Coping With Slopes: Future Fruit

This month's Gardening Gone Wild Garden Design Workshop is coping with slopes. As you can see in the picture we have a pretty good sized slope. There's a whole lot of area up there that we just really have no great way to use, at least not yet. I have ideas for what I would like to do but for now I have kept control of the area.

Over time I've mowed pathways through the slope to allow us to have access to different areas. The pathways cut through sassafras and locust trees as well as blackberries, Queen Anne's Lace, goldenrod, wild roses, and honeysuckle. I'm not a fan of the latter two as both of those plants are very invasive. Right now my slope is completely uncultivated except for the grass pathways, but I have plans. Each pathway will eventually form a new garden bed along it's side with the center piece of each bed a type of fruit tree, most likely apple. This slope is positioned well for growing fruit since it is somewhat shielded from the sun and fruit trees should remain dormant longer which is better for fruiting (The blossoms can avoid a potential late freeze).  Inside each of the garden beds will be deer resistant plants to help defend the apple trees from grazing. I hope to get fresh apples from late summer through fall without having to buy them at the grocery store!

Right now coping is an accurate word since I'm simply managing what I have. I would love to eventually tier the slope to help with planting it but for now I have other projects like my greenhouse shed to finish, garden fence to build, and many other things that need done. A gardener's work is never finished, he just stops to enjoy the scenery every now and then!

Another Raised Bed, This Time on a Slope!

Today I spent some time outdoors getting a raised bed put together for our back slope. It gives the slope a somewhat terraced visual effect but the wooden bed isn't needed to hold the slope in place. It's done fine on its own for several years! Here's the view from one side with the garden shed to the left. The plant holding bed is a good 15-20 feet away from the willow tree and the new bed is on the far right. I've temporally added dried weeds over the soil in the bed.

Here's the view from between the shed and the willow. When my finances are better I may replace the wood beds with stone retaining wall blocks. The old wood won't last very long but I'm hoping for at least 2 years out of it. It used to be part of a deck and I'm fairly certain that the pressure treated properties (and chemicals) are completely leached out. Beyond the second raised bed I can imagine another set of raised beds with a small stairway in between. Now that's a project for another year! (Besides I'm almost out of old wood...)

The large raised bed in the back is around 28 feet long and 4-5 feet deep. The bed took most of the day to complete but now I have a bed ready for my strawberry plants to move into in a few weeks. I'll probably sneak a few other plants in the bed as I go - taller stuff that will enjoy having the strawberries as a groundcover. I still need to add soil and compost to fill the bed up higher.

How do you cope with gardening on a slope?

My Spring Challenge (Clearing the Weeds and Planting a Slope)

Here is a picture of our new territory that I didn't quite know I had until a couple weeks ago. It is covered in a variety of weeds including notable family favorites like ragweed, goldenrod and Queen Anne's lace. Now if it were just the latter two weeds I would be OK with the area as a natural wild field area, but I declared war on the ragweed a long time ago.

I have a step by step idea for this area of the yard. I want to create paths and small to medium size circles of weeds that I can manage as I go. Each of these areas will eventually become a planting spot for perennials or ground covers. This will also let me map out where I want to place beds and give me a gradual feel for the area. Rest assured I will take out any ragweed that dares to stand in my way! Later I want to put a small bench/seating area so you can look down on the rest of our backyard. I will need to do much of this before spring gets into swing since it is all dead right now. Once spring gets going the weeds will start growing which will make clearing them all the more difficult. I'm also considering planting some evergreens on the top edge of the area. I've always liked spruces because of their shape and color.
Above you can see the mass of weeds that entangles this slope. In the background are two of our neighbors houses. It would be nice to provide them with something other than ragweed as a late summer and autumn display. For many of the plants I may go native but I like too many other plants to stick just to natives. Some ornamental goldenrod would be good, since it looks great and thrives in our area. Perhaps some Joe-Pye Weed, Rudbeckia, and loads of ornamental grasses. Nancy Ondra on her blog Gardening Gone Wild showed a picture of one area of her meadow garden that was filled with ornamental grasses. The second to last image is one I'd like to emulate in my yard. My area is a slope so it naturally will be different but there is such a great variety of textures in that image, who wouldn't want to emulate it?