A spectacular element in the landscape is a self-created alpine slide. A rock garden is a small area in the garden, designed as a natural area.
Many owners of personal plots are interested in how to make alpine slide with your own hands?
In order to create this corner of wild nature on your site, you need to familiarize yourself with the intricacies landscape design.
Usually this masterpiece is located in the most visible place. In addition, the rock garden requires sunny place, so this corner is usually located in an open area.
Since an alpine slide has a calming effect on a person, it is best to place it near a place of rest.
The quality of the soil cover should not be discounted, since the most favorable soil for a rock garden is sandstone, but if the soil has a clay base, then it will be necessary to make drainage.
When is the best time to create a rock garden?
An alpine slide can be created at any time of the year except for winter, since in the winter cold it is impossible to plant plants or prepare the soil. However, experts consider autumn to be the most optimal time for creating a rock garden.
Since the natural shrinkage of an alpine hill can take several months, according to landscape designers, it is necessary to prepare for autumn planting in the spring.
Creation of an alpine slide
Landscape designers, answering the question of how to make an alpine slide, offer universal schemes and projects for arranging this natural corner, taking into account all the subtleties and scope of work.
However, knowing the basic rules for creating a rock garden, you can organize it yourself.
The first thing you should pay attention to is the location. So, the rock garden should be clearly visible. Most best option is the creation of an alpine slide in the shape of a pyramid, in which maximum height concentrated in the center.
In addition, all elements of the rock garden should be positioned freely; symmetry is inappropriate here. If it is possible to organize a rock garden on a natural slope, then it is best to mark its elements at the same level.
In terms of parameters, the height of an alpine slide should be proportional to its size, that is, 1 meter of area corresponds to a height of 0.2 m, thus, a flowerbed measuring 4 m² in height will be 80 cm, as in the photo of an alpine slide.
Preparatory work
Even the simplest alpine slide requires careful preparation. So, when creating a rock garden, you need to make drainage, the fact is that the use of stones causes the soil to sag, which means you can’t do without drainage.
Drainage material can be fine gravel, pieces of red or white brick, small pebbles or crushed stones.
Before laying the drainage, it is necessary to dig a hole 1 m deep for a flower bed with an area of 8-9 m². Then the drainage is laid out and the soil is filled with water. Next, a layer of earth is poured.
As soil for a rock garden, it is best to use a soil composition made from ordinary earthen soil, peat and river sand. All soil components must be in equal proportions.
Note!
Stones
The basic element of any rock garden are stones. Usually these are large stones of an original shape.
Most often, pieces of granite, sandstone, limestone are used to create an alpine slide; you can also use wild stone, as well as tuff.
When decorating a rock garden with stones, you must follow the following rules:
- It is best if the size of all stones is the same;
- The stones must be of the same variety;
- The stones must be of uneven structure and shape;
- You need to arrange the stones so that they are asymmetrical.
You can arrange the stones according to your own taste, however experienced designers can offer you several suitable projects. IN Lately A popular scheme is when massive stones are scattered around the site, with small pebbles between them.
The alpine slide looks interesting when the most spectacular stone installed in the center, especially if the rock garden is located on a slope.
Note!
When laying out stones, especially massive ones, you need to make sure that they stand steadily; for this, some of them can even be fixed with cement or dug in a little.
A properly organized alpine slide at the dacha can become a favorite vacation spot for the whole family.
Green spaces
2 months after the preparatory work, you can begin planting green spaces. The most convenient plants for decorating a rock garden are low-growing spruce, thuja, mountain pine and juniper.
The small alpine slide is great landscape solution For small area. When creating such a rock garden, it is best to use low-growing, herbaceous plants, such as wild carnations, low marigolds, nasturtiums, pansies and bells.
If desired, an alpine slide can be combined with a small reservoir in the form of a small pond, but in this case the process of creating a rock garden will be even more labor-intensive, but it will be a real work of landscape art.
Photo of an alpine slide with your own hands
Note!
Alpine slide in the garden or on personal plot allows you to realize the dream of a harmonious oasis, in which living and inanimate nature perfectly combine with each other. The decorative effect of the rock garden consists of a whole compositional ensemble of inaccessible and cold stones and lush flowering green spaces with their own special energy. Artificially created mountain slopes, decorated with calm greenery, allow you to feel like a conqueror of mountain peaks and enjoy their unique beauty.
There are many types of alpine slides and you can choose what suits your resources and preferences best. But creating a “zest” in your garden in the form of a rock garden is not just about laying out flat stones throughout the territory, it is necessary to spend a lot of time, patience and effort to achieve a finished image and obtain a high-quality result. There are several basic rules that are recommended to be taken into account when arranging an alpine slide on your own.
Choosing a location for an alpine slide
The first thing you need to start with is to choose a place on the site on which the object will be built. The “face” of the alpine hill should look in the direction of the southeast or southwest, and the “mountain slope” (if one is planned) should look in the south direction. The site should be sunny and open. The object on it cannot look lonely and isolated. On the contrary, it must be harmoniously combined with all neighboring and nearby objects and cultures. Ideal place The location of the rock garden is considered to be a recreation area or an area near a residential building. This decorative structure will attract attention and cause admiration.
Quantity of materials
After choosing a location and assessing the available space for the work, you can start planning the project. It is necessary to reflect sketches and sketches future design, the sequence of work and, of course, the preliminary amount of materials used.
To bring the project to life, many different natural stones. Their number depends on the scale and type of alpine slide. For example, for a high multi-level slide you will need large stone blocks with natural irregular shape(without additional processing), which will be used to imitate a gorge, cliff, mountain slope or plateau. Processed stones in the form of a rectangle are necessary for the construction retaining wall. You also cannot do without stone chips, gravel, crushed stone, sand and cement.
When constructing a stone garden with a flower garden (rock garden), it is assumed that such a landscape is built to last for many years and does not require frequent changes, so less stone materials will be needed. But when creating a relief from artificial unevenness, significantly more stones will be used.
To create a natural and harmonious object, landscape designers advise choosing only stones from a given area and always of the same type for construction. The minimum weight of one large stone should not be less than thirty kilograms, and total weight The number of giant stones on the site begins at four hundred kilograms. The total average weight of small “stone” material (crushed stone or gravel) for one rock garden is 300-500 kg.
It is necessary to first consider ways of transporting stones and other heavy objects by area. Any suitable means of transportation will help save time, energy and health. Work on the construction site can only begin when everything is already at hand necessary tools and materials.
All work consists of three main stages, but before moving on to them, you must first mark out the territory according to the prepared plan, evaluate the preliminary result and, if necessary, adjust it by making small changes. Using rope or twine, wooden pegs and bright ribbons, you need to outline the contours of the alpine slide and mark its largest elements. After this, you can proceed to the first stage.
- The land plot must be cleared, a drainage layer must be laid (if a rock garden is planned), the planned artificial unevenness and stone hills must be created, a channel for the future stream (or other type of reservoir) must be laid, and the supporting walls of the rock garden must be erected.
- The work consists of arranging large stones in the form of a planned composition or ensemble and preparing the soil layer for planting vegetation.
- The stage that requires taste, creative thinking and imagination is decoration. It consists of planting plants, arranging additional accessories and placing small stone material (gravel and stones).
Construction of a drainage layer
High-quality drainage helps prevent stagnation of water and rotting of the root system of plants, controls soil erosion and shrinkage, and maintains moderate soil warmth in the off-season. The most suitable material for drainage is pebbles (large) or broken red brick.
The top layer of soil with a thickness of ten to twenty centimeters (depending on the type of rock garden) must be carefully removed and laid out around the perimeter of the pit. Then level the resulting surface and thoroughly clean it of all vegetation and its roots. If the future rock garden assumes a flat topography, then the thickness of the drainage layer is 10 cm, with further construction of uneven areas in the area - 20 cm of drainage.
After laying a ten-centimeter drainage layer, it is backfilled fertile soil and carefully level the surface. A thick (20 cm) drainage layer serves as the main platform for the construction of various hills and uneven areas and is therefore not covered with soil.
A multi-level rock garden is the most complex type and requires great patience and responsibility during construction. From quality work When creating this design, its reliability and durability depend.
The first row of stones, which are supporting wall, laid out around the perimeter, placing them as closely as possible to each other and deepening them into the ground by about ten centimeters. For reliability and strength of stone connections, it is recommended to use cement mortar or tile adhesive.
For the full development of future plantings, it is very important to prepare the soil, which will be located at the bottom of the rock garden and help maintain moderate moisture, as well as prevent erosion. It is recommended to mix the removed soil layer spread along the edges of the pit with peat or humus, as well as with small pebbles or coarse sand (in equal proportions). The resulting mixture should be placed on the drainage, compacted well and watered big amount water for quick shrinkage.
After the first level has dried, they move on to the construction of the second. A layer of crushed stone or gravel is applied to the surface of the earth and a second terrace of stones is laid out, fastening them with a reliable solution. It is necessary to take into account that between the stones it is necessary to leave space for the future bed of the reservoir. The terrace on the second level is covered with soil, watered abundantly and left to shrink.
With each new level, the area of the next terrace gradually decreases. At the end, a separate stone is placed, which will become the top of the rock garden. The height of the alpine slide depends on the land area used for the base. To build a meter structure it will take about 10 square meters land.
To complete the process of soil subsidence, as well as to completely dry the solutions, the object is left for approximately 10-15 days. Only after this can you move on to decorating, planting plants and arranging the reservoir. It is recommended to plant plants starting from the top and gradually moving to the bottom of the hill.
Alpine slides with a height of about one hundred centimeters will require less effort and less materials. As a core and reliable basis constructions, you can use construction waste (for example, pieces of bricks or stones). With their help, the contours of the slide are marked (directly on top of the main drainage layer), and then a soil mixture is poured on top, which will be resistant to erosion and shrinkage. Its composition: garden soil, expanded clay, pieces of red brick and small crushed stone. The average thickness of this layer is 50-60 cm. The next layer is again drainage, consisting of the small pebbles silt of crushed stone, on which large stones are placed or stone slabs are laid, burying them approximately forty percent into the soil. The surface of the rock garden is covered with fertile soil about 20 cm thick. The composition of this soil mixture should be light, loose and nutritious and correspond to the preferences of flower crops.
Approximately 20-25 days are allotted for the final shrinkage of the slide. After this, you can plant numerous plants, place various decorative details and stones small size. It is not recommended to use large stone boulders on such a mini-slide, unless they are placed at the base of the structure.
Landscaping of rock gardens
The main plants of alpine hills are herbaceous and semi-shrub species of small height. In natural natural environment On the mountain slopes you can find mainly low species and varieties. The vegetation of the created rock garden should look as natural and believable as possible. And to maintain its attractiveness throughout the year, it is recommended to choose winter-hardy (evergreen) and coniferous crops. The color of green foliage or pine needles goes well with stone compositions.
Plants for a rock garden should have the following basic characteristics: unpretentiousness, cold resistance and drought resistance. To maintain the decorativeness of the relief and create a harmonious composition, experienced flower growers and landscape designers advise planting flower and foliage crops in a checkerboard pattern.
DIY Alpine slide (video)
The Alpine slide is a fashionable attribute for arranging modern garden and park areas. Making a rock garden at your dacha with your own hands: step by step photos, diagrams, selection of plants.
When choosing a place for an alpine slide, it is important to provide for the following conditions:
In landscape design, there are many styles of garden design, including elements of a desert landscape, rocky gardens, ponds and bridges, which must be in harmony with the built hill.
Making a slide with your own hands is most preferable when decorating a garden. At independent execution work, you can avoid high costs for the services of a landscape architect. Having step-by-step photos and diagrams for arranging the slide, it will not be difficult to complete the work of constructing a rock garden with your own hands.
It is very important to do it right preparatory work so that the slide is stable Alpine slide - preparation
First you need to determine the location on the site where the slide will be located. Shouldn't grow nearby perennial shrubs and trees, which can eventually shade the plants on the hill. A place that is open on all sides and accessible to view from all corners of the garden must be dry. High level groundwater will adversely affect the durability and strength of the slide base. In this case, the groundwater level must be lowered using special drainage.
Do-it-yourself drainage under an alpine slide (step-by-step guide).
- The drainage installation begins with digging a pit, the dimensions of which are equal to or slightly larger than the area of the slide. You must first make markings by installing pegs and pulling the cord. The durability and strength of the slide structure depends on the degree of reliability of drainage, so the depth of the pit should not be less than 0.8 m.
Thoughtful and stylish landscape plot with luxurious flower beds and rock gardens - the pride of the owner. The design of the territory is especially impressive if the alpine slide is made with your own hands. After all, most people are sure that only a professional designer can do such work. But in fact, with a little time, desire, as well as plants and the necessary materials, you can create an interesting rock garden.
A piece of the Alps on a summer cottage
The alpine slide in the country is becoming an increasingly popular decorative element for even small garden plots. After all, beautiful stone elevations look impressive and fit perfectly into any stylistic design space. Any alpine slide is a unique design object. Exist certain rules its creation, but the style, size, features of the slides depend directly on the taste and creative idea creator. Probably, even if you use step-by-step photos to create an alpine slide with your own hands, two different designers You will get different final options.
The base is stone. But not all piles of stones with vegetation growing among them are called alpine slides. There must be aesthetic appeal and harmony. There are several types of rock gardens:
DIY Alpine slides - where to start?
Before you start directly creating a rock garden, you need to prepare for such work. After all, just based on photos, alpine slides in landscape design can be created quickly and easily with your own hands. The creation process is usually preceded by careful preparation, which includes several stages:
- We select a place for placement. The choice may fall on uneven surface or a flat area if there are no natural irregularities. The size of the rock garden depends on the size of the plot. But it’s better if you can find a spacious and bright place to create a landscape design element.
- Sketch a sketch of the future rock garden. To do this, you can use a photo of alpine slides in the countryside, created by yourself. The sketch will help you ultimately get the result you originally expected.
- Buy everything necessary materials to create a slide. It is better to prepare stones, soil, plants and other decorative elements immediately so that work does not stop due to a lack of one or another component.
When choosing a location for the future rock garden, try to choose favorable angles. Such beauty cannot be hidden from everyone, it is important to show it off!
Choosing stones and plants for the rock garden
Any alpine slide in the countryside is created with your own hands from several basic elements:
How to make an alpine slide yourself?
So, everything is ready to create a beautiful rock garden. The most difficult thing remains - completing the slide on your own. In order for the result to soon delight you with its beauty, you need to follow simple recommendations:
When placing large boulders, be sure to leave some space between them, as the planted plants will need space to develop their root systems.
The best time to start creating an alpine slide with your own hands is in the fall. The soil will settle over the winter, so in the spring it will be possible to fill up the voids that have arisen and plant plants. A competent approach will allow you to create a beautiful alpine hill in your garden.
Master class on creating an alpine slide - video
Secrets of successfully creating an alpine slide
Each landscape designer has certain secrets that help him create stylish, spectacular and unique elements when designing a garden or park area. But all these nuances can be used by beginners. Just in the photo, a do-it-yourself alpine slide for beginners seems like a simple and laconic structure. In fact, it consists of selected elements, well-planned placement and several subtleties that help achieve amazing appearance.
To make the first rock garden you created with your own hands look excellent, we share several secrets of its harmonious appearance:
- To create a hill, it is better to choose stones of the same type. Only in this case it is possible to achieve a natural appearance of the slide.
- The size of the stones should correspond to the area of the rock garden. The larger the size of the alpine slide, the larger boulders can be used.
- When choosing plants, preference is given to evergreen and low-growing species. In this case, the hill itself will not be lost in a few years behind the lush greenery of overgrown flowers and shrubs.
- They look ideal among stones, as well as cover and creeping species. It is better to choose flowering plants with small flowers that will not distract all attention.
- It is better to plant plants in small holes and cover them with soil and small stones. This will help prevent weed growth.
- Plants should be placed so that they do not block stone embankments.
Despite the fact that grass and flowers should not block the stones, in a rock garden the vegetation is always in the foreground.
The choice of plants to create an alpine slide gives room for imagination, because this element of landscape design allows for a riot of colors, a variety of varieties, even a combination of opposites. Alpine slides imitate rocky areas, which are diverse in nature. The main thing is that the slide has a realistic appearance, and how steep, rocky and flowery its slopes will be depends only on the author’s imagination. And it is in this versatility that lies the very “zest” that made alpine coasters modern gardens so popular.
We create an alpine slide ourselves - video
From this article you will learn how to build an alpine slide from available materials.
If the plot of your dacha is uneven, and the soil is poor and has stones, you can arrange it beautifully, and, moreover, without much expense, you can make an alpine slide. So where to start?
Where to start making an alpine slide?
Alpine slide.
Let's figure it out first what is an alpine slide. This is an artificial hill made of stones and earth, with flowering plants planted on it, which are typical of the Alps or Carpathians.
Recently, alpine slides and other styles:
- IN Japanese style , the hill is planted with Far Eastern plants
- In Mexican- cacti
The Alpine slide can be laid out in different ways:
- In the form of a stepped mountain slope
- Terraces
- Cliff
- Plateau
- 2 slides separated by a gorge
To make an alpine slide, it is important to adhere to the following criteria:
- Observe tiers (valley, 1, 2, 3 terraces)
- Presence of stones
- Plants should be planted short
- Contrast of plant species
The height of the slide can be from 1 to 3 m, depending on the size of the area on which the alpine slide will be created.
So that the slide will please you for a long time you, and you didn’t have to disassemble it before you had time to build it, you need consider the following factors:
- If you have a site in a lowland, and melt water stagnates for a long time after winter or rain, when building an alpine slide, you need to lay a thick layer of drainage so that excess water leaves and does not remain.
- To prevent the soil and stones on the slide from sagging later, we carefully compact each layer poured during the construction of the slide.
- To prevent weeds from sprouting from below, from under the soil, before building a slide, we lay special geotextiles, and then drainage and sand, lay out stones, and fill them with soil.
- From moles and shrews that can destroy the slide, we save it with fine-mesh galvanized steel mesh, laying it on geotextiles.
- The alpine slide is laid in such a place that it can be seen from different sides; it is advisable that there is a bench or canopy nearby.
- And if there is a hill, ravine or slope on your site, then you can arrange an alpine hill with a stream or waterfall.
- The contrast with the alpine hill is provided by a lawn or bushes, and if there is a fence nearby, then it needs to be hidden by climbing plants.
- If your alpine slide is varied - combining a rock, scree, and, for example, a terrace, then it will not get boring, and it will always be interesting to contemplate.
- To prevent the hill from being too colorful, no more than 5 plants differing in color are planted on it.
Stones
Suitable for alpine slides sharp stones (sandstone, granite, slate, limestone, dolomite). The slide should not be colorful, so we build it from 1-2 types of stones.
- We lay out granite, limestone and sandstone in the form of blocks and small pebbles, and sprinkle them with soil; the largest stone should be in the center.
- Clay and sandy shale are broken into tiles, and the hill can be laid out in the form of a terrace.
- If the alpine hill has a pond or stream, then you can lay out rounded pebbles along their banks, which can be found on the shore of the sea or river.
The simplest do-it-yourself Alpine slide in a country house or garden plot: step-by-step construction, diagram
There is not necessarily a lot of space for an alpine slide. The only thing is it is important that the new alpine slide fits into the existing landscape of your dacha.
To start laying an alpine slide you need to do the following:
- We draw the design of the future slide on paper and lay it out on the ground.
- We mark the location of the future alpine slide with pegs and fence it off with a cord.
- At the site of the hill, we first weed the grass, and then, using a bayonet shovel, remove the top soil layer, 30-40 cm thick.
- Cover the resulting depression with fine mesh metal mesh and geotextiles to prevent moles and weeds from getting through.
- We fill gravel, pebbles, crushed stone on top of the geotextile, broken brick(what is), 10 cm thick, compacted. This is necessary so that excess water drains away and the roots of the plants do not rot.
- On top of the large particles we pour small ones (sand), 5 cm thick, compact them and water them.
- Making soil for an alpine slide: take chernozem soil, add sand, wood chips and pine bark, small crushed stone, peat to it, mix everything. You cannot fertilize too much, otherwise the trees and bushes on the hill will grow large, and it will no longer be a hill, but a garden.
- We pour the resulting soil over the entire surface of the hill, and do not level it, but rather model “mountains”, “cliffs”, “valleys”, “paths” in a reduced form.
- Now we install stones on the hill and plant it with plants.
How to make and decorate a small mini alpine slide: diagram, description, photo
Let's start creating an alpine slide early autumn . Before spring, when plants are planted, the stones and soil must settle.
The mini alpine slide will be about 1 m high.
Let's start making a mini slide:
- We mark the boundary of the future slide on the ground using pegs.
- We stretch the twine between the stakes.
- We tear off the grass and dig a pit 30-35 cm deep throughout the entire area, secured with twine, and cover it with a metal mesh with small cells and geotextiles.
- We make drainage: fill the bottom of the pit 10 cm with crushed stone and small pieces of broken brick.
- Pour coarse sand, 10 cm thick, on top of the drainage and water it so that there are no voids left.
- We install large stones, fill the space between them with crushed stone, and let it sit for about 1 month.
- We install smaller stones.
- Preparing soil for plants. We sort out the soil taken out of the pit, throw out the roots, and add to it an equal amount of river sand and expanded clay.
- We fill all the spaces between the stones with soil, water them with a watering can so as not to wash out the soil, and leave them for the winter.
- In spring we plant plants.
How to make and decorate a beautiful flower alpine slide: diagram, description, photo
For an alpine slide choose unpretentious plants, which bloom in spring, summer and autumn.
It's best to choose perennials with small flowers associated with mountains:
- Edelweiss, native to the Alps, grows up to 20 cm in height. Blooms in summer, June-July. Covers the slopes of the mountains.
- sedum- unpretentious hot pink or yellow flower. In the radius where it blooms, not a single weed will grow. Flowering occurs in autumn from September to October.
- Rejuvenated - fleshy green leaves, folded into a rosette, and resembling roses, and purple flowers, grow close to the ground, and reproduce by daughter rosettes. Blooms from July to September.
- Saxifrage in spring, with its small white flowers, it literally covers the ground like a rug. Prefers to grow in the shade.
- Lumbago or sleep-grass appears as one of the first flowers in spring.
- Small daisies different shades are able to decorate our rocky garden for almost the whole summer, since there are many varieties of these flowers.
- Early spring will delight us primrose lush foliage and flowers of different shades, you just need to take into account that it loves partial shade.
- Thrift alpine begins to bloom in June, the height of the bushes is up to 10 cm.
To prevent it from happening that there will be no flowers for a certain period of time, you need to draw up a diagram showing all the planned plants, indicating their flowering period.
In addition to flowering plants, miniature trees look beautiful: dwarf pine, spruce and cypress, as well as small shrubs: barberry, juniper, boxwood.
How to make and decorate an unusual alpine flower bed?
To plant an unusual alpine flower bed, you need to proceed as follows:
- At the very top of the hill we plant coniferous trees and bushes (dwarf pines, spruce, juniper, thuja).
- Below, between large stones, we plant plants with strong roots (irises, ferns).
- Then, in small holes, we plant flowers with a weak root system (armeria, edelweiss).
- In the narrow gaps between the stones we will plant ferns, bells, and lumbago.
- To prevent the soil on the slopes from crumbling and eroding, we plant creeping plants (juvenile, star anise, phlox).
- Soapwort, lobelia, and bells will beautifully fall from the steep wall above.
- We plant near gray stones bright flowers(tulips, poppies), near bright stones there are discreet flowers.
- We separate some types of flowers from others with small stones.
- Climbing pyramidal plants look good next to plants with small flat inflorescences.
And so that the flowerbed slide looks good at night, we install storage lanterns between the stones; they accumulate light during the day and emit light at night.
How to make and decorate an alpine slide without stones or tires?
Alpine slide in budget option– a hill of tires. To make a hill from used tires, you will have to paint them with enamel or machine paint, and then stack them in a hill and plant plants.
Another option: do not paint the tires, but cover them with pebbles and plant flowers.
You can also make an alpine slide with ponds from old tires.
We build ponds:
- We select several tires of different sizes.
- We dig a pit according to the size of the largest wheel.
- We install the wheel in the pit and concrete the bottom.
- We cut off the upper part of the wheel with a jigsaw.
- Nearby, higher in level, we install a smaller wheel, concrete the bottom, and cut off the top with a jigsaw.
- We cover the inside walls of future ponds with waterproofing film, and line the outside with stones and pebbles.
- We install a pump to circulate water from one pond to another.
- We plant plants around that love moisture.
Using the same principle, by cutting small tires you can create a stream that flows into a pond.
How to make and decorate an alpine slide with a pond?
To build an alpine slide with a pond you need the following:
- We dig a pit about 0.5 m deep.
- We fill the bottom with sand, 0.1 m thick, and compact it.
- We lay geotextiles on the bottom, and on top of it waterproofing film(butyl rubber material). The service life of such film is 20-30 years.
- The entire pit should be covered with film and extend beyond it by 30-40 cm.
- We place stones along the edges of the pond so that the film is not visible anywhere.
- We fill the pond with water from a hose and spread the film in the water. The pond is ready.
How to make and decorate an alpine slide with a waterfall?
To build an alpine slide with a waterfall requires skill; a novice gardener will not be able to cope with this.
In order for the waterfall and pond to function correctly, the following nuances must be taken into account::
- Water should not seep into the ground
- To pump water for a waterfall, you need a pump, and accordingly you need to lay an electrical wire
- Plants need to be selected appropriately: dry-resistant at the top, moisture-loving along the banks
- The pond will need to be cleaned occasionally and the water drained in the winter.
A hole under the pond is dug along with the foundation of the slide. The depth of a pond for an alpine slide usually does not exceed 30 cm. A shallow pond is easier to clean, and pebbles are clearly visible in clear water.
- Only the part of the pond where the pump will be installed, with a power of up to 70 W, needs to be dug deeper. The pump is installed on a special stand, so it is less covered with silt, and so that it is not visible, it is covered with stones.
- At the same time, we lay an electrical cable to the top of the slide and check its safety.
- We extend the hose to the top of the slide and hide it between the stones.
- We lay the path where the water from the waterfall will flow with clay slate tiles in the form of steps.
- The following plants grow well near water: fern, frogwort, various mosses, annual flowering plants in flowerpots. It is advisable to take flowerpots of the same shade as the stones.
- It is advisable to place a waterfall with a pond on the north-eastern side of the site, so it will be in the shade for several hours a day, and the water will bloom less.
How to make and decorate an alpine rock garden from available materials?
Rockery is a garden of stones, plants and dwarf trees.
Rockery is not necessary alpine garden, it can be planted on flat surface and not consist of alpine plants, but small ordinary ones.
There are 3 styles for recreating rockeries:
- Rockery in Japanese style, it is characterized by minimalism - a small number of stones with or without plants.
- Rockery in European style - a hill made of different stones, similar to a natural hill in temperate latitudes.
- Rockery in english style . It is characterized by the presence of a variety of evergreen plants.
It is important to remember that a rock garden cannot be built close to home. In winter, when snow slides off the roof, it can destroy fragile trees.
If you are arranging a rock garden and there is a fence nearby, you need to decorate it - plant it near it climbing plants, which will hide the fence.
We begin to lay a rockery using improvised materials:
- Let's mark out the area for the future rock garden.
- We pull out all the weeds and grass.
- Remove 20 cm of soil with a shovel.
- For drainage, fill the entire space with a thin layer of crushed stone and small pieces of broken brick.
- On top of the drainage we pour soil consisting of garden soil, mixed with a small amount of sand and fine gravel.
- We take fairly large natural stones from your area on the side of the road or in a quarry, preferably the rock is of the same type, and bury them halfway into the ground.
- Small stones are also useful, we install them on large stones.
- First we plant coniferous shrubs: dwarf spruce, thuja, juniper.
- Flowering plants need to be selected to bloom from spring to autumn: snowdrops, crocuses, tulips, phlox and others.
- To keep small stones in place, we plant saxifrage, juveniles, and sedums.
- All plants must be a suitable size (small).
- Additionally, we decorate the distances between the plantings by filling them with crushed stone.
- Next to the rock garden you can install a gazebo or a beautiful bench to relax and admire the beauty.
How to make a rocky hill from a large stone?
Suitable for slides are those types of natural stones that do not weather, and from them salts and heavy metals will not pass into the soil. These could be stones that have been on your site or nearby for a long time: sandstone, limestone, granite, basalt, clay and sandy shale. Stones are needed, large and small.
If there are no stones nearby, you can collect them from a stone quarry.
Now we lay out the stones on the gravel bed:
- We start making the rocky hill from the bottom.
- First, we install the largest specimen of stone into the recess. If it wobbles, put crushed stone under it.
- We lay the rest of the stones from bottom to top, and deepen some. If the stones have any flaws, they need to be hidden by turning the stone so that it is not visible. We fill the distances between the stones with soil.
- In the upper part we install a sharp stone - the top of the mountain.
- The rocky hill should stand for about 1 month, less if possible, during which time the stones and soil will sag, and then it will be possible to plant plants.
Attention. When laying out the stones, you do not need to adhere to the same distance or size; the stones should be stacked in disorder, then the slide will look natural.
What to plant on an alpine hill?
Shrubs are planted on the alpine hill and perennial herbs . Plants on an alpine hill should be:
- Unpretentious
- short
- Perennial
From miniature trees and low-growing shrubs are suitable:
- Mountain and miniature pine
- Blue spruce
- Larch
- Barberry
- Korean fir
- Juniper
- cotoneaster
- Rhododendron
Perennial plants and herbs for alpine hills:
- Highlander
- Oregano
- Feather grass
- Heather
- Fescue
- Sheep evergreen
- Cuff
- Maned barley
- Fern
- Sagebrush
- Spurge
- Decorative cabbage
- Snowdrop
- Carnation
- Violet
- Chamomile
For an alpine slide you need to choose different plants, which will bloom all the time: from early spring to late autumn.
The brightest flowers are placed in the center of the slide.
Need for plants constantly look after: remove dried leaves, water, add soil if it has been washed out by rain.
Feed the plants need to Be careful not to use nitrogenous fertilizers, otherwise they will grow wildly, but we have an alpine slide.
Alpine slide with flowers, roses, juniper, moss: photo
- To create an alpine slide, they also use roses, But dwarf varieties: “Hummingbird”, “Meidi”, “Rosemary”, “Sonnenkind”. These varieties tolerate winter well, are resistant to disease, but love sunny areas and do not tolerate a lot of moisture.
- Delicate flowers, such as roses, go well with rough natural stone.
- Juniper also looks good in alpine hills along with roses. Alpine hill in a place unsuitable for cultivation
So, now we know how to arrange an alpine slide on our site.
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