Small and simple alpine slides in the country with their own hands for beginners, photos and diagrams

Each modern well-maintained dacha is sure to be decorated with either a garden or various kinds of flower beds. At the same time, the size of the country allotment does not have to be huge at all in order to realize even the most daring ideas. Nothing prevents you from creating something beautiful, unusual and elegant in a small area. For example, a miniature alpine slide, which is easy to make with your own hands using available materials, even by novice gardeners. Such a compact rock garden has several advantages over a conventional flower garden. First, it looks much more original. Secondly, it takes up little space, and thirdly, it does not require complex care. For those who seek to master the arrangement of alpine slides, creating a miniature version will be a great practice.

Everyone can build an alpine slide with their own hands, even in a small area

What is the difference between rock garden and rockery?

Rock garden and rockery are two different ways of designing flower beds that have much in common. Due to the large number of identical characteristics, sometimes even gardeners with extensive experience get confused in these concepts. Both are a flower garden, for the arrangement of which flowers and stones are used. What is the main difference between them?

Rockery is called a rock garden in its purest form. When creating it, only one type of stone is used. They are laid in two ways: randomly, without observing any order, or in parallel rows. This helps create the visual effect of wildlife. The secondary element of the composition are plants and flowers, which in this case serve only as a natural floral background.

It is the role of plants in the flower garden that is the main distinguishing feature between the alpine hill and the rockery. In this type of stone garden, like a rock garden or a mini-rock garden, the main focus is on plants. Its composition is made up of various types of colorful, unusual flowers and their combinations, turning the flower garden into a small magical world, from which it is impossible to take your eyes off.

A rockery differs from an alpine slide by focusing on the natural beauty of the stones, flowers in this case serve only as an addition.

An ideal place to create a small rock garden

Having planned to create a small alpine slide with your own hands, it is important to choose the right place. For example, a one-sided mini-slide is best placed next to the wall of the house or near the fence, as an addition to the general flower garden or as a separate element of the garden. A round flower garden will look great in the center of the lawn. Thus, all its sides will become available for review. The ideal place for a mini-rock garden in a flowerpot is a porch or terrace.

An interesting idea: the roof of the cellar gradually turns into an alpine hill

Also, when choosing a place for a rock garden, it is important to consider not only how it will look, but also pay attention to other points related to its placement:

1. Illumination. The place must be sunny so that the plants receive the necessary amount of light. A shady spot will cause the flowers to fade and stretch out.
2. Lack of nearby trees and drainpipes. When the flower garden is under a tree, the leaves from it will crumble and spoil the appearance of the entire composition. Rainwater from the drainage system can cause soil erosion.
3. In the flower garden should be placed "neighbors" who get along with each other and have similar conditions for care and cultivation.

An open, well-lit clearing will be a great place to build a rock garden.

Variants of execution of small alpine slides

Getting to work on a miniature rock garden with your own hands, you need to consider the choice of style in which it will be decorated, it completely depends on the desires and imagination of its creator. Photos of the most spectacular and colorful mini-rock gardens can help you choose a specific option, for example:

1. A common alpine slide in miniature. It is a stepped structure that is installed directly on the ground. It can become a wonderful decoration of the entire flower garden as a whole.
2. Mini rock garden, combined with a pond. An amazing effect is achieved due to the presence of even a small bowl at the base of the stones, which will imitate a pond. Such an element of the composition will make it even more charming and attractive. An addition in the form of a mini-waterfall or a fountain will make this place the most attractive in the entire summer cottage.
3. A small alpine slide in a flowerpot. The perfect solution if there is no free land. You can always find many photos of such mini-rock gardens, and not only in flowerpots, but also in various other containers.

A rock garden can be completely different - from a mini composition in a pot to a large slide with waterfalls and a fountain

Materials for the design of the slide

To create a small, the simplest alpine slide, even beginner gardeners do not need a lot of skills and a lot of effort. The main thing is to get creative. The process itself will not take much time, since the mini-rock garden is a completely small and labor-intensive project.

Organic stone laying creates the impression of a natural landscape

As soon as you decide to equip a small rock garden with your own hands, you will need quite a bit of material, which is definitely in any country house:

• several large stones;
• gravel;
• ceramic shards.

Sometimes even old sinks or leaky basins can act as improvised materials. They, too, can really be transformed into a genuine floral masterpiece.

To make the composition more interesting and original even with a minimum of vegetation, stones with an unusual shape and color should be preferred. It is advisable to surround cobblestones of a common gray color with gravel of other shades or bushes with bright flowering.

Choosing plants for a small alpine slide

Which plants will make up the composition of the mini-alpine slide is determined by the area that the latter will occupy. In the case of small areas, miniature plant species are also required. The most suitable are dwarf-sized conifers, as well as rock species that grow slowly. Among them you can choose:

• boxwood;
• juniper;
• erica grassy;
• saxifrage;
• Phlox subulate.

If we want to dilute the composition with bright colors, we should plant undersized plants that have small flowering, for example:

• creeping thyme;
• aubrietta;
• lobular.

In the case when the mini-garden of stones will not remain for the winter, then it is permissible to include cacti and succulents in its composition, for example, a fat woman or an agave. With the advent of autumn, it is enough to remove a miniature rock garden in a flowerpot from the street into the room.

Plants for slides should be unpretentious to environmental conditions

The sequence of creating a mini-rock garden for beginner gardeners

In various sources, you can find a lot of diagrams and step-by-step instructions with photos for creating mini-rock gardens. The simplest sequence of actions, which is easy to translate into reality even for a beginner in gardening, is as follows:

• site marking for a mini-alpine slide;
• placing stones and fixing them in the ground;
• planting plants between stones.

Site preparation

Starting the arrangement of the flower garden, all weeds and roots should be removed from the site intended for it. This will save time and effort in the future.

Since the mini-rock garden occupies a small area, a pit about 50 cm deep is enough. A similar hole should be dug in the place where most of the stones are planned to be placed and filled with drainage. As the latter, ordinary construction waste, which is not toxic, may be suitable. After compaction, it is covered with earth. It is important to produce intermediate watering of the earth, which is added in layers. Such a measure contributes to better compaction and will prevent your creation from sagging in the future. To mark the tiers of the rock garden, twine and stakes are used.

When placing stones, you can focus on your own taste and the general appearance of the resulting rock garden

Quite often, one of the most impressive stones is located in the middle of the flower garden. It is installed on a special substrate, which is buried in the ground so that its base is flush with the ground. A plaster bowl or a substrate made of cement mortar can serve as a support. First you need to install a support in the right place, drowning it in the ground, and then laying a stone on it. You can make the placement of the stone reliable by resorting to cement mortar or gypsum.

Further, according to a similar principle, one should deal with the arrangement and fixing of smaller stones. When creating an alpine mini-slide, the most commonly used are: shell rock, dolomite and tuff. Particularly elegant look samples that have a natural color and structure, although modern landscape design methods allow the coloring of stones, the appearance of which does not fit well with the overall composition. Usually, when designing miniature rock gardens, they try to use small samples of stones of the same color range, but it is quite possible to use bright colors that create a contrast to the main background. This will give gloss and elegance to the flower garden.

When installing stones, it is necessary to adhere to the descending rule, that is, place them in height decreasing downwards. The lower stones should act as a reliable and stable support for the upper ones. There is also the option of tiered placement of stones, which also looks very impressive.

Stones that have an even and flat shape should be laid out in layers, round stones should be placed one or more together in addition. The main thing is that the number of stones in the group is odd, and it is imperative to focus on one of them.

disembarkation

Before planting plants on a hill, flowers can be laid out directly in pots and see the general view of the composition, planting should be done after all the amendments

In the process of placing and installing stones, it is important to leave a place between them, which will later be occupied by the plants chosen for the mini-rock garden. These interstone gaps must be filled with fertile soil. You can plant plants and flowers not only between, but also around the stones. First of all, the largest plants should be placed. As for dwarf trees, which have a fairly powerful root system, they must be planted when the first stones are still being laid. At the end, medium and small plants are planted. At the end of all work, the flower garden should be watered. After that, it remains to apply the final design touches. To do this, you will need sand, small pebbles and any elements of garden decor.

How to install a miniature pond

A miniature pond in the composition of a small rock garden will give it a special appeal. To create it, you need a regular container designed for artificial reservoirs. You can buy such a device at any store specializing in goods for the garden.

However, you can build such a container yourself from improvised materials, for example, an old basin. First you need to knead a cement mortar with a consistency similar to thin sour cream, and add medium-sized crushed stone to it. The inverted basin should be covered with a uniformly obtained mixture with a layer with a thickness of 1-2.5 cm.

When creating a rock garden with a pond, it is not at all necessary to purchase expensive structures; you can use unnecessary containers, such as a bath or basin

It will not be superfluous to create additional decor. It may be a pattern scratched on the outside, or a laid out mosaic. Ceramic shards, broken glass, shells and pieces of tiles are suitable for mosaics. Decorate should be done when the cement mortar is still wet. In this embodiment, it is not necessary to add crushed stone to the solution.

Now you should prepare a place for installing a dried container. To do this, a hole is dug, on the bottom of which expanded clay or gravel is poured as drainage, with a layer of 5-7 cm. The container itself is installed in the hole from above. Along the edge of the created pond, you can beautifully lay out small pebbles.

1. The right choice of plants. Playing an important role in the composition, not all flowers are suitable for this type of flower garden. For example, ordinary garden flowers, such as phloxes or daylilies, do not look good among a heap of stones. It should be noted that for garden types of flowers, vast open spaces are required, while the soil of a mini-rock garden is quite poor. As a result, plants simply cannot exist normally. Your choice of plants for a miniature alpine slide should be stopped on those species that are compact and winter hardy.
2. Final general view. When drawing up a plan for a future mini-flower garden, it is important to consider how it will look in the end. The higher the slide, the more stones should be in its composition. So, plants, especially on the upper tier, will be protected from freezing. Everything turned out right if your creation resembles a mountain landscape with rocky stones, fertile gentle slopes and shaded hollows.

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