How to design a garden with slopes?

Gardens on sloping grounds are much more difficult to design than gardens on flat grounds. However, there are many possibilities to achieve a sloping garden and makes it looks really attractive.

 

Before starting the project, study the terrain in depth to get the most of each area and create a harmonious overall design.

The choice of the most appropriate technique that is  terraces, slopes, pebbles boulders, perennials or even stairs largely depend partly on the slope of the land and whether or not the topography is irregular. A professional landscaper can help to you determine which is the best solution for your garden.

A slope of less than 3% do not require any special planning, but from 3% to 10% percent need some erosion control, and for more than 10% are recommended specific restraint techniques.

Steep Slope

The main drawback of steep slopes is that they suffer from soil erosion of rainwater or irrigation. The best way to reduce the erosive effect of water and prevent soil drag is to retain the earth by planting species with a strong root system such ivy, alder, thyme, vinca, etc. eg for sunny slopes, using lilies or honeysuckle, palmettos and agaves, and the grim, lilies of the valley or acanthus. You can also use some types of resistant grass such as bermuda grass. You can also redo the landscaping and making multilevel flower boxes.

 Some techniques for slopes recommendations are:

Install a drip irrigation system to reduce soil erosion of irrigation water.

Form a small mound of dirt and mulch beneath each floor on the downhill side to form a basin that captures rainwater.

Improve soil, if very poor, adding fertile soil, coarse sand and peat plant to help retain water

For very steep slopes, it is better to use plantation mesh, mesh nets or vegetable blankets, and better plant species which have little or no maintenance

 Slopes Pebbles or Boulders

One of the most decorative concepts for slopes is to use pebbles or boulders. In a natural rocky area, with slopes and rocks, plants grow beautifully and freely between the rocks without any care. The only maintenance required is to removing weeds. You can also avoid weeds by mulching the area with gravels.

Terraces

Another possibility to save the slopes is by terraces on different levels. This is a wise choice when we have a large area but if space is small it may be more appropriate to model the ground with a rockery.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The terraced plantations do not require any different treatment than a conventional garden terrace as each would behave like a mini-garden . In terms of design it is important to harmonize the terrace and its components such as woods, boulders, stones with the architecture of the building.