Yard has a slight descent....

orazcajen 4/11/2011, 11:53 am

My house is located near the bottom of a hill so my yard has a bit of a descent to it. It's not a huge slant but it is definitely there so that if I just lay my boxes down, the water might pool to one side. I can't level off the yard for drainage reasons.

What you all suggest I do to get my boxes level? One idea I had was to build the boxes with bottoms and then put bricks under two corners to raise them up to level. The other idea is to use extra wood on the lower sides to bring them level but that may take more math/engineering than I'm capable of...

Any ideas?

Old Hippie 4/11/2011, 12:05 pm

Depends on what kind of bottom you have on your boxes and the amount of slope we are talking about. If you just have wire or weed barrier cloth, you might want to dig out the high side a bit to keep them down on the ground. But if you have a wood bottom, bricks could work under the low side. If there is quite a slope you are dealing with, a combination of the two might be what you need to do. Don't know if that is any help to you or not.

Gwynn

orazcajen 4/11/2011, 12:14 pm

Thanks, Gwynn,

I was thinking of the plywood bottom that is mentioned in the book. But, digging out the high side just a bit might work, too. It's not a huge slant, just enough to be a problem. lol

Old Hippie 4/11/2011, 12:27 pm

Get creative with the slope and make it work for you. Some extra rocks, bricks, logs or whatever you can find form FREE can give it a terraced look that can be very attractive, even if it is a bit more work. If you don't actually NEED the plywood bottom you can get away with just a weed cloth and/or wire barrier if you have underground critters. If you do use the plywood, make sure to drill holes in it for drainage.

Best of luck. Make sure to post pics.

Gwynn

orazcajen 4/11/2011, 12:32 pm

Thanks! I will definitely post pics of what we end up doing. It won't be for a while though. Hubby is out of town until about the 24th so nothing can really get done until then. But as soon as he is back home, I'm putting him to work.

Squat_Johnson 4/11/2011, 6:00 pm

I have found that gardening on a hill is not so bad. All my land is a hillside, so I had no choice, and just make my boxes on a slant. Although I thought I would have problems with soil running out of the boxes, it hasn't happened.

orazcajen 4/11/2011, 6:41 pm

Really? That's good news, Squat! Maybe I won't have to do too much extra work.

ashort 4/12/2011, 1:50 pm

I have slopes in my yard as well. usually I will construct a partial wooden frame to level up for the box and fill with dirt and then put down the chicken wire and landscape fabric and then the MM on top... The partial wooden frame usually has at least one side that is full length (sometimes two if you have two slopes N-S and E-W) and partial sides for the others.

Squat_Johnson 4/12/2011, 4:52 pm

We Hillbillies work the hills... (From last summer)

Yard has a slight descent.... Dsc02910

This picture looks a little steeper than it really is, but not by much.

NHGardener 4/12/2011, 9:00 pm

Somewhere I saw a youtube video, I think from someone in this group, on using stakes to level the box out, and that's what we did today. Here's a picture:

Yard has a slight descent.... 4-12-115

You use a level to know how high to raise the end or whatever, then secure it with the stake, which is screwed into the inside corner of the box. If I can find that video, I'll post the link here, because it was really helpful, and my yard is all slopey, there isn't 2 feet together that is flat probably.

edit: Oh! I found it! And Megan posted it - thank you Megan!

Here is the link:

http://thepioneerwoman.com/homeandgarden/2011/02/build-your-own-raised-flowervegetable-bed/

dizzygardener 4/12/2011, 9:34 pm

I'm garden is on a hill as well. I dug out the back a bit and built up the front until it was level.

Yard has a slight descent.... Mysfg211

tkdtara84 4/13/2011, 12:23 pm

I wish I had seen the stake idea earlier. We dug out one side and filled the other. My boxes are in a row, so it's probably a difference of 18" from one end to the other. We're putting in a small retaining wall on one end. My house is built into a hill, so our whole yard is rolling or somewhat sloped, which makes this really a pain.

It's taking longer than I had hoped to get things dug and leveled out, but I'm hoping I'll be able to plant by this weekend. In the end, I think it will look really good, but it's a lot of work!

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