maybe you would be willing to send me a note? Sorry that I don't publish my email--I've been very burned by doing that. I have something that I want to send to you as a thank you for all of the work you do on the forum to help the rest of us learn. Thanks!
spiderwoman

Marly i know its late for asking questions about a project of over a month ago but i have to ask, how does the tufa stay on a wall/ I would think it would fall off as you put it on.I really am baffled because i've had no success yet with tufa.

Clairdo2, there were a lot of little spaces around each brick that I pushed the tufa into. That helped a bit. But tufa will stick to a vertical surface if it is rough enough as the bricks were. I don't know if you noticed that we applied pure acrylic admix to the surface of the bricks just before applying the tufa. That will help to bond the tufa to the bricks as the cement hardens. You just have to get the 'knack' of how thick the tufa can be before it starts to pull away from the brick due to gravity. You have to kinda pat/smoosh the tufa onto the surface of the brick. Wish I could show you what I did but I didn't take a video of the process. Hopoe that helps you a little.

Take care.

Marly

Marly,

Ive been keeping an eye on this post since you started. You have givin me a great idea for a hillside raised bed ive been wanting to do. It looks great! Do you have a pic now that it has cured? Would love to see.

Thanks

carey

I would like to add a little bit here, from my experience. If you take a "pancake" of tufa (or ANY mix you choose to use), and slap it on something, like the concrete blocks, it usually falls off. This has been frustrating! However, if you take that pancake, slap it on, and smooth the edges into the block, it seems to grip better. Like spreading peanut butter on. Slap, smooth, slap, smooth. I found this stays up better on a vertical surface. But it is critical not to have too dry or too wet a mix. This you will have to find by trial and error. Kind of like me teaching my daughter my homemade pancake recipe. She always says, "But how do you know the consistency is right?" and I have to say, "You will just have to try and get a feel for it!", since I don't measure anything in the pancake batter, I just add "enough" liquid. Does that make any sense???