Suggestions on what to do with a slope

Hi guys,

My first post here, so please be nice! I've recently got into the whole gardening thing and after having done nothing with my back garden for 5 years I'm now on a roll and trying to decide how to deal with a large slope at the back.

Its about 10mx8m and is held back by a retaining wall (see attachment). I was considering getting rid of the grass and planting shrubs, but I got a quote and it was over £1K!

Do you guys think I could manage to sort this out myself or would it need an expert. Basically all I'm after is for something nice to look at and thats relatively low maintenance.

I was thinking of strimming the grass down completely then using weed killer to get rid of it, adding a black membrane to keep the grass and weeds from reappearing with shrubs planted throughout. The only thing about this approach is that it'll be some time before the shrubs are mature so looking out at a black membrane cover with a few small shrubs won't be very nice! I guess I could try bark chippings to keep the weeds away, but then it'll add to the expense and chances are they will roll down the hill.

Any thoughts or advice appreciated.

 

Why not put more terracing in place? You could dig it out section by section and retain each with sleepers. You may have a sawmill/fencing business near you who sell modern/new sleeper type timber for £15 for an 8 ft length. Using this method, you would be able to do the work yourself.This is from someone who has done the same on a scale about 4 times the amount you have shown
G.Man






:gnthb:

 

Hi GMan,
Really like the idea, thanks. A few potential problems though:

- I'd imagine this would be a serious undertaking as I'm sure there is alot more clay and work than first meets the eye. Its alos difficult to get clay away from the back of our house.

- Not sure if I'd have the confidence to take this on (as much as I would love to) for fear of creating a complete mess!

Thanks,
M

 

Potential there for a most superb rockery and waterfall down to a beautiful little koi pond
Do like I have always done .. take it all a little bit at a time
You couild always check out my own website

 

Hello fellow Nornironer!

Have you any pics of the idea you have in your head?

 

First. Apply weedkiller before strimming. I would use glyphosate and apply it now as we are reaching the end of the usual application season. I would also apply it again in as weeds grow throughout the autumn and winter. Planting to take place in the spring

Second is a question. How important is it that it looks good and provides year round cover. the more the importance the higher the cost.

At the low end I would just plant ground cover plants through a biodegradeable membrane.

on the more expensive but still reasonable I would create a series of small terraces using half-round fencing rails either horizontally or vertically. Go to the cheapest supplier - usually a swamills or country store - not B&Q. This will give you a series of flat surfaces for putting in plants of your choice.

A safety question is how stable is the soil - particularly if it rains heavily. The bare grass might be holding it all together. How deep is the soil for putting in posts - have you checked this?
You need to be carefull when working on it as it could come crashing down with you or your family underneath it.

It looks like your neighbour to the right has done some what - how have they done it?

 

This is a pic of my own waterfall
If you want to see how it was done, visit my website and click on 'How it was done'

 

"I'm sure there is alot more clay and work than first meets the eye. Its alos difficult to get clay away from the back of our house."

If you put some retaining in (in order to terrace the slope) you could add topsoil - the back of each terrace would be clay, but the front would have a foot or so of topsoil

"Not sure if I'd have the confidence to take this on (as much as I would love to) for fear of creating a complete mess!"

Depends on whether you need an instant result, or not. I have taken the viewpoint that our garden will have to look like a building site for 5 years whilst we get all our projects done. 3 years in now ... might have to ask for an extension of time!

I wish East Anglia wasn't so flat :(

 

I have just spent a lovely hour or so looking on your website.

A truly stunning all year round garden, a terrific achievement, you must be very proud of it.

 

On the terracing point, I did this on a patch of my land that has a steep incline. I don't have much confidence in my landscaping ability, but I bit the bullet and did it. Between myself and a mate, we got a good sized level patch in one afternoon, armed with nothing more than spades and a pick axe.

We haven't put sleepers or anything in to retain it, but for our purposes practicality were more important than aesthetics, so we could get away with a steep mound at the edge of the terraced bit, but obviously we had to stop it rolling away somehow. This is what we did:

First up, we cut some chunky 'turf bricks' from the top of the slope, and neatly piled them in a row at the bottom. Then we very roughly dug the whole area. I did most of it with the pick, my mate slacked off as he was full of cold. Then the pair of us just dug from the top, chucking the earth to the bottom. Our turf bricks stopped it all from rolling further down the hill. Periodically in the early stages we'd walk over the bottom part, so that the soil packed down. Soon we reached the clay subsoil at the top of the slope. I tackled this with the pick. A spade would do it but I like the smashing action of the pick, its great if you have any pent up frustration about anything, and it is quicker than using the spade. Gradually we got it level, but of course the new problem was that the bottom end was all top soil, while what had been further up was all clay. We just dug it over several times to mix it all up. A row of hazels and crab apples were planted at the top end, to bind up the top bit so that the mud further up doesn't come down and refill our carved out bit. We put daffodils at the bottom to help bind that end up, but I know that won't be a long term solution as they are not very deep rooted, but it served our purpose. If aesthetics were our objective we'd have used sleepers or something to retain it properly.

It looks and sounds like a lot of work, but really its not too bad.

The only word of caution I'd offer though is like Has Bean Counter says, if you strip it bare, then you won't be able to leave it too long without binding it somehow, as the rain will have it.

 

Thanks Jovi
Glad you enjoyed your visit