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[Gardeninging]

A large expanse of garden/land has opened up for us unexpectedly. (Won't go into details but just local council needed to dig it up, not a regular occurrence, won't happen again! We gave permission because we basically wanted the area sorting out anyway and they agreed to clear the entire area as a thank you for the inconvenience of the works)

It's an area we've been considering working on for a long time but never bothered (time/money etc!). We actually have virtually no budget for gardening projects which is one reason for my posting here.

It was previously a forest of stinging nettles, ivy, hawthorn, blackthorn and blackberry vines. A terrible area to deal with by hand, so we're happy about having it done - but it's been cleared and that's it. They're not going to be landscaping or anything like that.

I've attached a photo- the wall at the top where you can see the wooden shed - that's our real actual garden, y'know a nice lawn, tulips and daffs in the spring, a normal nice well established garden. I'm not a novice - we're not living in total garden dereliction, we just happen to have this area too now.

SO.
With a limited budget 😆 it's quite a lot to take on.

I can grow from seed and I'm planning to sow Foxgloves, scatter poppy seeds for colour and clover seeds for ground cover, and grow Large leaved plants like Horseradish and Brunerra in the meanwhile before we can buy proper shrubs like Hebe etc.

What would you do??

I was going to add we are thinking to avoid planting grass because it'll need mowing and the slope is quite a steep slope.

Thinking along the lines of ground cover plants

The area would previously been home to much wildlife, even if it looked a mess. It'd be good to make a new home for wildlife with lots of native trees, shrubs etc. I'm no expert but there are lots of websites and Facebook groups if you Google gardening for wildlife.

Pond and wildflower meadow?

A pond? On a slope like that?

@Gardeninging Which way does the slope face, and where does the prevailing wind come from - is the area exposed or sheltered? What sort of soil do you have, and how much work are you prepared to put in?

Could level a bit out for a pond? We have a massively steep garden and a pond, but you would need to get the spade out.

My first garden had a similar slope, covered with huge brambles, hawthorn, ivy and nettles.
In spring /autumn/winter the slope was wet and dangerously slippy.
In summer it was very dry and soil easily crumbled and slipped away underfoot.

As an inexperienced gardener at the time following advice, I covered the slope with ground cover plants and low spreading shrubs. This strategy failed miserably to prevent the return of brambles and other tricky persistent invaders. Worse, the ground cover plants made it almost impossible to weed them out or to safely gain a foothold on the slope as I couldn't see what was underfoot.

What worked best was planting some small, but robust trees spaced across the whole area. Over a few years this stabilised the soil and provided safe anchors to grab hold of and gain a foothold. The trees also acted as a barrier to falling down the slope. Once established it was much easier to plant low growing, non spreading shrubs, bulbs and perennials in between.
Whatever you decide, keep in mind safety and consider the pitfalls of the soil in different seasons. The usual, generic advice is not always practical or realistic for steep slopes.

We live next to miles of forest and river, the birds etc aren't going to be made homeless from the loss of an 8 metre of slope 😆.

I'm hoping to replant with native plants in mind though, to encourage natural local diversity.

It faces south, which is brilliant. I think it got so overgrown to begin with because it's a good angle for sunlight etc. the soil quality seems alright too.

About the level of work, I don't mind putting in the man hours myself at all. It's something I'd enjoy doing.

This is a lovely idea, but I think that might be verging on a bit more work than I'm planning on.

brambleberries

Oh no! Your experience sounds exactly like what could happen with us.

Thank you. A few trees would stabilise the soil, and stop the area getting too overgrown again, that makes a lot of sense.

I wonder if we'll have to bite the bullet (trees aren't cheap) and spend a bit....

They actually dug up a bunch of hawthorn trees that were there...

They're leaving the trunks and stumps for us to create a fernarium type area further up and around - not shown in pic, where it's more shaded.

I let them remove the trees because personally I think Hawthorne is evil. But the roots were probably useful there.

O dear!

Might be worth thinking about growing grapes then, and have your own little vineyard!

I was going to say trees for stabilisation, but that’s already been suggested. Personally I’d look at some fruit trees - I’d love an orchard! Smaller ones (2 year old saplings) are under £15 each, but would take 2-3 years to fruit. But that would be the way to keep costs down. Or have a look in what I fondly refer to the ‘nearly dead section’ of garden centres, there are often bargains to be had.

An orchard would be lovely, and you could still plant under it. You’d be able to get bare root apple, pear, plum, cherry etc for just a few pound each at this time of year.

Another alternative is to look at bare root “hedging” for native trees and shrubs. Again often just a pound or so each, and you don’t have to plant them as hedging.

Another high impact low cost option might be roses.

They might be looked down on by some, but I have had huge success with supermarket/wilko’s bare root roses at £2.50 each. (And for that matter, Tesco’s fruit trees are 2 for £12 at the moment)

What's the best time of year to buy and plant trees?
Is spring ok ?

I love roses 🌹 they'd be really eye catching. They'd work to stabilise the soil too right?

Edited:
Sorry another poster already said now is good for trees

You’d be able to get bare root apple, pear, plum, cherry etc for just a few pound each at this time of year.

Ah thanks.
Good time of year to be looking then!

Came on to suggest the same, fruit orchard would be fabulous there

It seems to me that the best reason for lawns and mowing is that it keeps brambles and other weeds at bay. If you don’t have a lawn then you are going to need to dig out brambles etc when they pop up.

If the slope is too steep for mowing then the plan to plant low shrubs or small trees is a good one. You’ll still probably need to strim around them if you aren’t mowing.

Ok, I spoke to my DH and despite our very low budget we think we could probably stretch to plant an orchid, and in fact this idea has really energised us to make the best use of the area.
Thanks for your suggestions everyone.

We'll play by ear what goes in between the trees, probably daffodils and clover from seed, a few native wildflowers that sort of thing.

That alongside a fernarium created out of the felled trees has given us some great inspiration.

How exciting! X

One more contribution here. We have a bank similar to this, about 7m but not quite as steep. We cleared it of scrub and left it bare for a year, the weeds were impossible and when we did clear them all the top soil was washed away in the rain. Fruit trees is a great idea but you will absolutely need to have ground cover - grass of some kind to stabilise the soil. You can buy low/slow growing grass seed mixes which will be easier to maintain with less mowing - designed to compliment wildflowers. Get this down as soon as you can or you will lose a lot of precious topsoil.

nickatiara

Yikes!

I was planning to throw a load of clover seeds down probably in March before we do the main planting out, I thought clover wouldn't need mowing and can grow in the shade.
Would that work ?