Designing a path on a garden slope

jay0109

Hope I can get some advice here.

My garden is about 6ft below the footpath level at the side and back of my house.
There is decking at the beck door and steps down to the garden.
But I am about to put a shed out the back for bikes etc and don't want to have to use the steps for the kids as they come and go with their bikes.

I recently had a small bit of lawn at the front dug up and covered with chippings to match the rest of the front. The soil from this was put into the back garden to build a slope at the side of the house down to the garden (10ft wide at the top, about a 45d angle down to the garden). It's been left to settle for the last month and probably for another month.
I want to have most of this slope planted (grass, plants etc) but want to put some sort of path in to allow for access to the shed.

I have a landscaper coming back in a month to do this but I know he won't have too many ideas and will probably look for the shortest/easiest option.

So any advice on the path design...what to go with (chippings, stepping stones etc), how to ensure it doesn't lose it's shape?

Thanks

Lumen

A photo would help

jay0109

2 pics which I think capture the essence of it. About 10ft along the footpath at the top

Garden slope2.jpg

Garden slope1.jpg

Lumen

OK, that's not 45 degrees, that's about 20 degrees. 45 degrees looks like a cliff.

You'll need steps. I'd start with Houzz or Pinterest.

e.g.

https://www.houzz.ie/garden-steps

I'm not really sure what you're saying about kids and bikes. Are you saying that they will need to push bikes up this slope? You can put a flat section next to the steps to allow them to wheel the bike on the slope and step on the steps.

Chippings are OK on steps behind the tread, but at this angle you'll mostly just have tread. You can't use chippings on the slope itself.

You could go for heavy planting on the slopes themselves as it's a part of the garden with no practical function (i.e. you can't put deckchairs on it).

Or more interestingly, have a series of terraces next to the steps which people can sit on.

mr chips

Not sure if it's worth paying a landscaper if you think he won't have too many ideas!   Also, 45 degrees would be incredibly steep, so I imagine your slope is more like 15-20 degrees.  When you say chippings, do you mean wood chip/bark?  Anything loose on a sloped area that's going to get a lot of foot traffic will end up being kicked down towards the bottom over time and will become a tedious PITA to maintain.  You could go with a mesh to hold small stones/pebbles in place, but that would be adding a lot of needless expense, so I would be more inclined to go with the stepping stone idea - reasonably broad ones (roughly 3x2 feet) sunk into the topsoil to either be at the same level as it or even a little below, and something like 7-10 inches between them so that they take the bulk of the foot traffic up & down the slope.  You could go with concrete flags, but natural stone is probably nicer to look at.  You might even prefer something that isn't rectangular but has sort of rounded-off corners.  To surround them, instead of grass it would probably be worth sowing in some chamomile seed, as this doesn't grow anywhere near as tall as grass so wouldn't need mowing as often - plus it releases a nice scent when you do cut it or even walk on it.  You would just need to make sure of getting the right type of chamomile, as there are a couple of varieties - one being the type used for a lawn and one being the decorative shrub (which is also used to make the tea).  Any garden centre should be able to advise you, or you can buy the seed packets online.

Lumen

If you have children that are remotely young, they will want to roll down that grassy bank. Nothing beats a good roll down a grassy bank when you're a kid.

jay0109

I was never good at geometry!

The slope is a shaded area so will mostly be planted with suitable vegetation/grass.
The only traffic will be the kids with bikes on their way to the shed near the bottom of the slope.

Lumen, what do you mean by 'tread'.
I agree with your idea of a runway to the side of the steps to roll the bikes on.

mr chips; the landscaper is coming in mainly to put in some paving stones around the back of the house which we currently don't have. And a base for the shed also.
The embankment is part of his remit but it's the smaller part of the jobs to be done in terms of importance. He's a bit rough and ready so I've no faith in great design ideas coming from him (I contacted 14 landscapers for the various jobs, only 4 came out to view the site and he was the only one who actually gave me a quote...before you ask!)
Would chamomile work in the shade?

Thanks for the info. My concern is some sort of subsidence etc and how stepping stones would work over time with that. But you have allayed my concerns somewhat

Lumen

jay0109 wrote: »

Lumen, what do you mean by 'tread'

The bit you step on. On my shallow garden steps I have railway sleepers on the leading edge of the tread (where the tread meets the riser) but gravel backfilled behind. On your slope the tread will probably only be deep enough to step on. Wooden sleepers are slippery when wet!

http://www.gardengatemagazine.com/64stepchart/

jay0109 wrote: »

I agree with your idea of a runway to the side of the steps to roll the bikes on.

You could use something like a clay half-pipe as a channel. Perhaps it could also have a drainage function.

jay0109

Brilliant, thanks

Lumen

Lumen wrote: »

If you have children that are remotely young, they will want to roll down that grassy bank. Nothing beats a good roll down a grassy bank when you're a kid.

Plus kids quite young will take pleasure* in falling/tripping down any steps you install and come running for plasters and cuddles.

*Not take pleasure in the literal form obviously.

jay0109

They'll probably avoid this slope as plenty of garden space elsewhere to amuse them. It's in a shaded area so usually damp, leaves etc.
Although I can see them cycling down the slope each time rather than walking it. That's a given

mr chips

Ah, I see.  I was possibly being a little unfair to him.   If he's putting in paving stones anyway, then maybe it'd be worth getting an extra 8-10 of them (depending on size - could be a lot more if they're only a foot square or something) and asking him to set them into the slope as well.  There should be sand and quarry dust on site anyway as a substrate for the other ones he's doing (unless he's actually concreting them in place?) - he can use a whacker plate to level that substrate and that should eliminate any areas of subsidence in the slope, so you don't end up with a wonky path going down.
Chamomile will work ok in partly shaded areas but if it's totally in the shade then it'll struggle a bit more.  Mind you, so will grass.  The steps with a "runway" might be preferable in terms of being harder-wearing, if a somewhat bigger/costlier job at this stage.  I would avoid just relying on grass alone, in any case - if kids are going to taking their bikes up & down the slope regularly, I would consider that an area of high wear & tear, and I think you'd end up with a lot of bald bits that get mucky in wet weather.  If the steps & runway are too big a job for whatever reason, you could also consider just having a straight run of e.g. 3x2 paving slabs with no gaps between them, and maybe sow chamomile either side.