Creating A Lush and Welcoming Landscape

If you are nearing completion on your new construction house or commercial building and are investigating your options for preventing soil erosion on its sloped property, then you have four different options:

• build a retaining wall
• build terraces
• install geotextiles
• hydroseed

The option that is best for your property depends on the size of the sloped area, the severity of the slope, and on your budget for the project. To help you decide which option is best for your unique situation, below is more information about each one:

Building a Retaining Wall

If you have a small area of property with a steep slope, then building a retaining wall is a good option. Though a retaining wall may come with a high upfront cost, it will last for decades without any maintenance, and it will do a good job of reducing soil erosion until your landscaping is well established. 

Building Terraces

If your property has a very steep slope and is too large to install a retaining wall, then terracing is a good idea. Terracing is essentially building a few smaller retaining walls with some drainage diversions. It isn't cheap to do, but it will look amazing when it's done.

Terracing a slope creates many smaller garden areas where you can plant flowers, vegetables, and bushes on what would otherwise be unusable land. Additionally, if you prefer lower maintenance landscaping, then you can cover the terraced area in mulch, decorative rock, or native grasses. 

Installing Geotextiles 

If you would like to install a retaining wall or terrace but just don't have the budget for it right now, then you can cover the sloped area with geotextiles. Also known as erosion control blankets, geotextiles are made of polyester or plastics and are used to disperse rainwater so it doesn't wash away all of the topsoils. Typically, people plant grasses and other plants over the top of the geotextiles and rely on the erosion control blankets to disperse the water while waiting for their roots to grow.

Hydroseeding

Finally, if you have a large sloped area and a lower budget, then you can opt to have the area hydroseeded. Hydroseeding is a process where native grass and plant seeds are mixed into a slurry with water and then blown onto the slope with a truck-mounted machine. 

If you opt for new construction hydroseeding, then you should also plan to plant some trees and bushes in the hydroseeded area. This is important because as the native plants and grasses take hold, you also need trees and larger bushes so there are plants with roots of various depths to hold the soils in place even during storms.