Rammed Earth is a sustainable landscaping method

'Sustainable' is becoming a very cheap word. It is now so overused that I am finding it hard to distinguish between reality and marketing hype.

There really are too many materials, production methods, packaging and foods that are called sustainable but are clearly costly in terms of resources consumed to get them to market, that their sustainability 'label' is devalued by a lack of carbon neutrality.

I am always on the lookout for methods of landscape construction that would allow the consumption of materials without a high cost or heavy impact on the environment.

Normally, unless there is sufficient space on a site that is being landscaped, topsoil and subsoil is excavated and removed from site only to be replaced by preformed materials.

It's a double edged sword. Fuel is being consumed both in the delivery of the excavating machinery and its use. A second machine, probably a dumper, will be utilised for moving the spoil once it has been dug and then a lorry to cart it from site.

After this new materials, which have consumed much in the way of resources and caused emissions during their production, will be hauled to the site and used to construct the garden. Overall, despite differing views on the wider global warming predictions, you would agree, is a high price to pay for aesthetics?

What if landscapers were to re-use these excavations in the garden construction and better still, take delivery of others' unwanted spoil which is being removed from other local sites?.

I have recently come across a Norfolk company who may have an alternative construction solution for our gardens, that will not only look good, but it can remarkably reduce our consumerism and cut down vastly on emissions during construction and production.

Michael Thompson builds using the 'Rammed Earth' method. It is exactly as it sounds. Soil that is compressed into a form-work to build walls and other structures - it is very strong and sustainable.

The use of soil or earth in construction is not a new thing. I am sitting in an old French farmhouse where mud has been used in place of a mortar mix. Many local houses have also used mud and straw to form columbage walls. It is very strong and very stable and will withstand anything that the weather wants to throw at it.

I asked Michael to tell Landscape Juice a bit about what he has achieved and I hope the consumer, and landscapers can be turned on to this different method of construction.

Philip has kindly asked me to do this guest blog to give you some insight into how we can all build with the most natural (and cheapest) of materials, the earth itself, writes Michael Thompson.

Whether you have need for raised beds, garden walls, dog kennels or, like me, a shed for the garden you can build it for next to nothing with rammed earth.

I first saw this method of building only 18 months ago, it was being used as an internal feature wall in a self build eco-house on the television, and decided that I was going to have to give it a go.

When we moved into our house the garden was full of rubbish and we couldn't grow anything so I built a contraption known as SID (Soil Improvement Device), using a regular drill to power it. Then when I discovered rammed earth I realised I needed one of these machines to process the subsoil prior to ramming.

While 66% of the earth came from the footing excavations, the rest was imported from six miles away and everything came from within a 10 mile radius of the home - and there wasn't a single skip needed.

Rammed earth is not a new building technique, it dates back to 7000BC, but it has seen a revival in recent years because more people want to live sustainably and it's very, very cheap.

I had a strict "Pound-Zero" budget for the build which meant whenever any expense came up I had to think of another way of getting round it, in the end I only spent what I absolutely needed too. I know that if I'd set a £5,000 budget I would have spent that and more.

The shed only cost £2,700 in materials, that's because the walls are free. It was just the floor, roof, doors and windows that had to be paid for, this works out to be £45 per m2, compare that to the cost of any other comparable building... the closest you will get if you are lucky is about £300 per m2, and even then it wont last as long as rammed earth.

Not only does the building look amazing from the ground, the living roof of sedum, wildflowers and grasses also means it looks visually pleasing from higher up - a plus for the neighbouring properties as well as our own view.

Also, as a result of building the shed, I now run highly popular classes in rammed earth construction with people even coming from every corner of the world to take part.

My motto - "Re-use, Recycle... one planet - to the max!"

Website: Rammed Earth