Living in the rolling hills of the Appalachia foothills has proven to give me many challenges. One of the biggest it that most of my yard is either a gentle slope or an out and out bank that is close to impossible to maintain. I also have runoff problems after a rain so the solution to this problem was to terrace several of my hillsides. I have now made my hillsides beautiful, productive, safer and easy to maintain.
photo credit: brewbooks

The idea of terracing a hillside is to make the hill into giant flat steps that will allow for the areas to be safely worked and to keep soil from washing away. You may decide to ground cover most of your hillside or add a lot of rock with just a few plants. You may also choose to add low sprawling bushes that choke out weeds and need little care. One other option is to turn the hillside into several different gardens.

Terraced hills are more appealing to the eye if they are laid out in interesting shapes. They could be several mini gardens surround by rock or they could curve around a seating area. If the area has enough sunlight you may choose to put your vegetable or flower garden there. And a larger hillside garden doesn’t seem complete without a stairway wandering up the hill. It’s beautiful and functional for watering or working with plants.

To terrace a hillside, start at the base. You will need some sort of retaining wall material. This could be wood, railroad ties, stone, brick or cement block. The decision of material will be based on cost and your landscaping theme you have.

When planning your terrace design,  cut very wide step-like areas out. Usually this is done starting at the base. Flatten out the top of a raised area and move the dirt towards your newly positioned retaining wall. Even out the soil. You may want to add another row or more height to you wall and add additional compost or rich soil for growing plants.

You will want your terraced area to be wide enough to work and plant. Three to four  foot areas are a good size. A terrace area under two foot isn’t as easy to work with. When your first terraced area is even and you are happy with it, add another terrace. Continue this procedure up to the top.

Make sure that your retaining wall is firm and will not tumble forward. Soil will add pressure to the wall so the wall needs to be secure. Installing drainage at the time you put the wall in too will help with any added pressure on the wall area. This is more important in rainy climates or area that freeze in the winter

I added a drainage pipe and gravel to my higher slopes I terraced and a buffer zone of 10 inches of gravel behind the back of each retaining wall in my smaller terraces. This will keep water from backing up against the retaining wall and pushing the wall out causing damage.

Terracing a slope can be a practical landscaping solution to keep hillside erosion free. It adds beauty to a backyard or can turn a usable section of the yard into a garden area for relaxation or other uses. A terraced area will also help for small space design idea where every foot of yard is invaluable.

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This entry was posted on Sunday, April 12th, 2009 at 11:23 pm and is filed under backyard design. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.