Steep Sharp Bank

coffey87

Hi All

In the process of building a new house on the side of a hill. As the result of the hill, I'm going to have a steep, short bank around 2 sides of my house.

I'm planning on planting a hedge all around the perimeter and there is some flat ground at the top of the bank, so that is fine. My question is, what to do with the sharp bank itself?

Has anyone had a similar bank and what have they done with it? I'm think shrubs and a layer of mulch on the ground.

looksee

This discussion has been had several times with dispute as to whether mulch will stay on a steep slope. I am one of the ones who contend that it will not, others say it will.

I have recently inherited a house with a similar steep bank and years ago it was planted with rubus tricolor which we are now pulling out in arms-full. It does come up reasonably easily. However it is very vigorous and needs to be controlled/cut back occasionally. It will however cover your bank, look good and hold the surface in place. If you are anywhere near the south east I could give you a bagful of rooted runners.

Reckless Abandonment

Depending on how steep. I'd personally go for ground cover plants. Or if it's very steep plant climbers up it

macraignil

coffey87 wrote: »

Hi All

In the process of building a new house on the side of a hill. As the result of the hill, I'm going to have a steep, short bank around 2 sides of my house.

I'm planning on planting a hedge all around the perimeter and there is some flat ground at the top of the bank, so that is fine. My question is, what to do with the sharp bank itself?

Has anyone had a similar bank and what have they done with it? I'm think shrubs and a layer of mulch on the ground.

I have a similar steep bank to the front of the house here and decided just to plant it up with the hardiest plants I could think of. The most recent clip I have of it would be the second half of this video. Here's a clip of the same slope over two years back when I was just getting the planting there started. I collected some stone from local fields and built up a bit at the base to just mark off the slope from the drive way and I think the spot behind the stones at the end of the slope has been good at catching anything falling down the slope and given young plants a bit of shelter as the slope is north facing in my garden. As someone else mentioned a mulch would be likely to fall down the slope. As you can see in the video there are loads of different plants that have grown well in what is a difficult environment with so little soil on the slope and I have had to pull out some weeds that could have made it even more messy looking. A good hedge at the top might help prevent grass and seeds from weeds spreading from the top down the slope and I should have got this growing sooner rather than experimenting with a hedge of bay laurel that can be used in the kitchen which has still to get growing properly as a hedge.



Chinese bramble might be an option and is very vigorous and I have also planted ivy on steep banks when working on commercial landscaping projects. I prefer my own approach of having a mixture of plants with some evergreen to give some winter colour and others with more flowers for making the area nice in the warmer parts of the year. Juniper, cotoneaster, abelia, budleia, montbretia, clover, red valerian, geum, chamomile, bird's foot trefoil, spiraea, penstemon, comfrey, pittosporum and lamium varieties have been among the best performers on my north facing slope but I do have to climb up it every few months to pull out things like grass,willow herb and buttercups which self seed there and would start to take over if I left them go to seed. As the other plants are getting more developed this is less of a problem.

Bixy

Persicaria affine (knot weed) has worked really well for me on two very steep banks.. The soil is a stiffish clay so making a small hole for the plant is ok, but they thrive in the conditions. They die back in winter but there is enough matting of the stems to stop any soil erosion.