Sloping garden solutions – the real truth about gardening successfully on a slope

09.03.2024 - 10:57 / themiddlesizedgarden.co.uk

Whether you have a steep, sloping garden or just a small bank, there are some key facts you need to know about gardening on a slope.

However, once you understand the principles, you’re not restricted to any particular ‘plants that are suitable for sloping gardens’. You can plant the plants you love.

So I talked to Richard and Lesley who have a large sloping garden on a steep mountain. What they told me applies to smaller gardens and even a relatively small change of level. The only difference is that if your garden is either smaller or less steep, then your gardening will probably be a little easier!

But there is no better source of  reliable information than people who actually garden on a slope (rather than a round-up created by someone working in an office!).

Embrace your sloping garden

Lesley says that the first step is to ’embrace your inner mountain goat.’ By this, she means that gardening on a slope is different from gardening on the flat, and it’s important to accept that.

That applies to making changes, such as landscaping, and also to regular maintenance, such as planting and watering.

Although she was a highly experienced gardener, Lesley had never gardened on a slope before moving here seven years ago. So she had to accept that she needed to learn different strategies and techniques.

She says that you have two options. ‘One is to accept the slope and work with whatever gradient you have.’

The other is to create flat areas by creating terraces. This will mean engaging landscapers or doing some heavy duty landscaping yourself.

Lesley and Richard have combined both approaches, which is also another option.

You see a sloping border from more angles

If your borders are flat, you can see them from the front. And if you have