
Hey all. What are some easy/affordable options for prepping a garden wall for paint. At the moment we have exposed cinder blocks, A painted wall and I’d like to get it all finished the same way before doing more to the garden! I was thinking stucco but would love some ideas. Or any other suggestions on what to do with this space!
by Aphroditesent

13 Comments
I would not paint them. I Would never touch cinder blocks.
Plan your garden first : look and palnts,vibe.
If it was me I would just plant climbers to cover the walls. And then plan beds and the rest..those walls can be vovered by plants and look amazing as the background.
Painted cinderblocks look cheap (imo) and you are up for a maintainace of repaintaing every year.
Make them the same hight, plaster the walls and paint them.
You can partially cover with metal sheets
You can cover with high beds/pots
Cover completely with climbers.and so so many more appealing solutions
You could lift those bricks and plant some grass, up-cycling the bricks into raised beds along the wall(s).
We just rolled on some medium-dark green last summer, it’s looking good and the new growth this year pops against it.
Treated 2×2 timber verticals bolted to the blocks, affix light timber panels.
I’d batten it and then wooden panels of your choice. Could even use recycled pallet boards
I’m seeing Virginia creeper, clematis, honeysuckle, climbing roses. Beautiful!
And climbers don’t take much space out of your garden area, being on the walls.
You’d need to drill here and there to attach a bit of trellis; the wire kind lasts much longer than wood though it’s not so pretty (until covered with greenery)
Be wary of ordinary Irish ivy: it will do the job rapidly but it’s very vigororous! The types with yellow or cream streaked leaves are more restrained in growth.
If you are going to paint them Lidl often have masonry paint in basic colours for cheap. I’ve used it in the past and found it very good quality for the price of it. Get a good masonry brush to apply, makes the job much easier getting the paint into the blocks
Go for the clematis. Have just planted on North facing wall block wall to the front driveway. South facing wall is a wall of flowers. Two years will show a lot.
https://preview.redd.it/ybdil8ziyh0h1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=583a00c892198c8c8973225ac05b63da18a91890
I have a similar (if not uglier) problem and I’ve just heard one good solution that I think I’m going to try.. throwing a grid of screws into the wall and then running wire across the whole wall like a trellis for creepers to grow up.
trellis
Brush dirt off using a stiff sweeping brush, prep walls as per comments here, then paint charcoal black. Black is a brilliant background for plants.
https://preview.redd.it/23mc3y3fsi0h1.jpeg?width=1163&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2472acae56b2662f7748a37a79f0f8090cc94654