How to Garden on a Sloped Yard
A sloped garden has a few interesting complications that make it much more difficult to garden successfully. Soil erosion is going to be the biggest hurdle, so plant choice becomes extremely important as you will need the right plants to keep the slope intact. There will also be issues with watering, as water will often run off of a slope too fast and not get absorbed by the soil. Gardening on a slope can be a little difficult, but if it is done right it can be a beautiful addition to your yard. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
-
-
1
Purchase a few large shrubs to plant throughout the slope. Large shrubs generally have sprawling root systems that you will need to help prevent erosion in your garden.
-
2
Buy a mixture of plants that will either bloom or grow to cover the entire slope. Your top cover of plants will be an important part of the erosion control, so it is important to use plants and flowers that grow out to cover the ground. It is also important to mix different types of plants so that you have different layers between the falling rain and the ground.
-
-
3
Dig a large channel a few inches deep down the middle of the slope. Dig smaller channels running into this one from both sides of the slope, spaced a few feet apart. These channels only need to be an inch or two deep, just enough to force water to follow them instead of rolling down the entire slope.
-
4
Make large holes where you are going to plant the shrubs, placing the dirt that you dig away on the downhill side of the hole. Place a shrub into one of the holes.
-
5
Backfill the hole with the dirt that you dug away, building a small mound on the downhill side of the plant. Build this mound up so that it forms a crescent around the downhill side of the plant. Make a small trench with your spade, leading from the uphill side of the plant to the downhill side. This will drive water into the crescent so it can sit there and seep into the soil, instead of rolling away.
-
6
Repeat this process for every plant that you want to place. When you are planting, remember to keep a mix of different plants in every area of the slope.
-
7
Add mulch around the base of every plant that you placed.
-
8
Place large rocks, or flagstones, throughout the slope anywhere where you can see the soil through the plants. Even if plants will grow to fill in the area, cover any current large gaps with the rocks to prevent erosion from ruining the garden before the plants can grow large enough to stabilize the soil.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
If your slope has more than 10 degrees of incline, it may simply be too steep to garden on, and you will have to build terraces to give yourself a flat surface to plant flowers and shrubs.
References
- Photo Credit Brand X Pictures/Brand X Pictures/Getty Images
