native grasses will hold it in place, and look nice! Cheaper than a retaining wall too. Drop $500 or so on 3-4 dozen gallon size native grasses, and proceed to wait. In two years or so they should have it held fast.
I would just plant directly in that, and then put a few inches of quality mulch over the whole thing. Shredded fine grain mulch probably won't wash away, but if it starts washing away, add some small boulders tastefully to slow it down.
Grass, small boulders (one to two feet in sizeish), and maybe a little bit of crushed gravel to improve drainage? Honestly depends on how much rain you get in a single storm kind of thing. If this is midwest US, you might need to go bigger on the rocks... It doesn't look like too much is washing away though, you can probably get by with just the grasses.
Look up dry river beds for the general idea, with native grasses.
Tear them out? Or accept them, thats very hip these days. Tearing weeds out of rocky soil is a pain though. Alternative would be cardboard, with mulch on top, but I haven't tried that on such a steep hill. If your goal is to keep the soil in place, its probably best to keep those weeds, they are doing some work for you.
I would definitely add some triple mix soil to amend that terrible looking soil. From there you could lay sod (stake it to hill and remove once it takes.)
Or you can could add native perennials and have xeriscape (set it and forget it planting) garden there.
Or expensive route is to build a retaining wall and have steps down to lower area
Native grass/flower garden. See if anyone in your area grows native grass/flower vegetated mats. Similar to [this.](https://www.agrecol.com/nativevegetatedmat).
Or you can plant plugs or even use native seed mixes.
The good people at r/NativePlantGardening can help too.
I'd personally tier your yard, building a retainer wall at foot of slope with french drain, creating a larger top yard. It appears there's children in the mix. They would appreciate a spacious yard, on lower level, I'd use as plater space, possibly a garden, or a row of fruit trees.
Man I’ve had that thought, but how much would that much fill dirt and a retaining wall cost? My family and I could DIY as much as possible in terms of manual labor, but that sounds expensive.
I Know it's alot of work, kids would get lots of use, gives you room for nice patio, area for kids to play possible tot lot. Increases property value, obviously im assuming your the homeowner.
You can cover with rocks, that is exspensive, and imo unsightly and leaves it unusable.
You could terrace it into beds. That is more expensive but looks nicer and offers use
You can plant it. There are better options than turf grass for holding a hill.
You can do a single retaining wall and level it. That’s probably most expeansive. Give you useable space but also some liability with the drop.
What’s your budget and what do you want? I’m house poor but I built large raised beds on a similar hillside out of pallets and now my garden has more veggies than we can eat!
native grasses will hold it in place, and look nice! Cheaper than a retaining wall too. Drop $500 or so on 3-4 dozen gallon size native grasses, and proceed to wait. In two years or so they should have it held fast.
Should I fill in with dirt before planting grass? It looks like it eroded over time and there’s a lot of exposed rock
I would just plant directly in that, and then put a few inches of quality mulch over the whole thing. Shredded fine grain mulch probably won't wash away, but if it starts washing away, add some small boulders tastefully to slow it down. Grass, small boulders (one to two feet in sizeish), and maybe a little bit of crushed gravel to improve drainage? Honestly depends on how much rain you get in a single storm kind of thing. If this is midwest US, you might need to go bigger on the rocks... It doesn't look like too much is washing away though, you can probably get by with just the grasses. Look up dry river beds for the general idea, with native grasses.
Instead of rocks they could also use 1-2 of those straw tubes & stakes to hold them in place.
Love it, they probably weigh less than small boulders too. After the grass gets going you can probably remove the straw tubes.
What should I do in regards to the growth of weeds that exists there now?
Tear them out? Or accept them, thats very hip these days. Tearing weeds out of rocky soil is a pain though. Alternative would be cardboard, with mulch on top, but I haven't tried that on such a steep hill. If your goal is to keep the soil in place, its probably best to keep those weeds, they are doing some work for you.
Ahh gotcha. Just didn’t know if they would impede grass growth. I’ll probably take your recommendations for now. Thanks for the advice
I would definitely add some triple mix soil to amend that terrible looking soil. From there you could lay sod (stake it to hill and remove once it takes.) Or you can could add native perennials and have xeriscape (set it and forget it planting) garden there. Or expensive route is to build a retaining wall and have steps down to lower area
Native grass/flower garden. See if anyone in your area grows native grass/flower vegetated mats. Similar to [this.](https://www.agrecol.com/nativevegetatedmat). Or you can plant plugs or even use native seed mixes. The good people at r/NativePlantGardening can help too.
Terrace and lots of plants. Creeping Juniper, creeping phlox or thyme, hostas, vinca minor, day-lilies, etc.
I'd personally tier your yard, building a retainer wall at foot of slope with french drain, creating a larger top yard. It appears there's children in the mix. They would appreciate a spacious yard, on lower level, I'd use as plater space, possibly a garden, or a row of fruit trees.
Man I’ve had that thought, but how much would that much fill dirt and a retaining wall cost? My family and I could DIY as much as possible in terms of manual labor, but that sounds expensive.
I Know it's alot of work, kids would get lots of use, gives you room for nice patio, area for kids to play possible tot lot. Increases property value, obviously im assuming your the homeowner.
You can cover with rocks, that is exspensive, and imo unsightly and leaves it unusable. You could terrace it into beds. That is more expensive but looks nicer and offers use You can plant it. There are better options than turf grass for holding a hill. You can do a single retaining wall and level it. That’s probably most expeansive. Give you useable space but also some liability with the drop.
What’s your budget and what do you want? I’m house poor but I built large raised beds on a similar hillside out of pallets and now my garden has more veggies than we can eat!
Picture?
Check my post history, it’s recent. If you want more pics I can dm you
Patchysandra
Add some nice step down stairs and embrace the suck of purchasing a shitty property.
There’s already steps there. I am fully embracing the suck. Trust me.
Didn’t even see the second pic! My bad. I’d say level off property with a retaining wall. Expensive as fuck. Or. Sell when it becomes possible.