How to build an alpine hill: the subtleties of arranging a rock garden

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Alpine slide, rock garden ... This design has several names, but this does not change its essence. When it becomes necessary to tidy up an uneven and completely unattractive area, an alpine slide comes to the rescue.

1. It's incredibly beautiful. Just imagine - in a year, rocky ledges and bumps will be covered with a lovely carpet of herbs and flowers.
2. It's fascinating. When you equip a flower garden on your own, the field for fantasy is almost limitless. Of course, you will need to think through every little thing, from the choice of stones to the landing site for coniferous shrubs. These troubles are pleasant and will give you only positive emotions.

By the way, there is a third reason that will make you think about building a flowering hill. This is the soil. When the land is poor and consists mainly of sand or stones, it is extremely problematic to organize any other type of flower garden, even from a visual video. Another thing is if the summer cottage is planted with flowers and shrubs in the same “alpine style”. Even in difficult conditions, the flowers will develop well and delight you with their aromas.

For the first time, stone gardens began to be built in Japan. The first "ancestors" of modern rock gardens appeared there 1000 years ago. Due to the shortage of land, the inhabitants of the Land of the Rising Sun have learned to create beauty even in small areas.

If you follow the Japanese canons, then the real value of being should be sought in nature. When a solid, absolutely dead stone and a delicate, living flower are harmoniously combined on one piece of land, a real duet of enchanting beauty is created.

8 varieties of rocky flower beds

Before telling you about the main secrets of arrangement, we advise you to decide on the type of flower garden. In total, there are eight main varieties of alpine slides:

• Rock. This is a traditional version, the surface of which has natural kinks.
• Mountain slope. A difficult combination, involving the installation of large boulders, as well as a huge number of coniferous trees.
• Mountain valley. Several groups of stones are placed in a chaotic manner.
• Terraced slope. Retaining walls have different heights.
• Forest ravine. On the territory of the hill there is always a spring or an artificial waterfall.
• Rocky wall. A mound of small height is being constructed, the stones lie asymmetrically.
• Czech rock. Its hallmark is the layered laying of stones.
• Alpine lawn. Perhaps the most stylish arrangement option. It involves planting a variety of wild plants, most of which can only be found in the mountains.

mountain slope

forest ravine

Czech rolling pin

Important subtleties of designing alpine slides

Do not forget that 10 stones and 5 plants between them is not yet an alpine slide. Another thing is when the composition remotely resembles a real mountain landscape, consists of squat shrubs, perennials and properly selected stones.

So, what nuances do you need to know about for those who are going to make an alpine slide with their own hands?

• Isolation from the playground is required.
• Proportionality relative to the area of ​​the site.
• Distance from flower beds, which bloom especially luxuriantly and brightly.
• Location in the most illuminated places, next to a water source. If it is impossible to implement the second point, take care of creating additional watering points.
• Maximum similarity with the mountain landscape.

Alpine slide does not need a lot of space. A modest area of ​​​​a few square meters will be enough. The main thing is that it should correspond to the general concept of landscape design.

A step-by-step guide to arranging a rock garden

Any construction work begins with the preparation of tools and materials. In our case, this is a tape measure with a cord, several identical pegs, a shovel and a crowbar, a garden shovel (the one with a long handle), scissors, a regular one and a ladle for raking the earth, a watering can.

The materials will be as follows: sand, crushed stone and stones of the same breed, turf and gravel, peat. You will also need some humus for the plants to take well, earth, limestone.

• Break up the area allocated for the alpine hill in the country house and apply contours around the entire perimeter. Roulette, cord, instructional video and pegs to help you. Clear the area under the flower garden, remove the top layer of soil with a diameter of 35-40 cm. Without exception, weeds are well weeded and removed.

• When the site is completely ready, it is necessary to lay a pillow of gravel. To do this, gravel, slag and construction waste are mixed and poured. A layer of 10 cm will be enough. Such drainage is extremely important for plants. It protects the roots from waterlogging, prevents stagnation of groundwater, and guarantees excellent aeration. In places where the soil is too dense and does not pass water well, this pillow can be made thicker. For an alpine slide, there is no worse enemy than swampy land.
• How to make an alpine slide if the drainage layer is successfully laid. The granite pillow is supplemented with sand (thickness 5 cm), filled with water and compacted.
• Soddy soil, which is sold in any nursery, is mixed with sand and perlite, wood chips and pine bark. In this mixture, you can add a little fine gravel, crushed peat and humus. The proportions are about the same, it is allowed to take a little less fertilizer.
• The finished mixture of soil is scattered over the entire surface of the hill, the relief of the rock garden is formed. All "cliffs" and "tops" are modeled manually, regardless of whether we are talking about the construction of a slide in the garden, summer cottage, in any other area.
• When the last layer of earth is covered, you can start laying stones. A “cushion” made of river sand is laid under each pebble. We will talk about the choice of stones in more detail.

Rock garden stones: which ones to choose?

To make your exotic flower garden beautiful and durable, select rocks in advance that do not “give” heavy metals to the earth, do not oxidize it. Freshly mined pebbles are much worse than those that have already been hewn by wind and water. Scree should have a similar structure, and if you find the same, it will be perfect. The video instruction reminds you that the size of the stones may vary.

The real "classic", thanks to which you can build an alpine slide yourself, is natural granite and decorative sandstone, sometimes organic limestone. Alternatively, you can try boulders and dolomites, basalt, jasper (rare), quartz and serpentine.

Never collect stones in meadows and fields - it is better to purchase them in a quarry. The weight of the stones can vary significantly, ranging from 10-15 to 100 kg. For example, if you want to build a stone bed with an area of ​​150 x 300 cm, you will need about a ton of stones.

We continue our work with the Alpine slide. Laying always starts from the foot. Then you follow up and gradually move from larger stones to smaller objects. The core of the slide is formed first. To do this, you need to choose the largest boulder and prepare a recess in the ground for it. To achieve stability, you can strengthen it with gravel.

Clear distances, geometric harmony - not your choice. How to do styling yourself? Avoid exact lines, because in nature blocks of stone are scattered in a chaotic manner.

In the process of laying, gradually deepen the core of the composition, other stones. The sinuses are covered with earth for rock garden, watered with a stream of water. It is in them that you will plant plants. To emphasize the top of the mountain, we recommend placing a conical boulder at the top. As for the flower garden itself, it is better to start working with plants in 2-3 weeks. During this time, the stones and earth will settle properly.

Beautiful flowers for a slide - the key to a spectacular design

Since the climate in our country is rather unstable, the planted plants must be hardened and hardy. They should not be afraid of strong winds, fluctuations in temperature, or high atmospheric pressure. There are 5 main characteristics that plants should have:

• Absolute unpretentiousness.
• Small growth.
• Low growth rate.
• The breeding method is simple and affordable.
• The development cycle is necessarily multi-year.

Ground cover representatives of the flora, which have a powerful root system, are best planted on a slope. So the alpine slide will not erode too quickly.

We will not list all of them - in fact, there are really a lot of them and this is a separate issue. It will be much easier and more effective if you watch a thematic video. Among the undersized and ground-covering species, the most notable are the mountain grate, euphorbia and, among the flowering ones, carnation, bellflower, Rhodiola rosea and others (more than 30 species). Combine different varieties according to the timing of flowering to achieve a fairly smooth change in shades. Blooms the longest, brandushka, corydalis, clivia, ranunculus.

Small bushes and dwarf trees are planted first. For them, it is recommended to allocate the most spacious areas. But placing them on the top of the slide or the sole is undesirable. The edges of the hill, next to large stones - this is the best place. If you make it a rule to plant coniferous shrubs and dwarf trees as described above, they will need minimal care. Unless in winter, during severe frosts, they will need to be covered with burlap or wrapped in a special cover.

How to make an alpine slide using moss? Surely, you have seen how the owners of household plots decorate their garden or cottage with a moss-covered slide. You can apply this simple element of landscape design.

Clean the moss pillow from the ground, mix it with a blender and sugar (2-3 tablespoons) and 200 g of kefir.

Get a homogeneous mass. Smear it on large and small stones with a brush. The plant will quickly take root - just remember to moisten it for three weeks.

Instead of a conclusion

Do not believe people who convince you that you can build a rock garden at your dacha in just one day. Naturally, such information has nothing to do with real facts. Unless it will be the most common version of a small alpine slide. And even then - made in a city apartment, and not in a large garden.

Do you want to do everything right so that you don’t have to redo it later? There is nothing easier. Follow the guidelines you may have read above. Lay good drainage and cover it with earth. Ideally, the whole range of work is best done in two stages. The base of the slide is formed in autumn, it is better to plant and lay flowers and stones in spring.