Preventing bank erosion for path in a "cutting"

anna.heywood

I have just dug a path through a wooded bank to connect two areas which are at different levels.  The path itself is made of compacted scalpings on top of a liner.  The sides of the "cutting" are about 1 metre high at the deepest point.  The soil is quite fibrous and dry as the path runs through a patch of woodland with brambles at ground level.  Soil is already starting to crumble onto the path and, although the tree / shrub roots will presumably help hold the soil together, I am concerned that the vertical sides will erode and the surface of the path will therefore be covered with soil / mud.

Does anyone have a suggestion about how best to shore up the bare earth on the sides?  As mentioned, it's a vertical cut so no chance of planting anything to stabilise the soil.  There is insufficient space for mesh cages filled with stone (and I think that would be overkill anyway) but perhaps there is another solution?  I am trying to keep costs to a minimum!

The path is about 10 metres in length.

Thanks in advance! 

 

Dovefromabove

Hi Anna

We have a similar bank along one side of our garden - we've supported it with wooden sleepers laid on top of each other, and with steel reinforcing rods drilled through them into the ground below to hold them securely in place. 

anna.heywood

Thanks Dovefromabove, that sounds like a good solution although I'd probably need quite a few sleepers.  I wonder whether smallish trunks and other tree limbs would do the same job?  I have a ready supply of these from a local woodland group which have the benefit of being free!

Dovefromabove

This is how they look. They are two high but could go higher according to the builder who did it for us. 

Dovefromabove

It'd probably work with tree trunks etc ... but would probably need more and stronger metal posts to hold them in place - and probably wouldn't last as long as the sleepers. 

The sleepers we used were the new timber 'sleepers' that you can buy from builders merchants etc - not too expensive.