3 ms·

Does the shape of the wall affect either of these uses? Otherwise, wouldn't it be off-topic to start listing general facts about walls for agriculture?

riffraff 7y ago
for the saving bricks, yes, since it's more robust than a straight line single-brick wall, and cheaper than a multi-brick one. I imagine for heating, it's that the trees get exposed to more irradiation by sitting in the focus of the curve rather than in front of a line.
jessriedel 7y ago
Based on this comment, I think the idea is that if you plant trees within the bend of a wall, they are shielded and heated from more than 180 degrees. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21564553 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21564553 You only get this benefit for tree right along the wall, which is not much agricultural area. Seems like a strained justification.
- kevin_thibedeau 7y ago
  Fruit trees were commonly grown against purpose built walls. For flat walls trees would be trained to keep their branches in a plane.
  - jessriedel 7y ago
    Thanks. You're talking about espalier? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Espalier https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Espalier I could only find a single picture of something like this on a curved wall. https://images.app.goo.gl/AXPFnXgE47K1vm5U7 https://images.app.goo.gl/AXPFnXgE47K1vm5U7 If the tree is going to be pinned to the wall (as opposed to being free-standing and surrounded by the wall), I don't really understand how making it curved helps with absorbing heat or shielding from weather.
    - Razengan 7y ago
      Slightly tangential, but having lived mostly in bare concrete jungles, there's something so aesthetically pleasing about green things growing on a backdrop of bricks or wood. A soothing harmony of nature and artifice. :)
- tejtm 7y ago
  During that little ice age mentioned elsewhere in these comments, that area right along the wall was your agricultural area so they came up with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Espalier https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Espalier

riffraff 7y ago

for the saving bricks, yes, since it's more robust than a straight line single-brick wall, and cheaper than a multi-brick one. I imagine for heating, it's that the trees get exposed to more irradiation by sitting in the focus of the curve rather than in front of a line.

jessriedel 7y ago

Based on this comment, I think the idea is that if you plant trees within the bend of a wall, they are shielded and heated from more than 180 degrees. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21564553 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21564553 You only get this benefit for tree right along the wall, which is not much agricultural area. Seems like a strained justification.

kevin_thibedeau 7y ago
Fruit trees were commonly grown against purpose built walls. For flat walls trees would be trained to keep their branches in a plane.
- jessriedel 7y ago
  Thanks. You're talking about espalier? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Espalier https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Espalier I could only find a single picture of something like this on a curved wall. https://images.app.goo.gl/AXPFnXgE47K1vm5U7 https://images.app.goo.gl/AXPFnXgE47K1vm5U7 If the tree is going to be pinned to the wall (as opposed to being free-standing and surrounded by the wall), I don't really understand how making it curved helps with absorbing heat or shielding from weather.
  - Razengan 7y ago
    Slightly tangential, but having lived mostly in bare concrete jungles, there's something so aesthetically pleasing about green things growing on a backdrop of bricks or wood. A soothing harmony of nature and artifice. :)
tejtm 7y ago
During that little ice age mentioned elsewhere in these comments, that area right along the wall was your agricultural area so they came up with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Espalier https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Espalier