Although only about four feet wide, the yard was very steep, which promised to make mowing the lawn quite a challenge. In addition, it bordered the neighbor's property, and our new homeowner (unlike the previous owner) had decided not to grow grass. So there were some old mulch, ivy, grass and other leftover plants all mixed together. It had gone a little wild.We spoke with the neighbors, and they agreed to let us landscape the entire section from their retaining wall to our front walk. Once permission was granted, we had a couple of options for this section of the yard.
First, we could remove all the mulch, pull out the ivy and other plants and re-sod the area. Once the grass becomes lush, it might look nice, but it would just be too difficult to cut, even with a self-propelled mower.
Our second option was to create a garden: we could plant a spring and fall combination that would be quite impressive. But if it was too steep to mow, it would probably also be too steep to maintain as a garden. Furthermore, when we spoke with the homeowner, the idea of planting each year and weeding and controlling the erosion by adding something to hold the slope wasn't an option. They indicated they wouldn't mind a little gardening maintenance, however, which brought us to our last option: we decided to mulch the area and plant a ground cover that will be low maintenance and green year round.
There are lots of types of ground covers: Some flower; others don't. Some die back in the fall; many stay green year round. We needed to take into consideration that we have an eastern exposure that is partially shaded and the soil has a slight clay composition. In addition, we couldn't forget about the pitch of the yard. And finally, our climate is Zone 6, so whatever we chose needed to be strong enough to survive a hard winter.
We looked at a several types of ground cover, and our first thought was to flood the area with English ivy. English ivy will climb up anything and forms a textured evergreen carpet that lasts for years.
Our second possibility was pachysandra, which has light-green leaves and in the spring has small white flowers. It's a reliable and popular evergreen ground cover.
The last option was euonymus, also known as winter creeper. A trailing plant that will form a mat about 6" high, it's one of the hardiest evergreen vines. In the fall and winter the dark-green leaves turn a purplish red.
All three choices would probably cover the hill in about two years. We decided to use the euonymus because we liked the variety of color it would provide year round. Before we could plant it, though, we needed to prepare the slope.
We edged and cut the grass very short one last time. That same day we used a nonselective herbicide to kill everything. Note that we didn't remove any of the grass -- we wanted to keep it. The dead grass would prevent erosion by holding the dirt in place.
We had to wait 30 days before we could plant anything. In addition, we used a second treatment on a couple spots where plants where established.
Once the 30 days were over, we brought in the mulch. We added mulch for a variety of reasons: to suppress the growth of weeds, moderate the soil temperature and, most important, retain soil moisture and prevent erosion. We didn't use inorganic mulch, like plastic or rubber; we used hardwood mulch instead, to add organic matter to the soil as it decomposes. We put down a layer of 2" to 3". Remember: the dead grass will hold the mulch in place.
If you're going to create a new bed with mulch, put the mulch down first, then spread a small area of mulch back, plant, then push back the mulch. It will speed up the planting process.
Also use a sharp pointed tool like this to dig easily into the dead grass and roots.
We planted the euonymus about 18" apart in a random pattern. The homeowner will have some yearly maintenance: even with a bed of mulch and an established ground cover, weeds may appear.
Weeding the area or the use of a pre- or post-emergent will keep the bed looking great. The homeowners should also remove the dead leaves in the fall.
Adding more mulch every year may not be needed. That will depend on how quickly the ground cover thickens and the mulch decomposes.
Finally, every couple of years the homeowners should trim the ground cover if it gets too high -- say above 12".
While the forgotten slope was the most challenging section of the yard, we transformed the steep slope into one of the most dramatic features.
