this slope goes from my front lawn to the street and is approximately 12-15 feet and very steep.This bank is a monster to mow and weedeat. I need some Ideas for what to plant here.My plan is to lay landscaping paper and use cutouts for whatever I decide to plant.
Any Ideas?
Picture is from a really bad angle...Sorry!
I am the steep hill expert. The hill I have done the most work on drops 5' 6" in 15 feet.
First and for most do not use landscape fabric. It wiill have edges showing and bare spots and be a big pain whenever you try to plant, Plus you will get more run off.
Here is what I have been doing and it works very well. I put black plastic down over the grass to kill it off. This takes several weeks and looks ugly. By leaving the dead grass it's roots hold the soil in place until your new plants get established. Once the grass is dead I take the plastic off and spread a 3-4" layer of farm post (composted horse manure and bedding straw). I use that b ecause it is free and easy to get. You can use any good compost. I then stake burlap down over the compost to hold it in place. You can top dress this withe compost or mulch to hide the burlap if you wish. Then comes the plants. Cut the burlap and fold it back, move the compost aside, put in the plant and tuck some of the compost and the burlap back around the plant. By the time the garden is well established the burlap will have decomposed and you will have a healthy lovely garden.
My first patch had plants that were to tall and they bent over. I now stick to low grow plants. Sedum, Crainsbill, pinks, creeping phlox and the like. Here it is.
When not as many plants are in bloom.
Last year I started an extension of the garden. It will go all the way across the front in time. You can see where the black plastic is staked down to kill off the grass.
This is a steeper hill that I have been planting right through the grass because I don't dare take the grass out it would all wash away.
The big challenge that faces me. I have been rolling ideas around in my head for the 9 years we have lived here and this summer I start putting ideas on paper.
Thanks Zenpotter
Yours looks great! I'd bought some roundup to kill off the grass and weeds on the hill. Is this a good idea or not? I know that Roundup will kill everything,I'm uncertain that by killing it all off may do more damage before I'm able to plant.
Thanks again
Being an organic gardener I do not use Roundup. So my advice is do something that helps Mother Nature and take the Round up back.
If you decide to go use the Roundup don't plant to soon after wards, but also don't wait long enough to start getting erosion. Use the round up on a still day. If you live near a body of water don't use it.
When I am planting on relatively flat land I put 5-6 layers of newspaper down directly on the grass, this kills the grass, cover it with the farmpost and plant right through it the same day. You get a healthy weed free garden. Of course weed seeds blow in and you do need to pull them but you start out in great shape and it is easy to keep it that way.
By the way that first garden on the hill has been there for 7 years and is almost weed free. Of course I have to pull some weeds, but not many.
I do recommend you stay with plants under 6-8" so they don't fall over.
this is a better view of my slope here.
and here
I may re-think the whole roundup thing as there is a drainage ditch at the bottom of the slope....
Yep that is a hill. Just so you know I am not an expert, I have only learned by reading and doing.
I agree you should rethink the roundup. With the drainage ditch there it will go more places than on your hill.
Is the grass always that thin? You could consider the plant right through the grass thing. It is not very nice the first couple of years though.
The first year.
Second year with the roses in bloom.
Second year.
The first photo of this area a ways up. Was the 3rd year, last summer.
This message was edited Apr 2, 2008 8:12 AM
No,the grass gets super thick during the summer,and is a mess to keep cut,thats why I'm looking to do something that is low maintenance. If I plant right through the grass...won't I still have the same problem keeping the grass down?
Yes you will have trouble keeping it down. I did that one hill through the grass because it was thin and weak. The ground covers just took over. It is a North facing hill and gets virtually 0% sun.
It is better for you to use the plastic and burlap method. When our snow melts I will take a photo of the one that I started last fall. Right now it has burlap and only a few plants. I had just started to plant it when I got Lyme disease so it didn't get done.
I just hope that the burlap is still strong enough for me to sit on it to plant. I tend to slide down the hill as I plant.
Thanx guygirltruck for the Q, and thanx Zenpotter for A. I, too, have a roadside slope and have been researching different ways to remove the thatchy weed-lawn and replace it with native shrubs, grasses,perennials. Yours Z. seems to make the most sense. Now where to get a good price on black plastic burlap. Any suggestions? And can goat manure be used to compost?
Zenpotter, truly fabulous work! I have a more slight slobe, and in the summer it's completely shady. The grass was bad to begin with, but then they put in water lines and put contractor's "soil" and grass on top of that, and it all died pretty quickly. I knew someone who used low evergreens on a hill, and he swore he would never do that again...needed too much water. Is there any part of your yard where the snowplows throw the snow and road crud? I need something that will withstand that, lack of sun, and benign neglect.
The black plastic I got at a local hardware store that sells it in large rolls. Don't get the real thin stuff and keep it to reuse. I am going section by section, because I don't want to try to get that whole hill going at once. The burlap came from a nursery that uses it to wrap the root balls on trees, they sold it to me by the yard. I have seen nurseries that typically sell it by the roll, but if you can get one to sell you some by the yard it it is cheaper. This decomposes so it is one use only.
I do get some road crud in a native plants rain garden. The natives seem to take the most abuse.
My north facing shade hill is planted with native shrub roses across the top and then a whole variety of ground covers. Bishops Weed, Pachysandra, hosta, wild ginger, Vinca, evening primrose (it doesn't bloom as much as it would in the sun, but it really spreads well), I can't remember if there is anything else or not. Most of what is planted there was free either in trades or from friends that were cleaning out there beds. I looked for fast spreading plants with good root systems. There are many of those out there because people have to keep fighting them off. I made sure that I didn't put to many of any one thing in a spot and repeated as I went so it have the plants intermingled. I also planted them very close together. I do not have a hose outlet on this side of the house so it gets very little water other than what nature provides once the plants are established.
My gardens all have to withstand benign neglect because I like to plant, but don't like to maintain.
The way I plant starts the gardens out weed free and they are easy to keep that way. I am replacing the non natives with natives that tolerate dry conditions so I don't need to drag hoses around. Other than the fact that on that one hill I keep adding sedum, my addiction. They don't need that much work here either.
As far as I know goat manure can be used. Most manure needs to cure so it doesn't burn your plants. The horse manure I use comes from a race track. When they clean out the barns it is manure and bedding straw together. They grind it and set it out in wind rows for people to come get it when they want it. I always look for the rows that have been there the longest usually at least a year. If you are lucky there is even a horse shoe or two in with it. Unfortunately there is also plastic bag remnants and cigarette butts.
