Landscaping can be enjoyed again and again. To admire the picturesque beauty and harmony, you do not need to travel, it is enough to be inspired by its creation on a personal plot. Properly and tastefully decorated Alpine slide with your own hands will be a worthy decoration of the house garden. A step-by-step guide will allow you to equip an alpine hill without the help of designers.

Alpine slide - what is it?

The alpine hill is also called the rock garden - this landscape composition, imitates the mountain landscape with its appearance. Stones rise in the center of the composition, they symbolize the top of the Alpine mountains. On its slopes grow undersized flowers and evergreen shrubs. Landscaped designers who know how to make an alpine slide often work on creating tastefully decorated hills. Inspired by their ideas, you can erect a picturesque corner on the site, where it is always cozy.

Choosing and preparing a place for a rock garden

If you decide to create an alpine kindergarten, a step-by-step guide will help to avoid mistakes and get the desired result. When designing an alpine garden, keep in mind that you need to recreate an imitation of rocky terrain (build a hill). It is very important to choose the right place on the site where it will look more advantageous.

Before you start drawing a sketch of a stone garden, you should decide on the place, the number of levels, as well as:

  • When choosing a place where an alpine slide with stones will be located, it is necessary to use useful elements of the existing landscape.For example, place it near a blank fence or on the rocky terrain of the garden.
  • Take a look at the most advantageous places if you plan to equip a recreation area nearby. It is better to choose a spacious area on which the slide, decorative elements, garden furniture and paths will show off.
  • The relief of the mountain imitation should ideally fit into the general landscape and be a harmonious addition to the site.
  • Given the above factors, the place should have maximum illumination, good visibility and be located in the open.

After the place is approved, it is necessary to prepare a site for laying stones and planting plants. Visually arrange the details, sketch the future garden. If everything suits you, you can proceed to the next step.

How to choose stones and other materials

The stones that are used in the creation of the slide are divided into natural and artificial boulders. When choosing stones, it is necessary to take into account their size, breed and properties. If you don’t think about it at the initial stage, you may encounter difficulties in caring for the slide in the future. Landscape designers know one trick: an alpine flowerbed should look good, even if it is without plants. That is why a lot of attention is paid to stones.

To choose suitable stones, it is necessary to consider what functions they will perform: decorative or foundation. Small pebbles are suitable for decoration, large stones serve as the basis of rock garden. If desired, smooth stones can be varnished, then their surface will gain a certain shade.

The types of stones that are best suited are:

  • Granite. Hard rock valuable stone. Since there is no vegetation on it, granite is most often used to decorate rock gardens.
  • Limestone. Porous rock. Amenable to processing. The shape of the stone can be changed taking into account the design idea; plants take root on it well.

Given the characteristics of the stones, limestone is best used inside an alpine hill. It quickly overgrows with mountain plants. As for granite, stone without visual changes will last a very long time and does not grow with moss.

In addition to stones, it is necessary to prepare the soil from a mixture of different compositions:

  • decayed leaves;
  • soddy soil;
  • needles and peat;
  • heather land.

To add fine gravel or gravel, pine bark is prepared.

A step-by-step guide on how to make an alpine slide do-it-yourself

  1. It is better to start work on laying a stone garden in the fall. The hill will stand until spring. In addition, before planting, the location of the stones can be adjusted.
  2. To clear the site prepared for the flowerbed from debris, unnecessary stones can be used as the basis for the hill (drainage). Make a mound, tamp it well. So that in the process the hill does not donkey, it is necessary to water it abundantly after adding.
  3. Large boulders and stones, if necessary, are dug into the ground, so they look more realistic. Stones are placed at a certain distance, if they lie up close, there will not be enough space for plants.
  4. When the stones are erected, it is necessary to add fertile soil. Its composition is selected from the characteristics of the bushes that will grow there.
  5. The land must be treated with weed killers, otherwise it is difficult to get rid of them later. Even if the rock garden is located in a small area, it does not save us from weeds.
  6. The next step is to plant flowers. Low plants, ornamental shrubs, dwarf spruce, thuja, juniper are well suited for rock gardens.
  7. After planting, flowers and shrubs are regularly watered. To save yourself from this trouble, you must first provide a flower bed with drip irrigation.
  8. Additionally, the hill is decorated with lighting or garden sculptures.

Small area options

If the summer cottage does not allow you to build a large flowerbed, you can do with a miniature rock garden.Take limestone, place it in the chosen place, make a recess in the stone in which to plant mountain flowers. If they are watered, they take root quickly enough. The slide can be made of cobblestones, they are laid out in any shape to indicate the borders of the flowerbed. Inside, they add earth, planted bushes and make out a pine bark. Pebbles and artificial stones made of multi-colored glass look very good as a bedding.

If the flower garden is planted with evergreen bushes, it will function year-round. Although the stones themselves attract attention, they remind of the mountainous terrain.

Care for the alpine hill in the country

It is a mistake to believe that the rock garden does not require care, if you do not follow some rules, it will be desolate the next season. To make the hill always look well-groomed, a picturesque corner requires year-round care.

  • In the spring. With the onset of warm days, you need to remove the winter shelter. To clear of weeds, garbage. Inspect the hill, eliminate possible damage. This should be done before the phase of active growth of flowers. In order for the plants to develop well, fertilizing is required. For aesthetics, change the mulch and refresh the pine bark. Work to be carried out in the flower garden carefully, otherwise you can damage the bulbs and primroses.
  • Summer. Make sure that the soil does not dry out. Carry out regular watering. Weed grass, dried leaves, fallen flowers are removed. You should also treat plants from diseases and insects. In mid-summer, trim the overgrown bushes. If necessary, plant decorative crops.
  • In the fall. Collect bulbs that do not winter in open ground. Seedlings of perennials, this must be done before mid-September. Before the onset of cold weather, the rock garden is not much removed from the fallen leaves, they can serve as a shelter from frost. To prevent plants from freezing, it is recommended to cover the hill with cellophane, spruce branches, but rodents can start in it without straw.
  • In the winter. If there is little snow protecting the hill from the wind, otherwise by spring the slide will have a dull appearance. Do not forget about the drainage of melt water, otherwise it will cause icing and freezing of the roots. This happens more often if there is no drainage. Snow does not harm the rock garden, and its lack is fatal. If the winter is not frosty, the cellophane shelter must be removed periodically, ventilation will not allow rotting of the bulbs.

As for the formation and year-round care, so that the flowerbed always has a decorative look, it is important to prevent its desolation. It is necessary to trim the crown of overgrown trees and bushes. To control weeds, “Roundup” will help, but use the product carefully. The application of the drug should be punctual for this it is enough to drip the product on the core of the weed.

Alpine hills in landscaping

The arrangement of the rock garden opens before summer residents a wide field of activity in landscape design. The flowerbed should fit perfectly into the overall design of the site, as well as be a harmonious addition to it. Variants of alpine slides exist the most diverse, its appearance depends on imagination and design ideas. No need to try to repeat someone’s idea, be original, then you can be proud of the result.

  • The simplest design option for a decorative hill is a rocky cliff; when it is equipped, a fairly steep slope is needed.
  • Excellent in the landscape looks like an imitation of a mountain composition from stones of different sizes.
  • Another good option for a rock garden is a high plateau in the form of a chaotic track.
  • Rocky plants between stones are well suited for the effect of a mountain gorge.

 

It is impossible to meet exactly the same flower beds, because summer residents bring something of their own, unique to them. When designing an alpine hill, straight lines should be avoided, all angles should be smooth. Starting small, over time on the site you can create an artificial stream with waterfalls, but that's another topic.

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