Going up the slope

Dear ladies and gents,

The back part of my garden is located in a slope and ever since we took over the property a couple of years ago it has been a constant source of thoughts...as neither me or my mother know what to do about it and how to make it look less dishevelled.

While the flat part of the garden is covered with lawn (or what remains of it...), the slope is a mix of grass and weeds and wild plants (see image)...we thought about lawning it but the soil is non conductive to grass planting, being composed mainly of stones and a thin mix of sand and clay (again, see attached image). In part this is the normal soil for the neck of Italy I live in, but also a lot of it are leftovers from when the property was part of farming land and the slope was terraced and covered with vines and olive trees. Removing the vegetal covering exposes the soil; one shower and most of the earth ends up being washed away.

Having explained my situation, I would like to ask the forum, what would the best course be to deal with this sloped area? Given the fact that there are just two of us (and my mother is 69) the solution must be necessarily applicable by two persons.

Cheers Nicholas

 

Hi,

As from your other post I think your thoughts of lush green lawns are out of the question unless you are prepared for a lot of work and constant watering.

Suggest for most of the area you go with the flow and keep it as a scree garden with plants and herbs that do well in your dry and stoney location.
Is it a limey stone and high ph ?

Where you want lush planting then special areas where that poor soil has been replaced with deep compost area could be used along with plants in very large pots to minimize watering, unless you can fix up an automatic dip watering system for them.

Think walking around your area and seeing and asking other gardening locals how they deal with the conditions is probably the best advice ...?

 

Hello,


Yes, the area is mostly limestone - I live about 15km from the foothills of the Dolomites. The area is also moraine country, which means that the subsoil is essentially made from decomposed glacial debris, which results in stones of assorted sizes. The area gets normal to high rainfall so dryness is not an issue. However the soil drains very quickly. The soil is mainly high Ph, so much so that some plants (such as our azaleas) have to be watered using fatwer from our rain butts.

The lower (flat) part of the garden is lawned, however it has been suffering from the effects of neglect from previous owners - we are taking steps to dealing with the issue, such as killing the weeds and removing moss. However we are completely unsure on how to proceed with the sloped part.

Alas we don't have any other gardeners to draw advice from. On one side the neighbour has retained part of the original terracing and uses it mainly for storing garden supplies. On the other the garden is even more dishevelled than ours. And the fact is that the Italians aren't as keen gardeners as the British are - most houses have lawns (not very well kept) and a few flower beds and that's it. On my neck of the woods having a "pleasure" garden is still considered to be rather strange - the locals still think that land is to be used to plant food.

Cheers Nicholas

 

What you need to do is find out what grass types prefer the soil type. I don’t know the soil or popular grass types over there sadly.
Is there no local companies that deal with lawn care over there near you that can give you advice as they will know the conditions and grass types?

 

If it were mine I would have no hesitation in returning it to terraces with vines and olive trees. I love that landscape. Almonds and lemons would probably do well too.

 

I agree with you, Redwing. Either that or shrubs on the slopes to hold the soil down. No point fighting Mother Nature unless you've got a lot of time and money.

 

I have a similar, if a little steeper, bank, with poor soil that drains quickly, so I can relate to your problem....

What I am slowly doing is creating turf terracing, back-filling with our garden compost mixed through the turned soil, then planting. Every now and then I have "scrub" shrubs to stabilise the bank - strong vigorous growers that put down good roots easily, and cope in poor soil. So budlhia (spellchecker hasn't a clue with that one!), deutzia, a corkscrew Hazel, etc.
Where the soil has been backfilled, I can do more normal planting, but still put in some good doers, like roses, azaleas, Rhodey-dodeys, as we call them in this household (you don't have to be mad to live here, but you soon will be!!).

Where am I getting the turf? As I clear areas of grass, I remove blocks of turf with a garden fork. You soon get the knack of running the fork parallel to the surface, 2-3cm below... lay them upside down, building the stack so it leans slightly into the slope. The grass will still grow a little, but not much, I find (then again, my soil is v poor!). You could do something similar clearing the bank of the surface grass/weeds, to get your turf?

 

Hi Nicholas , what about low shrub roses which would cascade down ?