Grading for a walkout is more complicated than most other landscapes. Not all designers have the experience to do a good job on them. Should you choose to do the design yourself, or perhaps want to evaluate what your designer has planned, I have some suggestions. Be warned, it's a lot of work. Scaled drawings will be needed; a plan view of the entire property and vertical views of both routes of the front to back perimeter. There are some discussions of plan view drawings on this forum, so I will skip for now to the vertical views. The graphic below is one suitable for grade planning. Note that the scale is exaggerated with one small square representing 4 ft of horizontal distance, but only 2 ft of vertical distance. Without detailed measurements, the graphic is only an approximation of what Nick may really have. Of the 9 to 9.5 ft vertical transition common to this house type, Nick has about a 2ft drop from the front entry to grade leaving about 7 to 7.5 feet to get to the back grade. My guess of the current grading is shown by the irregular brown line which is probably around a 22 to 28% slope. Several treatments are shown with other colored lines. Where the house foundation wraps around the back and fill can be place against it, the cheapest solution is that shown in green. The result is an easy to mow lawn and beds not subject to erosion. The side slope across the front of the house is more difficult to make look good and more surface drainage is diverted to the back. Another solution shown in blue uses two short walls to reduce the slope. Short walls can be a DIY project and the grade in front is held to a minimum slope. The purple line is a constant grade from entry to back house corner; cheap but steeper. The red line is one of many big ticket wall treatments possible. This can result in a great looking landscape that produces the largest amount of high use flat property. As the perimeter treatment is evaluated, it is compared with plan view to establish the the final grading and drainage.

Has anyone tried wattle fencing? Works great for raised beds. That's what I did with these two. Instead of filling the whole thing with dirt I did the whole lasagna deal. Working like a charm. Mine are 1.5 feet high but you can go as high as you can find sturdy uprights for. All you need is bendable branches for the weaving, sturdy "sticks" for the uprights and compostable material for the middle. They look rustic and work beautifully AND I don't have to get rid of my brush from the winter.

Welcome alaskanamazon! Well, I rememeber seeing once someone from Alaska making use of some old floor freezer/fridges as raised beds. I remember them saying that because the raised beds heated up quicker than the ground that they could grow their veggies sooner than most. I'm sure you could find and old rusted out car, take the wheels off, cut the top off and fill it with dirt. An old kayak/boat would work as well. Some peopl ehave used canes to make trellis'. I think an old spring mattress (no fabric or stuffing--just springs and frame) would make a FANTASTIC one standing up on end and/or propped up against a building. I have used wooden ladders as well. Hope this all helps you! Loev, Jules

Look for city-sponsored green waste facilities. There's one in Oceanside called El Corazon, and they have free / $5 pickup of a variety of mulches and great compost - not topsoil. We take the large trash cans and a couple buckets, and can load up in about 10 minutes - always wear gloves - I've gotten poison ivy at certain times of year. The back of the suv holds about 1 cubic yard in 6-8 cans. I've seen other GW posts on this topics, and they refer to the same type of facilities in LA/OC. Check the Soils or Composting forums. =^,,^= diana