Northeast Gardening: Help a newbie plan her beds?, 1 by gardenmart

gardenmart wrote:
Well, a hillside really gets you into soil conservation. Do you remember geography from the 5th grade? Contour plowing, retaining walls, cover crops, and mulch? Cause if you don't, soon your neighbor downhill has all your soil! Of course, in the heavy rains, the neighbor has all the water that would be in your basement. I love my hillside. Fortunately, my son likes to garden and has built me some amazing stone borders and walls. We do have an amazing rock crop up here to work from. We have been busy reclaiming the southwest bottom of the hill corner from 2 public works projects. But the hosta is up and out down there, the daylilies are huge plants at the moment and there are buds on the bearded iris! I think the squirrels dug up the little daffodils I put down there as they disappeared. But hey, it's going to look great Next year for sure! Here's an idea of my hillside. I call this my :"outdoor bonsai" because the pine tree sprouted in the crotch of the oak shortly after we moved here 25 years ago. I have left it since then only have cut one branch that got broken in a windstorm. But you can see down the hill. I am standing on what small flat top of the hill there is in between the drop off and the house. I wouldn't even have that much had we not built an addition and the foundation guy gave me about 6-10 feet all around with the giant chunks of stone he dug out of there, but that is another story!
Martha