What to do with a small, sloped area

Soldato
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28 Sep 2012
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Monterrey, Mexico
We're getting close to finishing a construction project, and as I'm expecting all the rubble and materials to be removed from our land within the next couple of weeks, my thoughts are turning to making the area look presentable.

In the photo below, you can see a flat area outside the patio of my house. I already have plans to put grass there, and everything to the left of the garage / pool is going to be driveway / parking. However, that leaves me with the sloped area to the right of the pool. I can't put decorative gravel or any loose material there as it will fall down the moment it rains. I don't particularly want to concrete it either, as we're already going to have a lot of concrete around that part of the land. Current thoughts are to plant a few palm trees and use fake grass, but I'm not sure how weird that would look with the real grass so close to it. Any suggestions? I'd like a solution that doesn't cost a fortune as it's a big plot and I have a lot of other parts I'd like to develop.

IMG-1565.jpg
 
Soldato
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Some sort of terracing would be best I imagine. Perhaps sleeper or brick retaining walls and gravel/plants/shrubs/trees to suit.

I can get sleepers for free, so I like that idea. If I made a few levels of terracing and seated the sleepers in concrete do you think it would hold? I'd rather avoid having to build a retaining wall as I've built a lot of them recently and they're never cheap.

Fake grass is cancer especially in Mexico.

I'm not a huge fan of it myself either, but there aren't that many options which is why I was considering it.
 
Soldato
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Stepped area for me with differentt things being grown on each portion. What about some orange trees or olive trees, would they grow out there?
 
Soldato
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You could put some rebar through the sleepers into the concrete foundation to reinforce it and stagger them like a brick wall to link them together.

That's a great idea, particularly as I have some rebar left over from the build. Thanks!

What about a rock garden?

We have one in another part of the land, so we don't particularly want another, particularly as I always seem to be weeding it.

Stepped area for me with differentt things being grown on each portion. What about some orange trees or olive trees, would they grow out there?

Yes, we actually have about 10 olives, limes and oranges at the other side of the house. I'm thinking of combining your idea with @jellybeard999's idea and doing terraces with sleepers, a few of each of those trees in each level, and coloured gravel to prevent too many weeds springing up. If I keep the soil level a couple of inches below the top of each sleeper, the rain shouldn't affect it too much.

Got kids? A slide :)

You could also get something like this if you want it to look green https://www.tensarinternational.com/Systems-Products/Tensartech-Systems/Tensartech-Greenslope though not sure on cost

No kids, and no plans to ever have them. I like the idea of the Greenslope, not sure how easy it would be to make it out here though.
 
Soldato
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No kids, and no plans to ever have them. I like the idea of the Greenslope, not sure how easy it would be to make it out here though.
Shouldn't be too hard for the height you need. You could probably put some mesh at desired angle and tie some geogrids to it at say 500mm layers. Assuming you're not going to load it with anything crazy.
 
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