Sloping garden.

daiboy

Been in the house for a year now and about to start the bottom garden. I have included photos here but my issue is what to do about the steep slope. We are going to spend the summer clearing the site and doing any building work with minimal planting this year. Does anyone have any experience of taking on this sort of project who can give me any advice.

daiboy

Buttercupdays

Looking at the angle and length of that slope, I would think that the most you could realistically do would be to select a range of shrubs or small trees to introduce more variety, unless you have a huge budget. Do the steps lead anywhere?  

Clearing it completely would not only be difficult but could cause dangerous soil erosion, so if it were me, I would start at the top and work downwards. 

Make that flat area into something nice first, either as a seating/viewing area , flower patch or whatever you want.

Then move down the slope, doing a bit at a time. This will mean you can see the improvement gradually taking place. There may be some things you wish to keep. If not,  cut back the top growth and remove, dig out the brambles if possible, and treat what remains with SBK stump killer to prevent regrowth. Then plant your chosen shrubs as small specimens where you can in between, so the old roots still hold the bank together. The new ones will take over as they rot.

Access for much in the way of maintenance is going to be a problem,and the surrounding tree cover suggests that such things will grow well. Many shrubs will do just fine without lots of pruning, no matter what the ideal may be. You may not get quite as many flowers, but to have any, and a variation in leaf shapes and colours would be a major improvement. Add some ferns as undercover, and they will spread, and that and the foliage cover will reduce weed growth.

If there is any place that is slightly less steep, perhaps you could create a little hidden glade.

Pauline 7

Have a look at what the neighbours have done. .......If anything,  that might give you a few more  ideas.

daiboy

I think the picture is a little misleading. The garden has a 4 tiers all about 5 metres wide and 2 metres long and one 4 metres long by 5 wide.

Wayside

Wow, just sit at the top and look over the valley.

Lizzie27

What a view!  When you say 4 tiers, are there good substantial retaining walls or are planning to redo them? If not, I would make safety a first priority . Then start at the top, and do one tier at a time and decide what you want to do with each one. An interesting challenge, we too, garden on a slope, but no way as steep as yours.

daiboy

We have 3 larger tiers above the shed which I have commandeered this year as a temporary allotment. It may be that I have to create the flower garden here and tier the bottom garden properly and have the allotment there.

Blue Onion

What a fun (and challenging) space.  What do you want from your garden?  Color?  Flowers?  More fruit and veg?

I would start at the bottom with a seating area and perennial flowers boarder.  Next up would be cane and bush fruit.  Third up is an area of raised beds for veg.  Your current veg area on the decking becomes an entertainment area and pots of herbs.  

Compete one one tier at a time, in whatever order suits you.  

daiboy

The decking has to come up anyway and I have plans for that area. The one area I could make into a flower garden would be the patio area. Thanks everyone for their help/advice. We have a lot of work ahead of us.

Samantha Powell

I tackled my garden with was 40m long and 8m fall from top to bottom. I constructed vertical sleeper retaining walls to level out the areas. It was extremely tough but worth it.