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options for planting at bottom of a slope

scottmc1982fz5osbVJscottmc1982fz5osbVJ Posts: 3
in Garden design
hi everyone, 

I have a wide garden with a slope which goes away from the house. I'd like to put in a border along the fence line at the bottom of the slope but as my kids play football on the lawn (the slope isn't great for this either!) I'm a bit concerned about the plants being damaged and thought I might need to use sleepers or some other kind of edging to prevent this - but would this lead to drainage problems? A couple of years ago I used sleepers to build retaining walls to build the patio and slide/swing area.

perhaps you can suggest an alternative solution to add a bit more interest to the garden - as you can see it's a good space for the kids at the moment but we are hoping to 


Posts

  • ElferElfer Posts: 329
    There is always risk of damage when they are playing even with sleepers as they will be kicking a football about and not just rolling it.

    You could create several D section or semicircular beds along the fence.
  • scottmc1982fz5osbVJscottmc1982fz5osbVJ Posts: 3
    hi Elfer thanks for your quick reply - the D section beds sound like it could work. would it be possible to have them around the base of the trees or would this interfere with their growth? also would you recommend some kind of edging around the beds to keep them separate from the lawn?
  • ElferElfer Posts: 329
    I think a D section at the base of the tree is a great idea as it draws attention to the tree and will be a visual treat, just make sure the soil level near the tree doesn't go any higher than existing soil baseline. You could have a slight slope in the bed so that it's a bit higher on the lawn end than the fence without any problems, this is what I have in a couple of my beds.

    You don't want to plant anything that is going to compete with the tree in those D sections but some annual or perennial flowers should be ok and look nice at the base of tree.

    A log roll edging should look nice and offer a bit of protection.
  • scottmc1982fz5osbVJscottmc1982fz5osbVJ Posts: 3
    thanks again, we took a trip to the local garden centre for some inspiration yesterday. I'll post back on here later with some 'after' pictures once we've finished.
  • ElferElfer Posts: 329
    Look forward to it
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