Steep garden advice.

Hi, I’m new to gardening. I’ve carried out a bit of landscaping to my steep garden and I’m looking for ideas to keep it tidy. Ive built a deck at the top to gain some usable space and dug a pond at one end where I intend on having a small stream running down the bank into it. I was going to plant out the remaining area of garden. The area of the garden is approx 15mx15m and it rises about 3m. I have no gardening knowledge but have planted some trees, heathers hoping it would look quite natural and proved some ground cover. The weeds keep drowning the smaller plants and looks really untidy. I’m considering covering the whole bank with a weed membrane and bark. Has anyone done a similar garden?
Thanks
Mark

 

Hello Mark, welcome to GC Opinion is pretty divided on weed-suppressing membrane. I'm a big fan as my garden is on a hefty slope too, and by far the most successful borders are those where I've prepared the soil thoroughly and then planted through membrane. Bark, though, will tend to travel down to the lowest point. Best to source brown membrane. Ground cover plants will soon spread to cover it.
Watering is an immense challenge on a slope, too. I took to cutting the bottom off clear plastic bottles and half-burying one with the neck down to act as a funnel, directing water into the soil near the plants' roots. Otherwise, the water just runs down on the surface and plants never really get any benefit.
Let us know what sort of soil you've got and which direction the bank faces and we'll be able to recommend some suitable plants