hillside - where to start ?

My daughter recently moved to a farm cottage 1200ft up. Her back garden is huge but on a steep slope up to the top of the hill. Faces south east, currently covered in 3ft high bracken . Where to start ? What to do first?

 

I think the first thing to do is to agree that it's going to take a few years to turn the whole slope into a "garden". Your daughter needs to sit down and think about what she would like to create on the slope. Does she want a large plot for veg, flowers and shubs, both or what? Would planting shelter belts of trees be of benefit?
Is she willing to use animals on the land to clear it? Chooks and pigs are pretty good!

When we first moved to Scotland my dad built our house on a very exposed steeply sloping field that had been rough grazing and created a big veg plot near the house by double digging and rotovating. He created a small veg plot in the upper part of the field by digging up turf and planting tatties under the upside down turves. The rest of the upper garden was planted in shrubs and flymown two or three times a year. He also planted a double row of pines as a shelter belt.

 

I'd say the first step is to tackle the bracken. Good luck with that and if you find an effective way, please let me know.

Have a look at the wikipedia entry for it: Wiki Bracken

It suggests that regularly turning the ground over sorts it out, but not in my experience.

As your daughter's garden is on a steep slope, is it an option to level into into big steps (if that makes any sense?)? At least that way you get some flat bits that you can put your deck chairs on

 

:D Big steps yes. She wants first a level bit for the kids to play on and her to sit on, Dave. I havent a clue where to start so thought I'd ask you lot :D The bracken in summer was really jungly and short of napalm I don't see how it can be got rid of. How exactly do you level off a bit in the middle ? Maybe she could clear the bracken and lay down some gravel. But we don't know how to level it.

 

If it's very steep and you want to level part of it you'll need to build a retaining wall or two in some from or another.If you go for vertical walls you'll need something substantial - brick, heavy dry stone or heavy timber. If you slope the retaining walls you'd probably get away with planting something to stabilise the soil.
A day with a mini JCB would level a terrace, but you'd have to get some form of soil retention in PDQ after.
If you lay gravel on a steep slope gravity will eventually move it downhill particularly if it's on top of membrane.

Bracken's quite nice to play and hide in if you're a kid. I loved it!

Post a photo or a plan showing the size of plot and angle of slope and I'm sure someone will come up with possible solutions.

 

I think photo's would be good:WINK1:

 

The trouble is, it is nasty stuff. The spores are carcinogenic, the stems end up razer sharp when they dry out at the end of the growing season, they are the favourite hideout of sheep ticks that are not only horrible in themselves, but sometimes carry a nasty disease (can't remember the name). Bracken also sees off most other plants, quickly outgrowing them and blocking out the sunlight. It is said that they also release a chemical that inhibits other plants, although I've planted in 'reclaimed' land with success so I don't know about that bit.

All that said, I have to admit that even now I like the smell of bracken, and the feel of it.

Oh and to some people it is an irritant, if you handle it too much without gloves some people get itchy, burny hands. It happens to my mate who sometimes comes up to lend a hand, but doesn't affect me, so maybe it is some sort of allergy.

There is one good thing about bracken though. It grows so fast that you'll always have plenty of material to put on the compost heap, although the compos it produces is very mildly acidic.

 

Very good suggestions all. Was also thinking, that your daughter has to think about how much time she will have to keep whatever she decides on looking good. Other parts of a persons life takes up so much time. Picking the right plants that don't need much care versus some that need more etc.
Maybe through in some hard scaping--slabs of rocks etc.
And yes, it does take time to develope.