Seeking solution for weed & erosion control

3 years ago

Pictured here is the terminus of my property at the rear; a solemn, ugly strip of depleted powdery clay approximately 40 feet long at the curb, and just for giggles, measuring an average of 44% gradient. An overlooked, unwanted piece of the bundle of joy that is my home, this area could not be more useless to me if it tried: it takes a quick drive or 10 minute walk to reach and is only visible from the backyard if one walks up to the retaining wall above. Yet, it is my responsibility to maintain it and keep it clear of the seasonal onslaughts of aggressive weeds and fast growing trees. The barren land you see here represents many hours of work, and many cubic yards of waste. Besides being a fire hazard and an eyesore when neglected, it is an invitation to the city whenever they get revenue hungry to issue a citation. I am quite over it. I want to cover this land with something that stops the weeds without allowing erosion. I'm leaning towards tacking down strips of landscape fabric and covering with mulch, bark or gravel. The challenge here is the steep gradient. If anyone has tips on making that idea work, or has a completely different idea, I am all ears. Thank you in advance!

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Comments (6)

Ash
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
My neighbor had a similar issue, and covered their 60% incline with a Geogrid type landscape product. They just filled theirs in with fine gravel for low maintenance. Cell-Tek Slopegrid. Just google "Gravel on an incline", and you will see many examples.
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Yardvaark
3 years ago
Nature's answer is to cover it with any kind of plant material, but probably the most aggressive and invasive type, as that's what's trying to spread the most. To follow the same general principal in a more civilized kind of way, is to cover the area with some kind of groundcover. The difference is that you'll have to help the civilized plants along, watering them through the establishment period according to the weather patterns. What's coming to mind as a possibility, if it grows there, is ordinary fountain grass, Pennisetum setaceum. It gets about 3' tall with an equal spread, is easy to grow and reseeds itself, which helps it to fill in any bare spots that might appear. It's quite nice looking for a long period of time in a warm climate.
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Your origional post with working pictures Hi everyone, I have an erosion problem in my back yard. I am looking for ideas to either resolve the problem entirely, or design around it. Some non-experts (i.e. parents) have suggested I create some sort of dry creek bed to give the water someplace to go. I'd prefer not to cut my yard in half, since the trench is in the middle of the yard, but I'll happily take any solutions to the problem! Here is a pic from a distance, looking out my back door. The trench starts before the trees, about where the grass changes color: This one is of the problem area: These three shots are close-up pics of the erosion. I transplanted some grass there when I created a flower bed, but much of it has washed out. This is a shot from the back of the yard. You can see the slope pretty well here. This one is of the drainage ditch on the property line. I think the water is suppose to drain here (but it doesn't!). As a side note, I'd like to know how to make it visually appealing, also, but that's another subject! The trench basically runs parallel across the yard. It turns a couple of times and splits once or twice, and isn't as deep as the yard flattens. However, when I measured it, it was a good 120 feet long. Any suggestions? Thanks for any help! Alright, my responce, The reason that your yard does not drain into the drainage ditch is because water always goes with the path of least resistance, and thats Down hill, if your yard slopes to the ditch and then has no were else for the water to go it will follow the ditch. Also, Roots help hold soil in place, deep roots more so, if you have a real problem area a tree can really just staple that earth in place, although it will need a while to get itself established, in the mean time sandbags can be used to redirect a little water here and there. HTH
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I don't know how long the fence has been there, if it is over 7 years then I'm at risk of losing. I don't like involving lawyers anyways. I just watched another neighbor walk his dog into our yard so my mind is made up. I'm fencing my whole yard where the ground is stable. A drain and mulch or rock bed on our fence line will push some water to our driveway. A rock bed on the rest of the fence line will keep the water on the neighbor's property. I'm going to put the fence in between the house and the riprap drain and stop worrying about that part of the erosion. He also lets the poison oak and grass grow wild there so I'm tired of maintaining his mess. The drain at the end of the riprap will continue to overflow into his yard and I'm going to ignore that too until he decides to install the proper size of drain pipe. If he loses his fence due to erosion on my land, then he can hire a lawyer. He has not made one good decision and I'm tired of trying to fix his messes. By installing a privacy fence, I cut off access immediately so maybe my next batch of sod will have a chance for survival. Also, it will block out the poison oak and the view of his weeds and keep a dog in our yard.
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Lots of inspiration links below via Google search for "gardening on a slope" and "hillside garden": My favorites are the mixed grasses and perennials. With the two it's fairly simple to combine a lot of plants that flower at different times to keep some seasonal interest. It would make for a very big ongoing show with low maintenance. http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/vegetables/vgen/growing-a-vegtable-garden-on-a-hill.htm https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5xZgiibypc http://www.finegardening.com/shrubs-slopes http://www.doublescribble.net/images/3.lushome.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/garden-design-ideas-container-gardening-20.jpg https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/8b/f4/ed/8bf4ed7f15d135ea8568620f5a3506e5.jpg http://beautygarden.website/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/small-garden-design-sydney-garden-design-seaforth-pictures.jpg http://www.livingandlearningwithluisa.com/2013/05/11/building-garden-beds-on-a-slope/ http://decotrack.info/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/beautiful-hillside-garden-patio-landscape-ideas-best-design-281142.jpg http://www.santacruz.watersavingplants.com/GardenWorks/Photos/851.jpg https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/9a/73/01/9a730133c0f456984a6fe9c404344f4b.jpg http://www.sunset.com/garden/landscaping-design/hillside-gardens/how-to-landscape-a-slope https://www.pinterest.com/explore/hillside-garden/
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arcy_gw
3 years ago
Pachysandra works for me in similar situations. No pampering, no maintenance. Looks great 90% of the time. Early spring coming out from under the snow..nothing looks great.
Christopher CNC
3 years ago
The simplest solution is just to weed whack whatever comes up once a month in what I would take to be the rainy season from the pictures. That might take all of ten minutes. Groundcovers and landscape fabric with any kind of mulch will still need weeding and maintenance in the growing season to avoid the revenue collectors. Because it is inaccessible from the property and requires the problematic effort of a walk or drive, pay somebody to do it for you.
apple_pie_order
3 years ago
Have you considered moving the wall to enclose the area as part of your yard? The area would be more accessible and possibly more useful.
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Yardvaark
3 years ago
If one has allowed a weed problem, it takes a while to get rid of it. But if one plants and mulches fairly heavily (two settled inches is enough) and polices it from returning weeds on a regular schedule while the groundcover plants are growing in, eventually the weeds will be few and far between and there will be a lovely covering of nice looking plants. Preen, on a schedule, helps.

At the first couple of years of a new installation, regularly returning annual weeds come with the seasonal changes. But if weeding is kept up with, eventually these stop or slow to nearly nothing. That's how everywhere new, weed-free landscapes are permitted to exist.

Seeking solution for weed & erosion control

Comments (6)

Ash

Yardvaark

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