m33r4
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Posts: 7
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Post by m33r4 on Sept 9, 2022 10:55:12 GMT
Any garden design ideas please for a garden that slopes away from the house? Approx. 50 foot wide by 30 foot deep. Soil likely to be acidic as it's South West Wales (UK). Gradient is quite steep (perhaps 30 degrees?) 
Plants I tend to go for, but I can adapt to others easily: acers, yucca australis, magnolia, bamboo (gold, niger), wild ferns, all types of ferns, privet, fast growing pine type trees. Any trees I go for need to be prunable to my desired height (so I don't block any views). Garden style I admire: Japanese (however there are trees on perimeter that will shed leaves in the autumn), rain forest, tropical, beach. Happy to lose: the lawn as it's not the easiest to mow being so steep Having searched online, I can see some hard landscaping goes into gardens on a slope. I embrace the fact I will need landscaping too but on the cheap side, without concrete and preferably natural material like wood/railway sleeps. |
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Post by geumgrower on Sept 9, 2022 14:24:12 GMT
That looks steep. Are you thinking of putting in a terrace style garden, using wooden sleepers are retaining walls? That would be a lot of work with a digger to my way of thinking. You might also consider having a paved path zig-zagging down to the bottom of the slope. The soil above such a path could be held in place by upright paving slabs. Then you could plant creeping plants to tumble over the edge. Trying to think where I have seen this done. If I remember it I will see if I can find an image of it. Here we go
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Post by SueA on Sept 10, 2022 7:53:13 GMT
I like that idea of the zigzag paths from geumgrower m33r4. The area close to the house at the top looks as though it may be a bit dry & possibly exposed to the wind so I wouldn't put anything delicate like acers up there unless you're going to build terraces, raised beds or the zigzag path but you could go for a Japanese feel & put things like prunus kojo-no-mai which likes well drained acidic/neutral soil, doesn't grow very tall & has pretty spring blossom, different coloured acers such as acer palmatum 'Orange Dream', 'Atropurpureum , 'Dissectum' etc., & Japanese silver Painted Lady ferns like 'Silver Falls.' Or you could go for a more 'tropical' feel & put fatsia Japonicas, yuccas, tree ferns & bamboos - I'd keep the bamboos in large pots though or restrict the roots by sinking something in the ground around them though as even the clump forming ones can spread. |
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m33r4
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Posts: 7
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Post by m33r4 on Sept 10, 2022 8:24:02 GMT
That looks steep. Are you thinking of putting in a terrace style garden, using wooden sleepers are retaining walls? That would be a lot of work with a digger to my way of thinking. You might also consider having a paved path zig-zagging down to the bottom of the slope. The soil above such a path could be held in place by upright paving slabs. Then you could plant creeping plants to tumble over the edge. Trying to think where I have seen this done. If I remember it I will see if I can find an image of it. Here we go Thank you geumgrower - some lovely tips there! Yes it is steep as you say  Thought on the following plan please?- To make use of the garden, is to build a decking/balcony over some of the garden, which will also act as a view point over the rest of the garden. This is also where our garden furniture will live.
- Rest of the garden, cut a terrace style (like tea fields in India), in a curved fashion, compacting the soil and therefore avoiding use of any other soil retaining support?
- Level the soil on each terrace ready for planting
- Avoid using bricks for steps perhaps, if needed, perhaps old sleepers as steps?
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m33r4
New Member
Posts: 7
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Post by m33r4 on Sept 10, 2022 8:26:41 GMT
I like that idea of the zigzag paths from geumgrower m33r4 . The area close to the house at the top looks as though it may be a bit dry & possibly exposed to the wind so I wouldn't put anything delicate like acers up there unless you're going to build terraces, raised beds or the zigzag path but you could go for a Japanese feel & put things like prunus kojo-no-mai which likes well drained acidic/neutral soil, doesn't grow very tall & has pretty spring blossom, different coloured acers such as acer palmatum 'Orange Dream', 'Atropurpureum , 'Dissectum' etc., & Japanese silver Painted Lady ferns like 'Silver Falls.' Or you could go for a more 'tropical' feel & put fatsia Japonicas, yuccas, tree ferns & bamboos - I'd keep the bamboos in large pots though or restrict the roots by sinking something in the ground around them though as even the clump forming ones can spread. Wowzer amazing suggestions of plants thank you!
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m33r4
New Member
Posts: 7
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Post by m33r4 on Sept 10, 2022 8:31:21 GMT
![]() If push comes to shove I am thinking of the following option to retain soil on each terrace although I would go with just 1 or 2 rows... 
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m33r4
New Member
Posts: 7
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Post by m33r4 on Sept 10, 2022 8:34:13 GMT
geumgrower - Is this what you meant by using slabs to retain soil?  
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Post by geumgrower on Sept 10, 2022 16:28:32 GMT
Not really, I would use the slabs upright along the side of the path to keep the soil from the slope above in place. Bit hard to draw on here 1 upright slabs 1 soil path 1 ----------------- Hope that is clearer.
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m33r4
New Member
Posts: 7
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Post by m33r4 on Sept 10, 2022 16:44:08 GMT
Not really, I would use the slabs upright along the side of the path to keep the soil from the slope above in place. Bit hard to draw on here 1 upright slabs 1 soil path 1 ----------------- Hope that is clearer.
I'll keep that in mind thank you.
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Post by geumgrower on Sept 10, 2022 19:55:50 GMT
Certainly a bit cheaper than hollow concrete blocks. And if you buy the smaller size slabs a lot easier to handle.
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