I doubt that I'm ever going to convince many/any of you that straighter lines are good - or any of you conivince me that wavy lines are best! To each his own is the conclusion I think:-) Karin - From the deck, or in the space, the lines of the first of laag's drawings would still be what pleases me most. That gently rounded quasi-rectangular lawn is a shape I like (you might remember I have a rather larger version of that in my backyard!) and I can 'feel' myself moving easily along the path around the tree and to the front yard. I just think that flows better... v1rtu0s1ty - when I mean straight lines when there are planting beds, that what I 'see' - i.e. the edges are naturally softened by plants spilling over during the growing season. But the clear lines are still there guiding you deep into the garden and will still be making a strong statement in the off-seasons when the plants are not visible or less showy. sleepy - sorry, but I prefer the straight path version :-) If I'm going from point A to point B, I prefer to get there along the shortest path (which is a straight line). If there's no reason for a wiggle, it annoys me to have to follow that longer path. With a nice planting, a straight path doesn't have to be unattractive. I've posted this picture here before - straght path along the north side of our house - June 2009:

Berms help peaches in most soils in the northeast as well, based on my own experience and, more importantly, quite a bit of research- they are often recommended in university guidelines for peach and blueberry production. I should think they can only be a disadvantage for most species in droughty (very sandy or hydrophobic) soils, but one as wide as your berm would allow the creation of individual "craters" to help each tree establish if this is the situation. If drainage is good this can be helpful even in the flat to make watering easier until trees are established. Chestnuts are full sized trees and need about 30' space as a minimum. I'm experimenting at keeping mine more compact with pruning but I don't know how that will work long term and it's a lot of work. Once they plug in they grow like crazy. If you plant chestnuts, I recommend you get your trees from a source that has grafted trees so you can get really good nuts from them.

I agree that whether the hill was sloping toward or away from your house would make a difference. Our property is on a large hill, but we have acreage and it was never really that noticeable to me when I moved in, until we added outbuildings to it, and had to excavate. It is a gentle slope over a very large area. Since then I've noticed if one goes up to the back of the property toward the highest altitude, the view is amazing over the valley. We have terraced so much around the house proper and yes, it has turned into an asset! This is not an option if you are already on the market, it took us years to develop that. What terricks said.........YOU bought the house. Try to remember your feelings about a steep hill, and if they were negative what made you buy it anyway? Those are the assets you need to develop when prepping the house. If it was a steep discount in price........ouch. If it makes the land generally un-usable it's a negative. Plain and simple. If it slopes toward the house, the first issue would be people wondering if there would be a water issue, wet basement. That would pop out in your sales contract, but a portential buyer would not see that unless they've already committed. Letter? If it were my property, I wouldn't 'go there'.

While I love the strategy of cardboard with thick mulch on top to kill off grass, IME doing this on a slope is tough since the cardboard is smooth and the mulch slides. If you are going to do this, research to find the most irregular, jaggedy, fringy mulch you can so that it will knit together. Use heavy boards or rocks or bricks placed periodically to help hold the mulch and cardboard in place. Or alternatively, use Lacyvail's glyphosate (generic Roundup) strategy or strip off a section of sod, mulch heavily, and then do the next chunk since the mulch will cling to bare dirt better. Be sure that before you get started you set in a barrier of some sort between the lawn and the slope so that the two can't grow into each other. It can be an edging buried to ground level or a trench that is V shaped in cross section to keep the roots from crossing. Do you or your kids use the slope as a way to get down to the lower level of yard? If so, plan either steps or a path. A couple of other plant suggestions for sun: I have a steep slope in sun that I have planted with a combination of old-fashion orange daylilies, and Centaurea dealbata, both of which will spread and are about a foot tall when not blooming. In June it's mass of screaming magenta Centaurea, and in July the daylilies bloom. Butterflies and hummingbirds like both, and the seeds feed the finches. I'm in the process of trying out shrubs to add that will withstand both the voles and the aggressive plants already there, but it may just stay the way it is with the two tall ground covers mingling.