Rarely is a garden completely flat, and although slopes can add interest, they can be difficult to cultivate and the garden can become tricky to walk around comfortably.
Steps and terracing are the time-honoured solution for a slope that is too steep to walk up easily. Both can be used constructively to link the whole garden together, and mark a transition between particular styles or themes within the space. Steps can be made from a wide variety of materials – they should be solidly constructed and safe, and tie in with other materials used in the garden.
In this sloping garden, to make life easier, the ground has been terraced to create different flat areas, each accessed by steps in retaining walls. This involves investing in some serious earth-moving equipment (diggers, electric wheel barrows and so forth), and using a cut-and-fill technique to level off the land. Usually, this is best left to professional landscapers. Although it is costly, terracing will certainly provide a series of eminently more useable spaces, each with their own personality or style.
DESIGN ELEMENTS
If the slope of a garden is proving difficult, for instance if you want your garden to accommodate many uses – not least to be able to walk through the space without straining your calf muscles – terracing the garden is the solution. Creating level areas with retaining walls, each space linked by steps, will allow for easy movement around the garden. In addition, the various sections can be individualized, with different styles to suit the mood, depending on the time of day and where the sun lies.
With generous steps reaching up into each level, and each terrace retaining wall camouflaged with planting before it, a sloping garden can offer several garden rooms.
