Message Boards

Our house sits on a semi-steep hill. We have erosion to the point that the roots of our trees are becoming exposed! We know that the best thing to do would be to build a retaining wall, but we're on almost an acre and our house sits catty-corner on a corner lot. That's a lot of wall, and we simply can't afford to do that.

I was wondering if anyone had a reasonably inexpensive solution to this problem? We have huge trenches in the sides of the hills and very little grass growth on the slopes. We've tried planting grass there several times, but we're in Northern Alabama where storms/deluges are more frequent than we care for, which washes everything away.

Any help would be SO very much appreciated!!

You need to get something growing to slow down the water.
I have the same problem but our hill isn't steep just hard ga. clay that sheds the water quickly.
I've built flower beds in the areas where the water flows the hardest and DH has dug a ditch along the driveway to help direct the water to the front ditch. I'm now planting more trees to help keep the soil in place in some areas. I've used small logs (fence post size) around some flower beds to keep the water from washing right thru them.

Something we did...don't know if you could do it or not...when the road crew was cleaning out our ditches we asked them to dump the dirt where we needed it...that has helped too. DH used our tractor & box blade to spread it.

Thanks so much for the reply! We have that awful clay 'dirt' as well. Usually if you need fill dirt here you can call the County and they'll deliver it, but this year they said that they haven't done any ditch work because they're too busy with cleanup after the tornadoes, so... no dirt. I appreciate your suggestions, and I'll certainly give them some thought. Again, thanks so much for your reply!

I just posted about our new lawn in another thread, but I'll repeat it here since it's applicable. Our side yard was a hot mess until this spring when we used germination blankets to keep the seed in place. Like your situation, anytime we planted grass before it would rain like cats and dogs and all our effort ended up in the street.

Germination blanket are made of natural fibers are are 100% weed-free, unlike hay. They "staple" in place using biodegradable stakes. The blanket allows moisture to come in keeping the seed damp, and it keeps the soil and seed from slipping down a hill. I've seen it used on mass construction projects. Purchasing natural burlap in bulk is also an option.

In inexpensive option is to wait until the fall and plant winter rye. It's an annual grass that grows very quickly (like a week or so). Use that to set an "anchor" for new grass seed, just seed as usual and let the rye hold it in place. The rye will die in the spring and you'll be left with the permanent grass you planted.

I hope this helps. My husband and I talked to many landscapers about our problem and this is the advise we got. We are impatient and purchased the germination blankets at Lowe's, and it's about $25 for only 400sf. Bulk burlap is much cheaper, and the rye option is the cheapest.

Good luck!

quote:

n inexpensive option is to wait until the fall and plant winter rye. It's an annual grass that grows very quickly (like a week or so). Use that to set an "anchor" for new grass seed, just seed as usual and let the rye hold it in place. The rye will die in the spring and you'll be left with the permanent grass you planted.

If you do this make SURE you get ANNUAL rye...there is a perennial also and very hard to get rid of once it's started. It's mainly used for pasture grass.

Yes, definitely make sure it's the annual variety. The perennial stuff is crazy!