I have a troublesome steep hill in the middle of my garden that I’d like to stop mowing and make productive. It’s roughly 9ft x 50ft with a relatively even slope, and gets sun until late afternoon. I’m looking for inspiration and ideas on what to do with it - I’m thinking of cutting long channels along it to create some raised beds near the bottom, and strategically placing rocks and plants to help stabilize and hold mulch for the rest. Some things I’d like to plant here include strawberries, a fruit tree or 2, some bushes, lots of hardy perennials and ground cover type plants, and maybe some squash or melons as temporary ground cover while other things establish.
Has anyone dealt with a similar feature in their yard, and how did it turn out? Are channels and swales the solution?
american groundnut is a great option for a hill like this if youre looking for something interesting. thats how it normally grows. the "“LSU” cultivar is the best imo
The main trick for me is to create flattened plots with some kind of retaining wall downhill from each tree, but I depend on rain water. Of course it’s difficult to even irrigate on such a steep hill, but drip would likely work out fine.
Most trees will grow very well on such a slope if you keep the whole thing pretty deeply mulched with free woodchips. I’m more concerned about the shade in the photo. Hope it wasn’t taken anywhere near noon.
The photo was taken a few days ago in late afternoon/early evening. It should get at least 8 hours for most of the growing season.
I like the idea of making little terraces for each large plant/tree, as long as I can get the mulch to stick. It will probably be pretty high maintenance with weeding and mulching for the first year or 2 until I can get some perennial groundcovers established.
I also have a steep hill. I had to adapt my water system for it. All my trees are planted at the top or bottom but I plan to plant my berries in the slope (gooseberries, hosta berries, raspberries, and maybe even blueberries)
You’ve probably seen the terraced gardening methods in places like Bali. They are very productive on extremely steep terrain. I’ve grown fruit trees on very steep slopes since I was a teenager 60 years ago. My father’s place in the coastal foot hills of Malibu had very steep land. I used to dig out deep pits because the soil was pure sand. I’d add a lot of oak-leaf compost to the mix I created and the trees would thrive. I even planted almond trees that made it though rainless growing seasons after nearly rainless falls and winters during droughts. No supplementary irrigation at all. The ground squirrels always got those nuts though. That’s why I didn’t irrigate them. I didn’t know how to make baffles back then.
I don’t want to hijack this thread but …I need to set up drip myself but am concerned that it won’t evenly distribute in my sloped area.
Is that not the case?
Anyone willing to share tips?
But grapes would be easy? It would be pretty hard to pick fruit from one of your tall pear trees, but maybe these trees can be kept at about 8’ height, although a little giant ladder type would balance well enough- my hillsides are pretty damn steep AND uneven. You Kansans are not used to steep …
I grow fruit trees on steep areas like that, I think it works fine if you keep your trees at 8’ or less, so you can pick all the fruit by hand. An 8’ high tree can produce a lot of fruit.
My topsoil is 6” inches deep and 50% rock, so I just dig into the ground enough to have a flat surface to set the new tree’s roots on, and make raised beds and fill with dirt that I buy. Your hill is pretty steep, so you would likely only need structure on the lower end and sides for raised beds. You could have individual beds for each tree, about a 3 foot diameter structure is what I use. Or you could make a bed about 8’ long and plant two trees in it 6 feet apart. When the trees are still young I plant flowers and berries in the beds for extra production space.
Think about when your 90. That hill is alot steeper than it looks. Compare it to other things in the photo. Grapes have an arbor to hang on to while you pick. You got me there we don’t have as much steep land. Kansas is not known for mountain views. Another thing that could be done is to make dirt stair steps on that hill before planting fruit trees. The watering will be challenging for sure.
I don’t see any issues planting on that slope, go for it and get rid of the grass
Previous owners of my property setup the orchard on a hillside that gets steeper than this at the top where we have a hedge row of pomegranates planted. They planted the trees on the natural slope and didn’t do any cutback/terrace/flattening, which was a dumb idea IMO because our hill is like 300ft long and sometimes when you want one orange you just get one off the ground at the bottom of the hill, haha.
It’s been a ton of work but I’ve been slowly adding cutbacks for each tree, and using the soil to make a berm/shelf at the downhill side. POs didn’t mulch anything and our soil is porous with lots of DG, I added mulch but quickly discovered without a cutback, the mulch ends up going downhill. The cutbacks have definitely helped to retain mulch under each tree and the soil has greatly improved with the organics I’ve added in the last few years…now my issue is chickens moving all that mulch when I let them out
I sympathize with the grass on a hillside. Mine’s all grassed around the trees, and I had to buy a riding mower with a locked rear end to get up it without tires slipping. I’m very tired of mowing that hill, so I’ve started trying to break things up and work toward no grass (at least on the top steeper parts). Been working toward what you’re planning, with lots of perennials and other groundcovers and edibles, instead of grass. Have also done some cutting into the hill to make swale and pathway, so that when I’m 90 I can still move around, as I think this was a big issue with elderly previous owners, thus the lack of maintenance on the orchard.
Picking fruit from trees on a slope took some getting used to. All mine were overgrown, but I’ve reigned most of them in to be 10-15ft tall, so things can be picked with an orchard ladder facing uphill only, lol. I also use long-arm loppers and pruners, grab&hold pruners, and picking poles to avoid having to move the ladders constantly for maintenance or picking.
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