Need No-to-Low Maintenance Ideas for Backyard Slope
csdhouse
8 years ago
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dottiecarrano
8 years agocsdhouse
8 years agoRelated Discussions
Any Design Ideas for My Sloping Backyard ? (Pictures)
Comments (30)Planning the flower bed plantings etc. is definitely the fun part. Most people skip to that step because it is the part of the landscape you see- and the most enjoyable part to think about. It's a classic mistake to do so because you will pay a long term price for all the seemingly little details you skip in the beginning. I take it that the advice of a good engineer feels out of the budget for you? Drainage issues are the boring stuff but it's already obvious you're going to have a significant drainage concern. Trenching and piping are okay but eventually trenches can fill with sediment and no longer work. You really, really need to have an engineering consult to determine if what the builder proposes will be adequate. It shouldn't cost more than a couple hundred bucks at most. Perhaps some other neighbors will pitch in since you'll all need the same thing? I used to be a City Planner. I've seen developers pull a lot of crap. Sometimes, they are well-intended but the data they based their information on was faulty. Other times- they're just out to make a buck as quickly and cheaply as possible. At an absolute minimum, call your City offices and see if someone from the City engineering Dept. can advise you on appropriate methods to handle the drainage. In theory, they've already required the developer to deal with this but sometimes really different to say it will work on paper and to see it once everything is going in. Building codes are the 'minium acceptable standard', they are intended to set the bottom threshold. Something can be up to 'code' but not necessarily be a great solution. Also, ask them what level of storm they design for. Sometimes they require them to design the drainage to handle the runoff from a 10, 50, or 100 year storm. You'll want to know which they planned for in your case as it will give you a better idea of what it will handle. As for your other issues- a patio will be much lower maintenance over time than a deck and will certainly last longer. I would also make sure to have a 2' high by at least 3' deep berm for flowers and shrubs against the house as sort of a 'back up' in case your drainage system clogs or is overwhelmed....See MoreHalf sloped backyard with fence - design ideas.
Comments (20)It depends on your needs. Do you need a utility area in which to hide things? Or a place for kids things? Or would it be better to plant a large flowering shrub that grows higher than the fence and creates additional interest? If you have a bed in front of the c.l. fence, it's possible to lessen the length of the fence run so that it doesn't penetrate into the yard so much. You could shorten it by as much as 1/3 or 1/2, depending on the width of the bed that acts to protect people from getting too close to the drop off....See MoreNeed ideas for large, sloping, backyard flower bed
Comments (9)Just because a website says a plant should do well in a given area doesn't mean that is necessarily will. All information must be taken with a grain of salt and then verified before one invests too much. I'm sure the original design intent is that the junipers grow together and be the "groundcover." Using mass shrubs as groundcover has the disadvantage that it's difficult to limit their height without mucho maintenance. What inevitably ends up happening is that they become too large and unwieldy, make somebody unhappy and then get ripped out and replaced. Adding another groundcover in between them would look weedy. Though I would do this if you intended to replace them with that other groundcover, and remove the juniper as the other groundcover took hold. Another disadvantage to the sea of junipers is that you really can't add trees (though it looks like some might be useful for screening) because of the shade they produce. Plants that demand full sun It would help on the weeds if you used Preen, a pre-emergent herbicide that attacks germinating seeds, and mulch heavily. Many people give up on Preen because it usually doesn't do a great job until after its second application. And also, because they don't adhere to the schedule, putting the second app. on way too late so that it becomes just another "first" application. I have found it to be effective and basically a life-saver. It can cost a fair amount to cover a large area, but in my opinion it still beats the total cost of hand weeding once the time and PITA factor is added up....See MoreHelp me out with our backyard, artistic xeriscape, low-maintenance
Comments (20)If you don't have any specific need or use for the space, I would remove the rock and plant as many trees along that space and the adjacent mulch bed as can fit at their mature size. While trees do need an initial investment of water for the first year to help grow deep roots, once established they shouldn't need anywhere near as much water as lawn. They would give you privacy and shade. The shade should help your lawn in the hot summer sun as well. I think mulched garden beds are a lot easier to weed than rock garden beds. I have several mulched garden beds and the weeds are infrequent and easy to manage. I have a small rock strip along my driveway that is a nightmare to weed (but regularly gets run over by truck tires so mulch and planting aren't ideal)....See Moredottiecarrano
8 years agodottiecarrano
8 years agodottiecarrano
8 years agocsdhouse
8 years agocsdhouse
8 years ago
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