ugly steep hillside; need help/ideas
we live in PA and just built our home...we have an eyesore hillside in the back. we are going to be meeting with a few landscapers but wanted all of your professional garden web ideas too. we were first going to attempt crown vetch and did on the more graded nicely slopped part of hillside with not much coming up...we planted this past sept. take a look and tell me if you think more excavating /tree removal/ any good plants///etc... I don't want a fortune in it but would like a fix for a few years. I am tears over this eyesore. not what was intended from our builder/excavator.
Comments (15)
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Need help on planting large steep hillside in front of house
Comments (4)Wow! Big project ... I could go crazy with it myself, but I'm going to assume you want low maintenance. (?) I would plant 1 or 2 rows of trees on the flat "top" portion and then grass it in. You can seed it and put down straw for cover and Water it in, maintain moisture to encourage a deep root system. Less expensive than sod. Put mulch rings around the trees to protect the trunks... makes it easer to mow too. The lower " slope portion I would plant blue rug juniper (nearly indestructible), makes a no fuss "ever" green carpet and is good at erosion control. If you want some color... plant some hardy azalea bushes within a 4' space just inside where the "top" and the "slope" meet (all one color makes the best show). Whatever you do - would love to see a picture when you're done!...See MoreEstablishing asiatic jasmine on steep hillside...
Comments (12)I don't think you're going to be happy with the results. Jute erosion control fabric has a very short lived existence and will start rotting away in very few weeks ... before jasmine really begins to take hold and cover. (It works better for seeding or closely spaced, fast growing groundcover.) I think you need something thicker ... like excelsior, coconut coir, or straw matting ... something that does not allow much light to get to the soil and has a synthetic matrix holding it together. You need to run it over the shoulder of the shoulder of the slope for stability. In addition, trying to establish a groundcover without first killing the weeds and maintaining their absence is going to result in a disappointing mess. While it's going to be technically possible to eradicate weeds and keep them away by strictly "organic" methods, you'll need to devote a lot of time, over a lengthy period, in order to accomplish it. Or, have a team of slaves. It would be much easier and more effective to use chemical means to kill the weeds and keep them away (in addition to EC blanket). That would be starting with Round-Up and treating with Preen on a schedule, until manual control becomes realistic....See MoreSteep Hillside - English Ivy?
Comments (40)@j williams ... I took a quick look at the article and early on found this incongruous statement, which is the central objection put forth: "Ivy has no problem climbing to the top of a 100-foot tree and completely enshrouding the trunk and main limbs. [True.] It can shade out so many leaves that the tree dies due to lack of photosynthesis. [Categorically false!] A tree's leaves are generally not found at the canopies interior -- where the trunk and main limbs are found -- but are within a relatively thick sphere at and near the canopy exterior. Ivy never grows on this lightweight wood and consequently does NOT shade leaves or prevent photosynthesis. What is so extremely annoying about these people behind an oppressive movement, is their willingness to create and propagate false information. Then they just copy and spread the lies ad infinitum, until their political movement takes hold. And then everyone else must suffer the consequences of their shortsightedness. I don't get too bent out of shape that it happens routinely in other places in the world. But the concept of inflicting unwanted views on others is wholly unAmerican and must be challenged here....See MoreWhat to do with steep hillside driveway
Comments (5)The appeal of a hard to access garage you can't use in the winter is as a place to store big stuff, lots of stuff. The long decomposed driveway was probably just a way to make driving the stuff down there easier, not so much for parking a car in the storage garage. The asphalt pad in the bottom corner looks like a good place to park a boat. Do you know the history of this side driveway? You have no way of knowing if a future buyer has a lot of stuff that needs storing or a lot of people that need bedrooms. I would err on the side of selling as is. Clean off the remaining asphalt. Don't hide it. Seed the dirt areas to lawn. Let the buyers decide what they want to do with the storage garage. If your dad is gone and your mom is going to be moving soon, the time to empty the basement garage of any remaining stuff is now, not while in the stress of moving your mom. That is something you can do....See MoreAnnicade
10 years agoAnd front of house to give idea of background and soon need ideas of front landscape once the mess of a hillside is solved.
melle_sacto is hot and dry in CA Zone 9/
10 years ago
PROYardvaark
10 years agolafleurs1
10 years agoAnnicade
10 years ago- PRO
Yardvaark
10 years ago 
Suzi AKA DesertDance So CA Zone 9b
10 years agoSuzi AKA DesertDance So CA Zone 9b
10 years agobgaviator
10 years agoThis is an ugly hillside I had to do something with. This is Chocolate Chip Ajuga. Each plant started off really tiny, after one season this is how big it's gotten. I don't think it can just be neglected though unless you get enough rainfall from mother nature. I do have to water them during dry spells, but they are giving an awesome flower show right now, and have grown like crazy. Not sure if this helps your situation or not.
bgaviator
10 years agoThis was mid-summer last year, first year of planting. The plants even started out much smaller than what you see here. They were just tiny plugs. Just trying to show you how fast they grew. I did find that they established better if I put them on a timed sprinkler in the morning, every other day. When I first planted them I didn't give them a lot of water, and many of the plugs wouldn't establish and would die out on me. Once I put them on a sprinkler they did much better for me.
AnnicadeOriginal Author