What to plant on a long, narrow bank?
maria12
Posts: 5
Hi, we moved into a new house a year ago and the back garden is all laid to grass, including a bank! We cannot take it out as it helps to support next door's fence and their garden is higher as we're on a hill. So the bank has to stay but what to do with it? I'm looking for low maintenance/hassle ideas. Thought about just taking the turf up and making it into a flower bed but what to plant there? Ground cover? It's quite a large area - more than double what the photo shows. My Dad suggested building a low retaining wall but that seems quite drastic?! I fancied a proper rock garden for the top part of it but I reckon that would be a lot of work. Inspiration would be welcome. It's quite sunny in the main, getting the sun from late morning onwards. Just one part is shaded a bit by the house. It's good top soil I think and fairly sheltered. Many thanks in anticipation.
Posts
You are going to need an awful lot of rocks for that space. I think your dad's suggestion is a good one because it won't end up undermining your neighbour's fence which could be the case if you use the area as a flower bed and end up with the soil slipping south over the years. With a retaining wall you will have a stable flower bed which can support a mixed border of shrubs and annuals/perennials and you will be able to grow things that tumble over the edge of the wall.
I'd go with a low retaining wall as well. Don't cut costs by going with treated lumber.. it will rot out after not so long and you'll be stuck replacing it (costing more money). Build a permanent wall out of stone, rock, brick, etc. It doesn't need to be too tall.. just enough to make the slope less steep. Ensure you properly anchor it though, or else build it leaning into the hill side.
Spray weedkiller over all the grass within the wall a few weeks prior to filling, and then just add a load of top soil over the dead grass. Plant up some spring bulbs and some flowering shrubs, and you're good to go.
I would go with the retaining wall idea, but construct it from 200 x 150 mm softwood sleepers . That bank looks to be 900 mm x 900 mm at 45deg slope, If you take the foot of the bank back 300 mm and build the wall 600mm high the earth excavated will fill in behind the wall and give you a shallow slope at the top which you could plant with hanging varieties to trail over the wall.
I have built several features with these sleepers and they are quite easy to work with. The main thing is to level the bottom layer and stage the lifts as levels change and peg the sleepers in place with wood stakes from behind. Treated softwood will last 20 years.
Thank you all for the prompt responses so far! Much appreciated. Maybe my Dad has had the best idea then. Yes Curmudgeon I think your measurements are about right and I like your thought about cutting into it a little as that would make the resulting bed a little narrower too so less of a space to plant and maintain. I don't know which material would be best value to use as a "wall" given the length needed...
I've just paced the length of the bank and it's around 19 metres! So we'd probably need to get someone in to do this bit. Any idea what sort of cost we might expect for someone to create the "wall" for us?
Or deck it and have a seating area? If you have electric you could incorporate a pond too. http://www.rb-building.com/index.php?sheffield-builder=decking
We had a similar (but very overgrown) bank when we moved here - we did what Curmudgeon suggested, creating a retaining wall two sleepers high, held in place with reinforcing rods drilled through the two sleepers and hammered into the ground about 18*. We then backfilled with topsoil and now have a good herbaceous border - although ours is northfacing and shady.
The Shady Bank in its first spring.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Aha! Great picture Dovefromabove thank you. I think your slope would have been a bit shallower but very much the same idea. Really helpful to see the photo thank you. I shall show all this to my other half soon
Thanks for the decking idea Gardeninglily1, Had not thought of that one and whilst it would work, I think I prefer the bed logic for now as it should help to cover up the concrete of the fence a bit more.
All really helpful thanks.
I like the retaing wall, a rockery would look very silly there. But you could incorporate a lot of gravel into the raised bed and grow some rockery plants and alpines if you like those plants.
But I'd want something that hid at least the base of that fence to soften it a bit
In the sticks near Peterborough
A coat of green paint on the concrete