A hillside garden can be extremely attractive. However, the sloping topography also poses certain challenges. To protect slopes from slipping, you can also combine the useful with the beautiful - a slope in the garden, for example, offers a natural template for terraced beds.
What methods are there for intercepting slopes in the garden?
Various methods such as gravity walls, prefabricated concrete elements, planting stones, wooden palisades and greenery can be used to mitigate a slope in the garden. Factors such as slope, stability and visual design should be taken into account.
Methods for intercepting a slope
There are a few ways to prevent a slope from sliding due to erosion and gravity and the property surface from shifting substantially. With cleverly designed support devices, you can make a garden area on a slope particularly attractive and combine what is necessary with what is beautiful.
More or less massive stone structures are ideal for strengthening a slope. But a slope can also be mitigated with building elements made of wood or plants. The most common methods are as follows:
- Gravity wall (concrete wall – dry stone wall – gabions – natural stone wall)
- Prefabricated concrete elements
- Planting stones
- Wooden palisades
- Greening
Each of these methods has its advantages and disadvantages and is suitable for different requirements and ideas. Here is a brief overview of their respective properties:
| Gravity Wall | Prefabricated concrete elements | Planting stones | Wooden palisades | Greening | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Suitable for | steep, difficult slopes | severe, moderately steep slopes | all slopes, additional herb cultivation | flat, simple slopes | wide, flatter slopes |
| Advantages | very stable and durable | easy processing, durable | cheapest stone variant, planting option | cheapest option, easy to set up | most ecological variant, decorative |
| Disadvantages | expensive, complex construction | Foundation necessary, sober appearance | not everyone's style | susceptible to weathering, moderate holding power | complex, high-maintenance |
Gravity Wall
To support a steep, long slope, a heavy stone wall is the most solid solution. A so-called gravity wall has the necessary weight and strength to resist the pressure of the slope mass. A gravity wall refers to heavy walls made of stone materials - such as those made of solid concrete modules with a support base or brick variants. The latter includes dry and natural stone walls.
Concrete wall
A solid concrete wall is usually built from individual modules that are slightly flattened towards the top. As a result, they lean against the soil of the slope, so to speak. At the base, the modules have a foot whose thickness is approximately a third of the wall height. About a third of the wall must also be sunk into the ground so that it can provide enough stability against the slope.
The wall must be sunk into a concrete foundation. Drainage is very important for any massive wall that is impermeable to rain and meltwater flowing down the slope. The best way to do this is to build a drainage ditch filled with gravel behind the actual foundation trench, into which a drainage pipe can also be laid.
Alternatively, a gravity wall can also be built with formwork stones. The hollow building blocks that can be filled with concrete can be easily installed using a tongue and groove system and can be purchased at relatively low prices. The rules for the foundation and drainage system apply as for a gravity wall made of concrete modules.
Gabions
Gabions are particularly popular for securing slopes
Gabions have been very trendy for some time now - on the one hand, because with their regular wire basket frames they meet the current architectural taste, which is so purist and geometrically elegant. On the other hand, certainly because they are relatively easy to erect because they are filled with loose stones without mortar. If they are to be used to support a slope, a solid foundation is extremely important. Gabions are not as stable as solid concrete walls. They are therefore only suitable for slopes with a moderate gradient.
In addition to sinking into a deep concrete foundation, drainage is also urgently needed for a gabion wall. Because if water collects between the loose stones in the wire basket and freezes, the wall threatens to tip forward due to the ice load.
Drywall
Drystone walls are a particularly distinctive mortarless wall variant. Especially in the natural stone wall version, which is built from uncut natural stone. Because of its prevalence in the Mediterranean region, a natural stone wall can create a Mediterranean flair in the garden, especially if a slope is covered with several small, terraced-like natural stone walls.
You don't necessarily need to have solid specialist knowledge to build a dry stone wall. However, it is important that if you use it as a slope support, you align it leaning slightly at an angle against the slope. A deep concrete foundation is also necessary. A tension cord helps to follow a clear line.
Here is another clear video of a privately built dry stone wall on a slope:
Trockenmauer
Prefabricated concrete elements
Prefabricated concrete elements are modular concrete palisades or L-stones. They are easy to work with, but must be set in a concrete foundation like gravity walls. Drainage in the form of a gravel ditch at the back is also necessary here.
Planting stones
Planting rings are ideal for breaking a slope
A structure made of plant stones is not everyone's style. However, a slope can be overcome in a comparatively inexpensive and inexpensive way. Planting stones are ideal for fixing slopes in the typical way they are stacked in steps and therefore automatically lean backwards. They also create a versatile planting area - either for a purely decorative green and flower wall or specifically as a herb garden for the kitchen.
However, as with gravity walls, the construction requires a foundation made of gravel and concrete with a drainage system.
Wooden palisades
A small slope can also be addressed with “soft” solutions. For example with wooden palisades. The big advantage of them is that they are quite easy to process and the comparatively low purchase price. However, the disadvantage is that the wooden elements are susceptible to weathering. Despite the impregnation with which they are always provided given their intended use in direct contact with the ground, they deteriorate over time and then have to be replaced.
To support a slope with wooden palisades, the structure should be placed in a foundation trench with gravel and lean concrete.
Greening
Hedges, perennials and shrubs serve as natural slope reinforcement
Another way to strengthen a slope is simply to add greenery. Plants can use their roots to consolidate the traction that sits in sloping soil quite well. However, this variant only makes sense on slopes with a moderate gradient. In addition, the soil surface should be provided with a geogrid or a slope mat made of jute or coconut fiber before planting. This roughly slows down slipping, but the mesh still gives the plants enough space to stretch out their roots.
A mixture of shallow and deep-rooted small trees and a flat base of ground cover is suitable as a strengthening slope planting. Supporting and decorative small trees include:
- Privet
- Shrub roses
- buddleia
- Cornelian cherry
- Broom
- Cotoneaster
The following are suitable as ground cover:
- Fairy flower (pretty and densely rooted)
- Golden strawberry (robust, easy to care for)
- Ivy (hardy, but also very vigorous)
Ideas for garden design with a slope
You can get a lot out of a garden on a hillside in terms of design. You can often combine the practical with the useful.
Terraces with natural stone walls
A classic is certainly the terracing with natural stone walls. On the one hand, you create an atmospheric, Mediterranean flair in the garden and, on the other hand, you also expand the usable area of your garden. The resulting leveled areas are easier to plant with most plants. Small terraces can also serve as a basis for semi-raised beds.
On the other hand, you can of course also set up areas for enjoyment with lounge furniture or seating areas with a parasol on the leveled terrace areas. This is particularly useful on sunny, south-facing slopes with an attractive view of the countryside.
Streams
If you have a slope in your garden, you can use it for a watercourse
You can also make excellent use of the steepness of a slope for watercourses. Soothing ripples and graceful water movements over a decorative stone bed greatly enhance a garden. To build a stream, you basically only need a pond liner (€10.00 on Amazon), gravel and stone material to weigh it down and decorate, plants depending on the greening you want and a pump - because the water that comes down from the bottom has to be there for a continuous flow finally get back to the starting point above. Air stones or gargoyles are ideal for this. For example, a small pond can be created below.
Slide
Do you have children? How about integrating a slide into the slope? The natural slope of the topography allows a slide to be set up without scaffolding - only a staircase should be built next to the track.
Frequently asked questions
How can a slope be intercepted particularly cheaply?
Roughly you can say: all stone solutions are also cost-intensive. Unfortunately, this also means that the most solid methods are no longer available for those looking to save money. But if you only have a small slope with a moderate gradient, you can get away quite cheaply with wooden palisades, for example. They are quite cheap to purchase and only a little lean concrete and gravel are needed for the foundation.
Who is responsible for managing a gradient between neighboring properties?
The neighborhood legal situation is often not clearly applicable to individual cases. This also applies to slopes between neighboring properties. Roughly speaking, the following can be said: it must always be clarified professionally whether there is a natural slope or whether earth substance was eroded or piled up when the upper or lower lying garden was created. If an artificial slope is created through digging or filling, the person who caused it always has to bear the work and costs.
How do you design a slope reinforcement in a modern way?
Wooden palisades and plant stones have a rather conventional, dusty character. The current taste in garden architecture demands more clear materials and straight-line, unfussy shapes. With geometrically defined L-stones or puristic gabions, these criteria are definitely met. You can create stylistically appropriate plantings with boxwoods and ornamental grasses, for example.
Which stabilization methods are suitable for a small slope?
If you only have a small slope with a moderate gradient, you can work well with palisades made of wood or concrete. A small, self-layered natural stone wall is also recommended here.
