6/2013 – Doing it yourself with Terralite

DIY retaining wall

Princeton, a small town located in the Similkameen area of British Columbia, midway between Vancouver and the Okanagan Valley, is home to a few sawmills, copper mines and a centre for ranching. Sheltered by the Cascade mountain range in the west and by the Rocky Mountains in the east, Princeton enjoys a healthy climate, dry with rare temperature extremes

Water feature, Terralite block

Mining activities in the area are currently focused mainly on copper and great care is taken to make the scars as unobtrusive as possible. Wayne Crimmon, who lives on a rural property outside Princeton, runs Bio-Ag Technologies Inc, a company that specialises in the rehabilitation of mining sites by establishing plant growth on the mine dumps. Crimmon’s machines are equipped to travel up and down on very steep slopes in order to spread the dung, so to say. Seeds mixed with chopped wood chips and composted residue from sewerage treatment plants in the lower mainland and Vancouver, are spread evenly over these slopes. Results are spectacular, especially once indigenous trees start to grow and the mine dumps start to look like most low mountains in the area.

Wayne was challenged to establish a matching garden for his brand new home with a view that dreams are made of. His internet research for versatile landscape blocks that are available in British Columbia led him to Fred and Chuck of Blocksrus in Williams Lake. They make a range of Terraforce blocks that impressed Wayne. He decided to go with the smallest of the range, the Terralite block, complemented with the 4 x 4 step block. For installing undulating landscaping measures, such as Wayne had in mind, the Terraforce blocks are unmatched in versatility. Further it was important that Wayne and his family could work with Terralite and do the installation themselves.

It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words, these photos clearly illustrate that the challenge was met head on, as intended.

Matching garden for  new home

Matching garden for new home

Undulating landscaping measures

Undulating landscaping measures


Terralite block with 4 x 4 step block

Terralite block with 4 x 4 step block

DIY versatile landscape blocks

DIY versatile landscape blocks