• Blog
    • General Gardening
    • Gardening for Children
    • Gardening Videos
    • Insect Pests
    • Landscape Design
    • Trees
    • Vegetables & Fruits
    • Weeds
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Event Announcements
  • Gardening Videos
  • Resources
    • Western North Carolina Gardening Guide
    • Online Resources
      • Soil Testing Information for Home Gardeners
    • Speakers Bureau
  • Garden Helpline
    • Collecting Samples of Plants and Insects
  • The Learning Garden
  • About Us
    • About Us
      • How to Become an Extension Master GardenerSM Volunteer
    • The Association
    • Contact Us
    • Speakers Bureau
    • Sponsors
      • Sponsors: 2019 WNC Gardening Symposium
    • Donate
Extension Master GardenerSM Volunteers of Buncombe County

moisture retention

Gardening on Slopes: Analyze Your Site

September 7, 2016

Before you develop a landscape plan or buy the first plant, analyze your site so that you can match your garden goals and plant characteristics to your specific environment. Important site characteristics include sun, shade, moisture, and wind patterns. Identify problem areas such as erosion, standing water, invasive plants, and weedy or overgrown areas. Locate focal points to highlight or preserve. These could be a wildflower meadow, rhododendron thicket, specimen tree, nice rock formation, or even a dry streambed.

How steep is it?
Site analysis takes on special importance when your property is on a slope. Take time to calculate the steepness of your slope: Rise ÷ Run = Slope %. You cannot push a garden cart or ride a lawnmower on any slope over 40% steep. If your slope is over 55% steep, you cannot walk up it without foot- and handholds. The steepness of your slope becomes a critical factor for what you choose to plant and how you maintain it. Note if your property has deep ravines. Because cold air settles in low-lying areas, the bottom of your slope may not be the best place for marginally hardy plants or early-blooming azaleas. 

Light
What should you look for? Is an area full sun or deep shade? How many hours of direct sun does it get in a day? Is the sunlight gentle, morning sun, or hot, baking, afternoon sun? How do the light patterns change with the seasons? At what time of day is your garden shadowed by a permanent structure like your house?

Steep slope meadow garden in full sun
Sun-filled meadow on slope.
Deep shade on garden slope.
Hostas and ferns line path on steep slope
Moist, rich soil on woodland slope.
Moist, rich, woodland soil.

When monitoring sun and shade patterns, note how the mountain slopes themselves may cast deep and long shadows. Vegetable gardens, roses, and sun-loving perennials need about six hours of direct sunlight a day to thrive. 

Water Management in Rain Garden
Rain gardens, dry retention ponds, and swales help manage stomwater runoff.

Moisture
Look at soil moisture levels and stormwater drainage. Steep slopes can be very dry because rainwater runs off quickly, rather than being absorbed into the soil. You may need to consider drip irrigation for plants on steep slopes. You may have areas of your property that stay very moist or have standing water. These may be candidates for rain gardens. And if you have erosion problems, decide how you’ll resolve those before you plant. While serious erosion problems may require stormwater management solutions, choosing the right plants to anchor the soil might fix minor erosion. 

Soil characteristics
Our acid mountain soils usually best suit acid-loving plants—azaleas, rhododendron, and conifers. And mountain soils are often notoriously low in phosphorus. Do soil tests around different areas of your property to determine pH and mineral content. You’ll find soil test kits with “how to” directions at the Buncombe County Extension Office. The results will help you decide what fertilizers and other amendments to use.

The lay of the land
Analyze your visual perspective. If you’re looking up the slope, what will you see? Is it a view of plain tree trunks or leggy flower stems? If so, think about hiding unsightly views by layering your plants. Place the tallest plants toward the top of the slope, then step down to mid-sized, bushier plants, and finally put the shortest plants at the bottom of the slope closest to you. The same concept works in reverse, if you’re looking down the slope. Put the short plants at your feet and the tallest plants farthest away. The low-growing plants help extend your field of vision and won’t make you feel closed in when you walk near the sloping hillside. The tall plants create a backdrop to anchor the garden, much like the walls of a room. An integrated mix of plants by size, color, and shape also helps camouflage and add to the interest of a steep slope.

Article written by Beth Leonard, Extension Master Gardener Volunteer.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)

Categories Landscape Design Tags erosion control, garden planning, hillsides, landscape planning, moisture retention, slopes, soil test, sun chart, sun-shade map

To Mulch or Not to Mulch…That is the Question!

March 17, 2014

This is the sort of “between the seasons” period when we sometimes look around for things to do in the garden, just to be outdoors on nice days.  And checking the mulch in your shrub borders or flower beds is one of those things than might occur to you.

But why mulch in the first place?  Well, mulch can keep down weeds. It won’t prevent all their seeds from germinating, but it can make it easier to pull them. It can insulate the soil from temperature swings, both summer and winter, and help retain moisture so that plants have a constant supply.  An absorbent mulch can prevent splash that might pass a disease from the soil to the plants and control erosion from water and wind. And as it decomposes organic mulch feeds the plants and the worms, microbes and other organisms that benefit the plants.

straw mulch to discourage weeds and retain moisture
straw mulch to discourage weeds and retain moisture

And, it can add to the asthetics of the garden just by providing a unifying feature.

“Should mulch be replaced every year?” No! Replenished perhaps but not removed and replaced.

“Can I use cardboard or shredded newspaper?” Sure, they’re organic and will decompose.  But consider that voles can find shelter under the cardboard and shredded newsprint may blow around. And there is controversy as to whether office paper should be used at all because of the various chemicals involved in its production.  I’d avoid it as a mulch. Just ship that paper off in your blue bins.

“How deep should mulch be?” Three to four inches is enough, and of course that will be reduced as the mulch composts.

Say NO to mulch volcanos.
Say NO to mulch volcanos.

The exception here is around trees or shrubs. Mulch piled against the trunk can serve as an “umbrella” shedding water that the roots need or when it does retain moisture two things may happen: the new roots grow upward rather than down or horizontally and the added moisture can lead to fungal canker and trunk decay. You want to be able to see the curve where the roots go out from the main stem. Don’t create a “volcano”!

Article written by Glenn Palmer, Extension Master Gardener Volunteer.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)

Categories Mulch Tags moisture retention, mulch, weed prevention

NC Cooperative Extension; Empowering People, Providing Solutions

Blog posts written and published by Extension Master GardenerSM volunteers in Buncombe County.

Subscribe via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to our blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 3,716 other subscribers

Recent Posts

  • Online Seminar: Fruit Trees for Home Gardens February 16
  • Dramatic Winter Damage? What Should I Do?
  • 2023 School Garden Grants Available: Applications Due February 3
  • What’s THAT Evergreen? Can I grow it?
  • A Gardening Guide for Our Mountains: The Perfect Holiday Stocking Stuffer

Categories

  • Events
    • Extension in Buncombe County
    • Extension Master Gardener Plant Clinic
    • Lectures & Seminars
    • Plant Sales
    • School Garden Grants
  • Flowers
    • Bulbs
    • Perennials & Biennials
    • Roses
    • Wildflowers
  • Gardening for Children
  • Gardening Videos
  • General Gardening
    • Installation & Planting
    • Mulch
    • Native Plants
    • Propagation
    • Seasonal Chores
    • Soils & Fertilizers
  • Houseplants
  • Landscaping
    • Firewise Landscaping
    • Landscape Design
    • Site Conditions
    • Water Management
  • Lawns
  • Pest Management
    • Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
    • Invasive Plants
    • Pesticides
    • Weeds
  • Plant Diseases
  • Plant Insects
    • Beneficial Insects
    • Insect Pests
    • Invasive Insects
  • Shrubs
  • Special Gardens
    • Container Gardens
    • Herb Gardens
    • Pollinator Gardens
    • Rain Gardens
    • Shade Gardens
  • Trees
  • Vegetables & Fruits
  • Wildlife

Contact Us

Buncombe County Extension Office
49 Mount Carmel Road
Asheville, NC 28806
Helpline 828-255-5522

Events

Keep up with our events by subscribing to the blog or checking our Events Calendar.

Explore the Archives

Back to Top

Copyright © 2023 Extension Master Gardeners of Buncombe County. Privacy Policy.