I was helping friends build a Gabion wall in their garden this weekend which got me thinking about these common construction cages.  I’ve never been completely sure about them- they are nicer than block or concrete but never quite look like the stone walling that people really want them to be.  Aesthetics however was never their original USP.  They have been around for hundreds of years and were typically used by invading armies to form temporary defences and gun emplacements by filling lightweight and easily transportable wicker baskets with soil and rocks. I’m not planning any fortifications but having finally got to work with them I think I am also a convert.  It is a simple, clever system and while still  time consuming to get right is faster and more accessible than real stone walling.  The best advantage to my mind however is from a sustainable perspective.  You can stack the front with nice stones and then fill up the backs with site rubble and waste.  My friends had dug up the drive and terrace to make more garden and planting space and all the rubble from that went into the cages rather than being carted off site for landfill.  There is something incredibly satisfying and economic in putting waste to use!