Getting Creative With Landscaping

If your garden slopes and dips, it can be challenging to maintain healthy plants and to get the most out of the landscape. Here are some tips. 

Constructing Terraces Using Retaining Walls

To manage the incline and produce order out of chaos, create tiers with the help of retaining walls. Using stone, concrete or timber—retaining walls hold back soil, allowing you to carve into the hill to form numerous terraces. Position several walls to create the contours you're after. The tiers can be vast and generous or small and contained—they can gently slope or be absolutely level. For interest, generate contrast with distinctive foliage, rocks and pebbles on each level. The relatively even ground of each one will enable a flourishing garden—rainwater will have a chance to sink in rather than run down slopes and wash away topsoil and nutrients.

Accenting The Garden With Steps

Rather than levelling out your garden, you may want to emphasise its hilliness with a natural stone staircase that climbs to the top. For steep inclines, form a path that winds its way across the hillside, curving and zigzagging rather than travelling straight upwards. Angles will make the pathway safer and more comfortable to follow. Steps order and structure the landscape, adding charm and texture. 

Incorporating Boulders And Rocks Into The Design

Decorating your sloping landscape with boulders and rocks helps to stabilise the soil while adding beautiful features. Place the boulders into indents in the ground in irregular groupings—combine rocks of various sizes, shapes and colours. Intersperse the terrain with mid-sized plants and bushes. 

Practical Factors To Consider When Landscaping Your Slope

You can check how rainwater runs down a slope by looking for channels within the soil. Water that flows straight downwards with great force, rather than crossways, is more likely to cause erosion and instability. Other factors to consider in your landscaping decisions are the soil quality and the amount of sunlight the hill receives, which will influence your choice of plants. Also, can you walk across the slope, or do you need to hold on to retain your balance? You will need to maintain the garden. 

Thus, in a hilly landscape, you can level the earth with the help of retaining walls and tiers, or you can build on the charm of natural inclines. Hardscape elements, such as retaining walls, staircases and rock features, incorporate diverse materials into the garden such as stone, timber and concrete. Practical factors such as whether you can access the garden, its soil quality and the sunlight it gets are crucial also.

To learn more, contact a landscaping professional.