Planting veggies on a slope (flowers, landscape, growing, fertilizer)

[maestramommy]

Our backyard has a sidewalk, then two areas that slope up about 40 degrees, then a pool. At the moment the sloping areas are covered with weeds, pachysandra (sp?) random irises, and some other leafy plant. I want to clear out the entire area and plant some veggies there (next year). A friend of mine recommended against that because she said when it rains the water might run off the slope more, rather than soaking into the ground. It seems to be getting plenty of water for the weeds and other stuff! But maybe veggies are thirstier? I was thinking tomatoes, zucchini, maybe cucumbers.

[North Beach Person]

Your friend is pretty much on the mark. That's an awfully steep slope and the pachysandra is doing it's job as a ground cover. You'd disturb the ground by putting in vegetables and probably have erosion issues. You could terrace the slopes.

[maestramommy]

Terracing the slope will be an awful lot of work. What else can I do with the slope? Pull all the ground cover and lay down mulch? Plant flowers? Right not it is FUGLY, but I'm not really a gardener and don't know what to do with it. I have a large slope and a smaller slope on the other side of steps leading to the pool. I don't want to grow anything too tall because then it will obscure my view of the pool, which is a safety concern.

[firebll31]

I would advise against mulch-water will likely run down, sometimes UNDER the mulch and float it away. It will be a constant job to rake it back in place. A ground cover is probably your best bet, maybe a moss? Is the area rocky?

[bustaduke]

If you are planting on a slope like that you mite want to look into planting squash, melons. zucchini, etc. that will cover the ground.

Keep in mind that these plants will not offer any cover in the winter and you will most likely find the your soil washes away.


busta

[swbtoo]

I used to think that pachysandra is the only groundcover there is! LOL

There is a wide variety of lovely ground covers, many of which bloom. Even phlox could be a good choice because it is virtually carefree, grows thickly and multiplies quickly. Some phlox gives a grand show of blooms in spring only, other varieties will bloom twice, providing a blanket of bright color. It seems to double or triple its size every year. You might also consider creeping juniper in some of the area. Pink primroses are also profuse bloomers, stay small, and multiply quickly. All take little care.

There are vegetables that can be planted with flowers, so talk to your local nursery to see what is recommended in your area. You might be able to have a veggie plant here and there among some companion plants.

Sounds like an interesting project! Let us know how it turns out for you, and share some pictures later on, OK?

[maestramommy]

Originally Posted by southward bound

I used to think that pachysandra is the only groundcover there is! LOL

There is a wide variety of lovely ground covers, many of which bloom. Even phlox could be a good choice because it is virtually carefree, grows thickly and multiplies quickly. Some phlox gives a grand show of blooms in spring only, other varieties will bloom twice, providing a blanket of bright color. It seems to double or triple its size every year. You might also consider creeping juniper in some of the area. Pink primroses are also profuse bloomers, stay small, and multiply quickly. All take little care.

There are vegetables that can be planted with flowers, so talk to your local nursery to see what is recommended in your area. You might be able to have a veggie plant here and there among some companion plants.

Sounds like an interesting project! Let us know how it turns out for you, and share some pictures later on, OK?

Hmmm! I will have to ask about phlox. What about crocus, is that considered a ground cover? I've been looking through a White Flower Farm catalog, and the crocus looks so pretty! I just have to read carefully and see if it does well in my region.

I will definitely post before and after pics!

[swbtoo]

Originally Posted by maestramommy

Hmmm! I will have to ask about phlox. What about crocus, is that considered a ground cover? I've been looking through a White Flower Farm catalog, and the crocus looks so pretty! I just have to read carefully and see if it does well in my region.

I will definitely post before and after pics!

Looking forward to them!

Crocus grows as a small individual flower. You'd get weeds inbetween them.

I think you really need thick growing masses of plantings to close up all the space.

[J&Em]

Half of my current garden is on a slope. It is very possible to grow many plants but you have to know what you are doing and be willing to put in some work.

There are several layers of problems here. A slope all by itself is plantable, but there isn't enough information to make realistic suggestions.

1. You say you aren't a gardener which means easy to plant and maintain plants and shrubs are required. Without knowing where you live we can't be as helpful with choices (we usually refer to zones in the USA from a map like the following links to determine if plants can survive a winter or a summer: National Arboretum - USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map and Perennial Gardening -- Tips, Advice, Opinions, Photos )

2. Which way does the slope face and do you get a lot of wind? This makes a difference in what will survive, as an example a north facing slope gets very little sunlight for good plant growth and a south facing slope that gets a lot of wind will become dessicated easily.

3. The pool is above the garden area and depending on use this may result in chlorine being introduced to plants from splashing, leaking and emptying activities. Chlorine is not always kind to plants.

4. If you want visibility then most veggies, perennials and shrubs that might be good slope anchors will be too tall unless sparsely planted. This leaves vines and ground covers.

5. Mulch can and will stay in place over time but you will get initial erosion and will have cleanup to deal with. Many people resort to decorative rock and edging but plain good quality mulch can work.

6. How hard do you want to work at planning and prep? Planning includes the plant types and sizes as well as where they will do best on the slope and how they will look together when they get to their mature size. How much time can you spend to keep your plants living? No matter what you plant you will need to make the soil better to some degree and clean out weeds so they don't come right back. Some people will go the chemical route and kill everything with a product like roundup and then wait to plant, adding fertilizer at some point. Others will yank the weeds, add compost and garden soil, possible add some slow release fertilizer before planting and then keep yanking any stray weeds that make it through the mulch. ANY plants will need some tending when they are first transplanted and as they begin setting new roots, especially as summer heats up. You need to plan to do a minimal amount of weeding and watering on a regular basis for even the toughest plants to survive initially.

7. It sounds like your main concern is not growing vegetables, but making the slope look less barren and possibly green and pretty. If this is the case you should NOT be looking at bulbs like crocuses. Most bulbs are in bloom for a very short period and their leaves die shortly after their spring bloom, leaving you with an empty looking slope for most of the year. Crocus are tiny plants as well so you would need hundreds for a temporary green look. that is a lot of work, but they would look great if planted around other plants that green up later in the spring.

Depending on factors already mentioned there are a number of plants that you can use, and after a year of more constant care they should thrive with very little attention. You may want to consider what southward bound mentioned, creeping phlox. I planted some earlier this year, so I don't have any personal pictures of them in bloom but they form mats of green for much of the year and turn into carpets of color in mid spring. Go about half way down the following site and you can see how they will look after about 2 years of growth on a slope:Rebel Ridge Plant Farm - Perennials Dianthus (look like mini carnations) is another group of plants that bloom and spread and are pretty for much of the growing season. Armeria, know as "Thrift" or "Sea Thrift" to some, is fantastic in places where the soil gets a bit hot, dry and salty. I've had mixed results but it is pretty. Another incredible ground cover which will also have color for a long time over the summer would be verbena. The hardiest perennial version is one called "Purple Homestead" but I have several other versions (one white and one a lighter pinkish purple) which overwintered on a windswept slope that are also doing well. The largest, which was planted last year from a very small pot is now about 5 feet in diameter! I'll can try and get some pictures posted of mine if you'd like to see how they look.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do. I'm looking forward to the "after" pictures!

[maestramommy]

J&Em, thanks for your lengthy post. I will try to answer your questions.

I'm a patient person, and don't mind if this project takes a few years. But I have at the moment 3 children under 5, so my time is rather limited. I could maybe devote 30-60 minutes a day (60 is stretching it though) to gardening. Besides these two slopes, I have a large island lining my driveway that looks rather scary at the moment. We will have some landscapers do some serious pruning to our bushes, but after the weeds are all pulled out, I want to plant something there. Again, once I get started I don't mind not seeing the full results for a while. But I would like to at least get started!

I live in Southern NH, and the slopes face west. Sort of. It seems to me that they get sun starting around 10am. It is now 2:35pm, and they are still in full sun. It won't be until late afternoon that the house will block the sun, and they will be in the shade. Because of the large number of pine trees on our property, I want to say the soil is probably acidic. However, we took down 10 trees that were right next to the house, so it might not be quite that acidic anymore. There are still plenty on the property though! At times it can get very windy, but it seems to be felt mostly up high. There are irises on the slope and they tell me if it's breezy or not.

I don't think chlorine will be an issue because most of the slope isn't next to the pool.

I looked at the site you linked, and couldn't find ameria, but the phlox was very pretty! I have a lemon verbena plant, is that related to the verbena you mentioned? I don't think I saw it on the site. But I LOVE purple flowers so I'll google the homestead.

I WOULD like to grow veggies, but it doesn't have to be on the slope. You are right, I just want it to stop looking like a jungle wasteland. The large slope has a whole bunch of irises that just popped out of nowhere last year. This year I didn't see as many flowers, so they probably need fertilizer. I also have two large hostas. I cut them back to almost nothing last fall, and this year they came surging back. And finally I have some grassy thing my MIL insists is some kind of chives, but it's ugly as sin, and I want it gone. So I guess I could keep the hostas and reposition the irises because at the moment they are tangled up in the pool fence. Then look for some kind of low ground cover to keep the soil in. Mulch would be nice, but you're probably right that it would just keep washing away. I don't like the pachysandra because it's too tall and sorta "competes" with the other plants, visually. And of course, there are the random spots of poison ivy Dh sprayed them and I'm waiting for them to completely die before clearing it out.

I have some other questions, but I'll start new threads for them. Thanks so much for your feedback and advice!