Retaining Wall

We have a super long retaining wall that gets up to 9' at its highest point. We were considering using boulders, but they are pricey and kind of look like a big pile of rocks with walls as high as ours. Charming for 2-3' walls though. There are some prefab concrete walls that people install for residential sites. One is called Redi-Rock, but it looks way to commercial to us. Then we found this cool system:



Here's one where the plants haven't totally taken over and you can actually see the wall:



They are engineered concrete blocks, but are more like hollow drawers where you put compacted soil and plants. With time, the plants fill out and you have a green wall. Should be a much nicer vista than a big wall of rocks. Plus it costs about a quarter the price of the Redi-Rock system.

We are really excited about our new garden walk from the driveway leading to the house. The planted wall will help it feel like an enclosed space. Given that we have such a wooded lot and that we don't intend to clear anymore than what we have to for the house, it will be so nice having a spot that is easily accessible for gardening. We will probably avoid too many edibles because of the bears! We'll have to do a bear post soon.