How to make an alpine slide in the country with your own hands? | Device and step by step tips (60+Photos & Videos)

A magnificent alpine slide in the garden has several advantages. On the one hand, it looks especially beautiful, suitable for any soil conditions, on the other hand, the construction of the slide will not cause any particular difficulties and is easy to care for.

Alpine slides are considered a wonderful sight and become the real pride of any amateur gardener. In addition, they create an excellent contrast with lawns and ordinary flower beds. On a slope or hill, you can make many different alpine slides in design, shape and content.

It can also be laid out on flat ground. Such a garden, especially with large boulders, combined with a pond or stream, as well as bridges, will ideally emphasize the high status of the owner and create a presentable view of the land. It will delight the eyes of the owner and visitors at any time of the year.

You can fill a rocky garden with a variety of plants from high mountain regions. Rock garden - this is just a kind of mountain gardens, which consists only of alpine mountain plants with intensive filling with stones and gravel. A variety of rock garden is rockery - it is a rock garden without tiering, tall plants and especially large stones (although there are more stones in it than plants).

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Choosing a place for the location of the alpine slide

Preparatory work, of course, does not begin with the selection of stones or improvised materials. The first step in making a rock garden is to select the optimal location for it. The slide will not only effectively improve the landscape, but also help in the rational planning of the site - it can be built, for example, on a not very fertile piece of land.

Perhaps the only place where it is not recommended to place an alpine slide is the area near the fence. Firstly, because the place of the rock garden should be open (as in the mountains), and secondly, the man-made fence somehow does not harmonize with the word "natural", namely, naturalness (at least in the choice of site and plants) is the most important property of an alpine slide.

The size of the alpine slide depends on the possibilities on site. To get a good effect, it should not be too small. Plan for at least 10 m² of space in your summer cottage or garden, preferably in the sun or in partial shade. Rock gardens are especially good on sunny hillsides. But, of course, not every site is located in such a place.

General view of the established rock garden

Designers rarely use overly elongated areas, since it is not always possible to correctly place plants on them and implement all the planned design options. The optimal shape of the rock garden will be a rectangle or trapezoid with an aspect ratio of no more than 2 to 3. Although, of course, the rock garden should not have any rigid boundaries, it must be entered as naturally as possible into the design of a summer cottage or garden.

The typical vegetation is low, ground cover plants or dwarf shrubs that are adapted to the extreme conditions of the mountains by compact size and slow growth. Hairiness on the stems protects against dehydration and strong temperature fluctuations.They create a unique look for the rock garden, which in turn enriches every garden like a precious stone.

Not every place in the garden is suitable for an alpine slide, since it will really flourish only in the light. A partially shaded spot is also acceptable if the plants to plant are chosen accordingly. A place in full shade, for example, at home, is not suitable for arranging a rock garden.

As a rule, plants for rock gardens are selected that are not afraid of the wind (which, in fact, is constantly observed in the mountains), and they themselves are unpretentious, so summer residents and gardeners do not need to take any protective measures to enclose the area with a hill from the winds and drafts.

The soil must be dry and well-drained. Loamy soil is unsuitable for rock gardens, as it often causes waterlogging, which mountain plants that are sensitive to such conditions do not tolerate at all. Therefore, it is advisable to organize good drainage in the form of a stone bottom for the future alpine slide. The future place must be cleared of any weeds and all roots that are in the soil.

Alpine hill on the slope

Any rock garden to one degree or another needs a drainage system.. It will have to be done in any case, since it is strongly recommended both to prevent the soil from getting into the alpine hill from the site, and the penetration of excess moisture back - from the hill into the garden (water can accumulate in the lower layers of the rock garden after each watering).

Czech rock

For drenage poured on the bottom of the pit so-called. "pillow". This is a layer of stones, broken bricks, rubble, large pebbles or limestone at the height of the first stone tier. Further, it is recommended to pour a permeable layer of sand on pebbles. It will prevent garden soil from getting into the drain and clogging it.

Then comes the next, narrower layer of drainage from small pebbles. If the soil is rich in nutrients, it should be mixed with sand or limestone, as mountain plants prefer poor soil.

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Laying and design

Creating a rock garden for experienced amateur gardeners will be an easy undertaking. However, if you are new to this business, then you should get advice and advice from experts. After all, a professional gardener or a computer program can help you design a rock garden.

But many amateurs or just owners of cottages have their own ideas, which they can also quite easily implement. However, every gardener should at least create a sketch of the future alpine slide with details and a general planting plan. In addition, it is necessary to select and purchase all suitable plants in advance.

Filling scheme

After the site has been cleaned and prepared and, if necessary, equipped with a net to prevent the appearance of rodents, rough work should begin. For example: adding earth mounds, watercourses for possible streams or waterfalls, placing large boulders or boulders.

First, mark the site by driving in pegs around the perimeter. In the case of creating terraces or slopes with different levels of elevation, they are marked on pegs using ropes. Further, if necessary, a foundation is prepared for the slide, a foundation pit is dug, drainage is poured, etc.Then it is necessary to lay and compact a layer of sand or large stone chips (to avoid shrinkage), on top of which decorative stones, pebbles or shell rock are already placed, which will be visible to guests and visitors.

Scheme of a vegetable rock garden

Then carry out the design of the upper and middle levels of the rock garden. Here it is desirable to place all structural elements in such a way that their stability is maximum (for safety reasons). This issue will be especially relevant in personal plots with slopes, as well as when using stones and other structures with large dimensions.

It is possible that some additional means will be needed to strengthen them, for example, metal parts, which will subsequently need to be hidden from the eyes of observers so as not to spoil the aesthetics of the rocky garden. Removing such impromptu fasteners is relatively simple - for example, it is covered with rubble, tuff or any natural material.

Alpine slide scheme

Subsequently, steps or open spaces with stone slabs must be created on which to stand. In some cases, the creators of rock gardens make sure that access is provided to all areas of the mini-garden - from the lowest point to the top. For these purposes, it is recommended to use a material that has excessive porosity.

It is recommended to fill the cracks between the stones with small pebbles or fill with a putty solution. In this way, a sudden downpour will not undermine the stepped stones. In this case, it is necessary to take into account the color balance - if necessary, a dye is added to the solution.

However, the addition of dye can have a completely different effect: depending on the style of the rock garden, this can create the illusion of a stream of water, a green meadow, etc. It is clear that the design style of the alpine slide should be as natural as possible, but near the border areas, various deviations from the canon are possible.

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planting

Planting process

Anyone who carefully and in advance selects plants for planting will be satisfied with their rapid growth and save themselves from unnecessary care. The choice should take into account the degree of illumination of the site and its soil conditions.. This will provide optimal conditions for plant growth. In the end, there are no alpine slides that are planted with monotonous deciduous plants.

The rock garden, which will be filled mainly with alpine, alpine plants, will look especially luxurious. Evergreen, coniferous dwarf shrubs will complement the image, as they are very beautiful even in winter, under snow and grow very slowly.

Herbs, herbaceous annuals, perennials or tuberous plants should be among relatively tall plants such as thyme or lavender. Ground cover plants are important for maintaining an attractive appearance throughout the genus. These can be obrieta, stonecrop

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Suitable plants

Kossky cyclamen

Great for a rock garden - evergreen and hardy as well as annuals. Even perennials like shamrocks or styloid phlox, conifers and shrubs like lavender and blue lavender blend well between rocks. Alpine plants such as primroses and carnations provide a special mountain atmosphere. Your choice of plants can be stopped at:

perennials

Shrubs or trees

creeping juniper

Herbs

Bluegrass lawn

Bulbous and tuberous plants

grape hyacinth

In general, the rock garden is designed according to fairly simple principles, and it is not at all necessary to follow the complete repetition of the mountain landscape. (because it's actually quite poor). Usually, there are several main trends in the design of rocky hills:

Emphasizing the center of the composition is the most common way to decorate a slide. It's easier to find some eye-catching object that will give the desired effect in an accent than to apply any other design trick.

In this case, the brightest plants are planted closer to the center (or to the highest point) of the rock garden. They can be both tall and short, the main thing is a spectacular appearance. Thus, for example, it may be appropriate to use plants with unusually colored or shaped foliage. Sometimes large plants or even bushes can be located in the center, which will be viewed from a great distance.

Drawing attention to the perimeter of the composition is used less often. This is the opposite principle, which makes sense if there is some functional detail in the center of the rock garden (for example, a bench, gazebo or barbecue). And the rock garden itself in this case does not have a pronounced top, or even looks like a concave bowl.

Here, the opposite is true - the boundary of the site is highlighted. The selection of plants in this case will differ from that considered earlier. Firstly, in this case, it is advisable to choose the shortest ground covers. It will be organic in this case to use various types of moss. After a few years of growth, the moss perfectly imitates any natural landscape.

Secondly, planting plants around the perimeter should not be in the nature of "enclosing" the rock garden, especially creating some kind of wall - everything should be as open to the eye as possible. That is, if the hill is designed in this way, it is necessary to plant plants of medium height at the border, no more than 50-80 cm in height, with trunks with a small thickness. These can be miniature conifers or various shrubs (such as Iberis, barberry, azaleas, phlox mixtures of various shades, etc.)

You can give free rein to your imagination and see how various exotic plants will look in this role: cotoneaster, boxwood, dwarf pine or thuja and others, using the example of one instance, and if everything goes well, land several of them already. Another option is to use bright plants, such as bergenia or marigolds, for decoration around the perimeter. In any case, see what would work best for the role of "natural enclosure" in the early years of the slide, and then make some adjustments to the design.

The most important nuance in this design method is to create sufficient uniformity inside the rock garden with a clearly traceable border. This implies more or less uniform planting of ground cover plants in its central part.

In case of chaotic filling of the site, the landing can be arbitrary, but it is also recommended that several requirements be met:

However, cases of incompatibility of plants for rock gardens are very rare, since they all survive in fairly harsh conditions, and given that they have little soil, the exchange of substances with it is quite poor, that is, competition, if plants have, then aboveground levels only.

Possible choice of plants for rock garden

Once you have decided on the plants, you must first arrange the pots on the surface of the slide for preliminary evaluation and "fitting".

Make sure the plants are in harmony in height and color and allow for the lateral tendency of the plants to spread at intervals. Then dig a planting hole at the indicated location using a hand shovel.

Place the plant only 2/3 of the way into the hole and optionally place a name placard next to it. Fill the root area with soil (to which you can add peat) and press it down a little. After you have planted all the plants, generously water the slide with water.

In some cases, it is acceptable to include exotic plants in the design of the slide, which, although they are not suitable for the slide in terms of habitat, but have an appearance that corresponds to the general design concept. It can even be heat-loving plants temporarily installed on a hill in pots or flowerpots. Naturally, the container installed on the hill must be somehow disguised, and the plants should be removed for the winter in a warm room.

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Care

A planted alpine slide needs less attention than a regular garden or flower bed, which is ideal for amateur gardeners with limited time resources. Weed infestation is usually prevented by gravel around the hill, as well as non-greasy soils. Otherwise, they are removed in a timely manner.

Various infections, bacterial infections, rot, which are caused by high humidity, are prevented by sufficiently good drainage. Also, rock gardens rarely need top dressing and fertilizers, and even mountain plants rarely have to be cut due to their very slow growth. However, very eroded soil should be replaced.

Watering is only necessary during the particularly hot, dry summer months. Seeds of other plants should be regularly prevented from getting on the hill and their further settlement in rock gardens. Because mountain plants grow slowly, they are quickly overwhelmed by other, more active crops.

A real gem of a garden

Various slugs, snails and other pests must also be strictly removed. In the same way it is necessary to deal with mosses. Against them, after removal, loosening the soil with sand or limestone helps.

Amazing decoration in front of the facade of the house

On flat rocks, you can also place containers or pots with seasonal plants. Depending on the differences in the flowering season of trees and herbs. Of course, the shape and size of the stones are of paramount importance for an alpine slide. However, in everything you should observe the measure and stick to the style. Take an example from nature.

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Selection of stones

Ideally, if the soil is heterogeneous. The condition of the soil is of great importance. The effect of maximum naturalness is important. The slide must be both wet and dry. This requires constant monitoring of her condition, but it's worth it.

Mix heavy soil and sand with limestone or chalk. Remember that nature is rarely symmetrical, so place the stones so that they look natural. Do not place them in a line or in the same direction!

Great for large boulders, sandstones, shales and pebbles

Large boulders, sandstones, shales and pebbles are great.Choose only one type of rock. Even in shape, round or broken, some uniformity should be maintained. In this way, rocks and cliffs will look harmonious. Large stones should be dug in. You need to do this about 1/3. Regardless of whether it will be diabase, gneiss, limestone, granite or shale - whoever wants to build an alpine slide can use almost every stone.

At the foot of large boulders, it is necessary to place medium-sized stones, but this is not a dogma - sometimes it is enough to sprinkle the soil around with crushed stone of a small or medium fraction.

When choosing the type of rock for your slide, it is also important to consider the weather conditions in the respective regions. Usually granite, quartzite and basalt are used due to the typical fluctuations in weather and temperature in the middle climatic zone. If someone begins to comply with these criteria when creating a rock garden, he will be able to admire the fruits of his labor for a long time.

Compact mini rock garden

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Pond or stream

It is important that there is enough space. If possible, use round stones to design a miniature pond. The pond should also look as natural as possible. It is better not to use plastic containers that have clearly visible edges.

Remember that a rock garden stands and doesn't topple with the right plants. As a general rule, "less is often more". Don't choose too many different plants. It is better to use several species or varieties over a large area. The same plants in different places on the hill can look beautiful and profitable. It is also important that something always bloom.

An example of a rock garden combined with a pond and a waterfall. Pay attention to the rounded shape of the stones

Don't give up on the green color between the stones. A selection of plants should be made from the same row as in the design of a conventional slide. Suitable for alpine landscape: cinquefoil, gentian, heather, Carnation, fern. Many mountain plants are widely available for sale, some you can get yourself.

They are easy to care for, they are undemanding, easy to get along with and are content with a small amount of nutrients. And the washed gravel that fills in the gaps between the pebbles will give the alpine garden a comprehensive, beautiful and natural atmosphere.

Alpine slide suitable for every site

An important factor is an uneven surface, a favorable slope. Especially large plants look good between the stones. Plants should be chosen so that at least one thing always blooms. Proper soil is vital for good plant development.

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conclusions

Alpine slide is suitable for every site! An important factor is an uneven surface, a favorable slope. Especially large plants look good between the stones. Plants should be chosen so that at least one thing always blooms.

Proper soil is vital for good plant development. Alpine slide should not be too dry, but slightly moist. Ground cover plants, located between bulbous or small trees, around a small pond will create a perfect harmony. And birds and other small animals will feel comfortable there.

How to make an alpine slide. DIY rock garden

How to make an alpine slide in the country with your own hands? | Device and step by step tips (60+Photos & Videos)

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