How to Landscape a Sloping Garden
Landscaping a lawn on a slope needs to consider the possibility of erosion. Plant beds have to be built up before create a more flat surface or at least prevent mulch from washing entirely from the bed. Vegetation and rocks can also help hold the soil in place.
Locate where you would like to place plant beds and summarize the bed areas using spray paint.
Dig in the slope to create flat ledges, wherever your plants can develop without washing from erosion.
Place rectangular pavers along the outer edge of plant beds, butting their ends together. You could also use rocks to form an opponent, digging a shallow trench around the plant beds to keep the rocks from rolling from place.
Chop up the soil in the plant bed and also blend in topsoil to fill the bed up to 1 inch below the top of edging.
Plant green crust, such as shrubs, flowers and ornamental trees, in the plant beds. Stagger plants inside the mattresses to create a more natural appearance. Use plants of various heights. Select drought-tolerant plants for beds close to the top of the slope since water will run off and down toward the other mattresses, leaving little water for all these plants. 1 such drought-resistant shrub is the evergreen buckthorn (Rhamnus ilicifolia), which grows well in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 7 through 10 and enjoys full to partial sunlight.
Fill in erosion problem areas with rocks of various sizes to create a rock garden. Dig indentions to the soil to keep the stones from rolling. Insert plants in between gaps in the rocks, such as mondo grass (Ophiopogon japonicus), to make the area more natural and offer some shade. Mondo grass grows well in USDA zones 6 through 8. The rocks and plants can help hold the soil in place, and the rocks will keep plants out of washing away as well.
Put in a path of stepping stones upwards through the backyard so that guests and you can get nearer without needing to worry about shiny grass. Wind the path back and forth across the slope, if it is steep, to make it much easier to walk.
