Imaginative gardeners don’t see tough terrain quite the way other people do.
To a husband-and-wife gardening team in Chilliwack, the raw subdivision moonscape around them was a source of rough soil they could use to terrace the steep dropoff behind their newly constructed home. Contractors who had been paying to truck soil miles away were glad to dump a few loads in a nearby lot.
Once the soil was waiting in the front yard, the gardeners rigged up a wooden chute, which stretched from the front yard down into the rear. She shovelled soil into the chute, where it slid downhill. Meanwhile, far below, he shovelled the soil from the chute into a wheelbarrow and distributed it around. Today, the upper terrace is a green lawn bordered with compact shrubs where people can sit under a patio roof and view the distant mountains. The lower terrace is a mini woodland, where a pea gravel floor meanders around raised rock-ringed beds. Water in the nearby fish pool has high levels of oxygen after its swift journey downhill via a little stream.
The bottom of a slope is a natural spot for fishponds, and the freshening of the water doesn’t have to be done by a simple stream.
This is what two Surrey gardeners did with their rugged, weedy front yard: Most of it is now a large fishpond backed by a rock wall where water seeps and trickles and is punctuated by two waterfalls.
These don’t have to be large. Most gardeners with streams running down to a pond manage to add a large rock or two or a couple of steps over which water cascades.
Rocky cliffsides have other uses, too. A Kamloops gardener couldn’t plant the bare rock cliff, which stretched across the far end of his back garden. But he enjoyed the way it prolonged his garden season by storing the sun’s heat and then releasing it during cold nights. Where slopes are formed by clay or sand, stability can be a huge issue. Steps can be one solution.
A North Vancouver gardener with a big, sloping yard built a long line of steps, which she broke into sections by adding landings at intervals. These were emphasized by pergolas supporting climbing vines.
In the early stages of planning their North Surrey garden, two gardeners plotted out routes for electrical lines along steps. This made it possible to install lights under the risers so that people could navigate the garden at night.
Anne Marrison is happy to answer garden questions. Send them to her via [email protected]. Include the name of your city or region.
