Do-it-yourself alpine slide step by step. Alpine slide - how to make a rock garden with your own hands

Alpine slide - a small copy of the highlands. Usually, in the central part of such a flower bed, a cobblestone or several cobblestones are installed, which are a symbol of a mountain peak. Terraces are created on the slopes, on which low-growing vegetation is planted.

In the natural environment, such areas are formed in the place where natural fractures of rocks appear. Under the influence of the environment, a fertile layer appears on them, on which plants subsequently grow. To recreate such a mountain landscape on your backyard or dacha requires certain knowledge.

For such a large-scale structure as a rocky flower bed is suitable spacious plot... When building an alpine slide with your own hands, you should strive to ensure that the composition of vegetation and cobblestones looks naturally.

Video. Alpine slide device

Making an alpine slide with your own hands

An alpine slide, made by hand, will become an adornment of the entire local area. To decide on the design of your future rocky garden, you can study the photos of the alpine slides. In order to create such a composition, it is necessary to adhere to certain rules and a certain order of work.

Step-by-step instructions for creating an alpine slide with your own hands

To begin with, they are determined with the location. In order to do this, attention must be paid to the illumination. For a rock garden, an area is suitable that is illuminated for as long as possible. the sun... Also, the composition should be clearly visible from all sides.

Designation base contour(soles) of the slide and the removal of the upper fertile layer to a depth of about 30 cm.
Device drainage system... The bottom layer can be made from small gravel, pieces of brick or, in extreme cases, from construction waste. After that, a layer of sand about five centimeters thick is laid. A fertile layer of earth is laid on top of the sand. You can do without a drainage system if a slope with not too dense soil is chosen for arranging an alpine slide.
At this stage, proceed to placing stones and erecting a nucleus slides. Of all the stones, the largest and most beautiful cobblestone is chosen. He will be the main one in the lower tier. The stone must be stable. To do this, you can add soil or gravel. A classic alpine slide in the country house consists of an odd number of tiers. Wet soil is laid between these tiers, which must be well tamped.
Tip: when laying stones, symmetry should be avoided. Planting spots can be left between the stones, or stones can be grouped next to each other. You also need to immediately decide on the supporting stones that you can stand on when caring for the vegetation. They should be sealed and fixed.
Plant vegetation.

Plants for an alpine slide - selection rules

Building an alpine slide with your own hands requires knowledge and certain skills. This is especially true for the choice of vegetation. The first step is to decide on the color palette of the rock garden. After that, you should draw a sketch of the future rocky garden. To trace the color scheme, it is necessary to paint the sections of the slide with the appropriate colors. Only after that you can start choosing a plant for an alpine slide to the country.

Alpine slide with your own hands. Photo

Look good low conifers... You can also use small shrubs that bloom in spring and bear fruit in autumn.

Conifers that are suitable for landscaping an alpine slide with your own hands

dwarf spruce... This plant tolerates drought well;
juniper... This unpretentious plant grows in its shape resembling a cone. Foliage - green;
thuja grows in the form of a bush. In good light it takes on a reddish-brown color;
cypress- a plant with a golden top and a dark green base.

Deciduous plants for an alpine slide

For landscaping an alpine slide with your own hands, you should not choose deciduous plant species. Since fallen leaves must be removed regularly so as not to harm other vegetation. The following plants are chosen for the slides:

the cotoneaster is horizontal. In this shrub with a dense crown, the foliage is painted in a dark green color in the warm season, and by autumn it acquires a reddish tint. The plant blooms with small flowers;
iberis... A semi-shrub that does not lose its attractiveness throughout the season. The flowers, collected in an umbrella-shaped brush, are colored white, pink or purple. Later, in their place, fruits appear in the form of pods;
dryad... Miniature shrub blooming with large white flowers. The flowering period falls in July-August. Later, fruits of an unusual shape appear in their place. They look like "fluffy balls".

Flowers for an alpine slide

For the construction of a classic alpine slide do it yourself use low, creeping, "carpet" plants. It is best to give preference to perennials. The following flowers can be used for landscaping:

short-stemmed carnation... It is a low-growing, richly flowering plant with narrow gray-blue-green leaves, unpretentious. Suitable for landscaping open sunny areas;
rocky beetroot- perennial, the leaves of which are painted gray-green. A feature of this plant is that its leaves remain green even in winter. In multi-flowered panicle inflorescences there are small bright yellow leaves;
rejuvenated is a perennial plant with a wide color palette of leaves. They can be green, silver, yellowish, pink, burgundy;
saxifrage- traditional inhabitants of rock gardens. The flowering period is May-August. The five-petalled flowers are white, pink or yellow.

In order for the alpine slide in the country house to please with its beauty every year, bulbous and corms should be planted. Long-flowering crops are suitable to create a contrasting background. A well-groomed lawn will also be an ideal frame.

What to do if an alpine slide settles in the spring?

Sometimes an alpine slide, made in violation of the construction technology, can settle. There may be several reasons for this.

Poorly matched plot or lack drainage... It is better to equip a rock garden on a natural hill or on an area with a slope. If the slide is located on loamy or clayey soils, then it is imperative to make a drainage layer. For these purposes, gravel or stones can be used.
Wrongly matched substrate, vegetation and cobblestones... For an alpine slide with your own hands, it is better to choose the following mixture of earth: compost, sand and peat in equal proportions.

How to avoid shrinkage of the flower bed

take into account the slope of the site and the type of soil;
make a drainage layer and let the earth sink in time;
for planting, choose vegetation with powerful rhizomes;
choose the right vegetation, cobblestones and soil substrate;
remove fallen leaves in time, dig up wilted plants, weed weeds.

Alpine slide of conifers

To create rock gardens, not only traditional "Alpines" can be used, but also conifers. Pines, thuja, shooting juniper, barberry, gray or Japanese spirea, conic spruce are ideal for these purposes. In the classic version, there should be no shrubs and trees alone. They should grow there in small numbers.

Alpine stones

For such rocky gardens, natural flat cobblestones of various sizes and original shapes are suitable. You should also give preference to stones with a non-uniform surface, with all kinds of "inclusions", recesses in which you can plant moss or a small plant. Limestones, boulders, sandstones, granite, shales look good.

DIY alpine slide decoration

For the decoration of the alpine slide, stones and vegetation are used. In order to position them correctly, you need to follow some recommendations, namely:

they begin to lay stones from the bottom row, moving up;
for the top of the composition, you must choose the most beautiful cobblestone;
for each large stone it is necessary to make a "foundation" of one or three flat stones;
stones should be laid in such a way that their tops are parallel to each other;
several stones should be stacked so that they can be walked on;
after laying each row, a layer of earth is laid, which is well compacted and shed with water;
the most beautiful cobblestone is installed on the top of the slide.

Rock garden and rockery: differences and similarities

Rock garden and rockery are two different ways of arranging a flower bed. Rockery is a flower bed of stones, most of which is occupied by stones of the same breed. Cobblestones are stacked parallel to each other or in random order. The randomly placed stones imitate the natural environment. In rockeries, vegetation is also present, but in the form of a background that plays a secondary role. In the alpine slide, bright vegetation is in the foreground.

Alpine slide with your own hands. Video instructions

Video. DIY alpine slide

Alpine slide with your own hands. Video

Alpine slide with a waterfall. Video instruction

Reading time ≈ 12 minutes

An alpine slide is a spectacular element of landscape design, however, it is somewhat laborious to create, implying many nuances and rules. Today we will consider a step-by-step guide on how to build an alpine slide with our own hands out of the blue with photos and diagrams.

Rock garden with a stream of rounded stones.

Features and device

An alpine slide, or rock garden, is an element of landscape design in the form of a slide built of stones with alpine plants planted on it that grow in the Alps. In other words, this is an artificially created miniature of a mountainous area with its inherent relief elements. So, a rock garden can be created in the form:

gorges;
plateau;
valleys;
cliff;
slope, etc.

Rock gardens are also often called rocky gardens. The device of such an element implies several tiers or levels. If the element is large, it is usually called a rock garden, and structures with more modest dimensions, decorated in a small area, are called an alpine slide. Obviously, high-mountainous flowers and plants require special conditions, and since rock gardens have become ubiquitous, the plants are not selected truly alpine, but based on the climate of the area. We will talk in more detail about the choice of flora for a rock garden later.

In the photo below you can see a simple, but very picturesque alpine slide with stones in the country, which is easy to repeat with your own hands:

Rocky garden on the site.

It is believed that for the first time rock gardens began to be built over a thousand years ago in Japan. In view of the acute shortage of free space, the Japanese have learned to build real masterpieces in a limited space. Stone gardens were also popular in China and other South Asian countries. Around the 16th century, the fashion for the construction of rocky gardens came to Europe, and after a couple of centuries it became popular in Russia as well.

The main charm and charm of the alpine slides lies in their maximum proximity to natural, natural outlines. Lack of symmetry, slight negligence, exclusively natural materials create an extraordinary atmosphere.

Alpine slide with massive stones.

Varieties

There are many types of rock gardens. Here are some of the most common types of slides:

Valley. From the name it can be assumed that such a slide should be similar to a mountain plateau. For decoration, large lump stones, deeply embedded in the soil, are used. The space between them is filled with flowers and herbs.
Cliff. This variety looks like a steep slope. For its implementation, large stones of any shape are used, stacked on top of each other in a dry way. The imitation of a cliff will be harmoniously complemented by shrubs.
Meadow. A great emphasis in this type of rock garden is placed on vegetation - undersized spirits and colorful flowers will look very fresh in the garden.
Ravine. This type of rock garden looks very unusual, at least because it is necessary to make not a hill, but, on the contrary, a deepening. Its slopes are decorated with stones, coniferous crops are planted. A trickle at the bottom of a ravine is a great idea.
Cascade stream. The rocky hill with many thin streams cascading down the hill looks incredibly picturesque and peaceful. When constructing this variety, special attention should be paid to the choice of plants - it is better to plant moisture-loving crops.

Types of alpine slides.

Important! It is necessary to distinguish rock gardens from rockeries - these are two different elements of landscape design, although both stones and plants are used.

Usually rock gardens are much larger, in contrast to, they also have a greater height (sometimes up to 2-3 m in comparison with the maximum height of rockeries of 1 m). Another distinctive feature - vegetation - in rockeries can be used minimally or not at all, while in rock gardens this is a mandatory element.

Schemes

The device of an alpine slide is limited only by your imagination and the characteristics of the site. The compositions can be completely different. To make it easier for you to choose, consider some examples of photos of alpine slides in the garden - both the simplest options that you can repeat with your own hands, and complex compositions with a fountain, a pond and a bridge.

Rock garden with a bridge.

Rock gardens with ponds will bring freshness to the garden design. It is better to place such an element near the recreation area.

A large alpine slide with a stream.

Even small streams and ponds can transform the territory:

Rock garden with a waterfall and a pond.

In the photo below you can see how you can arrange a rock garden near the house:

Rock garden near the house.

For construction, you can use the following schemes:

Rock garden scheme.

Scheme No. 2:

Alpine slide scheme.

Scheme No. 3:

Alpine slide option.

Scheme No. 4:

A slide with a pond.

Seat selection

To equip a beautiful rocky garden on your site, you must first choose a suitable place.

Advice: if there are natural uneven terrain on the site, it is advisable to use them for arranging an alpine slide.

If the site does not differ in differences, it's okay - you can equip a rocky garden on level ground, but in this case, you will have to put in a little more effort. It is important that with an artificial structure, this element harmoniously and smoothly transitions into the rest of the flat landscape.

Rock garden on a natural slope along the steps.

In addition, there are other criteria for choosing a location:

Accessible review. An alpine slide is a very picturesque and colorful element of the garden, therefore it is important that it be visible and provide an opportunity to admire from many points of the site. Therefore, it is advisable to place slides near the house, gazebo or other resting place.
Distance from tall trees, massive shrubs - in contrast to trees, the slide may lose its scale.
Sunny area, sheltered from the wind. This will provide good conditions for most of the plants used in the construction of rocky gardens. Ideally, if the main side of the rock garden is oriented to the south, east or southeast.
Neighborhood with a reservoir. If there is an artificial pond or waterfall on the site, it is logical to place a rock garden nearby.

It is not recommended to build large-scale rocky gardens directly in the center of a large empty space - this will give the landscape element a very implausible look. As for the size of the slide - there are no strict boundaries and norms, it is necessary to choose the dimensions based on the area of the site. After all, it is not the size of the rock garden itself that is important, but its harmonious combination with the design of the territory of a summer cottage or a country house.

Plant selection

Another important point is the choice of vegetation for the slide.

In the classic version of the arrangement of the rock garden, unpretentious, perennial alpine plants are selected that are resistant to the harsh climate, of compact size (ground cover or undersized).

However, with the growing popularity of rock gardens, the range of plants used in their design has also increased. When arranging the slide, the following color groups are planted:

compact low-growing conifers or deciduous shrubs are often chosen for the basis of the composition;
ground cover crops are used to fill the rock garden space;
perennial herbs;
bulbous flowers - they look very impressive during the flowering period. Slides revive the view in spring.

It is important to select plants based on the conditions on your slide - soil type, ratio of light and shade, protection from wind, etc. All plants should have more or less similar requirements for conditions. Also, be guided by the size of the slide - the larger its dimensions, the taller the plants can be planted. For compact rock gardens, select low crops.

We list which specific types are best used for a slide:

Perennials: edelweiss, alyssum, rejuvenated, echinacea, seaside armeria, carnations.
Annuals and bulbous plants: crocuses, muscari, redwoods, snowdrops, haretail, dimorphoteca, marigolds, saxifrage.
Conifers: thuja, juniper, black pine, miniature spruce.
Deciduous shrubs: barberry, spirea, cotoneaster, chaenomeles.

In the photo below you can see what plants are needed to equip a rock garden:

Plants for an alpine slide.

Slide stones

When choosing and arranging stones for the slide, it is necessary to build on the basic principle - naturalness. Based on this, the use of several types of stones that do not occur together in nature will not be a very good solution.

For arranging slides, the following types are most often used:

Granite. It has a beautiful appearance, heavy, so working with it is difficult. It has a low level of moisture absorption. Most often used with ephedra and heather.
Sandstone. It has a porous structure (that is, plants with a specific root system can grow directly in it), and there is also a large palette of shades in nature, which allows you to design rocky hills in different ways.
Lime stones. They pass water well, gradually overgrow with moss, as a result of which they begin to become only more beautiful and more picturesque over time.

For the natural look of the slide, it is necessary to use irregularly shaped cobblestones of various sizes. Place smaller ones between large specimens. For shallower areas, you can choose smooth stones (not perfectly rounded), and for steep slopes, bumpy ones.

In addition to the listed species, you can also use shell rock, slate. Gravel and crushed stone are used to create drainage; alpine slides with real or dry streams are usually laid out with pebbles.

In the photo below you can see an alpine slide created with your own hands in the country from scrap materials:

Alpine slide from scrap materials.

Manufacturing

So, when we discussed the main aspects in the manufacture of a rock garden, you can go directly to work. We will give a step-by-step guide and show in the photos and diagrams the process of erecting an alpine slide with our own hands out of the blue.

Important! Just pouring a pile of stones, filling the gaps with soil and planting flowers does not mean equipping a rock garden. With this approach, the stones can quickly move, as a result of which the form disintegrates and the decorative effect is lost.

If we talk about the time frame en creating a rocky garden, it will take from two weeks to a month. The exact timing depends on the rate of soil shrinkage.

Preparation and drainage

After you have chosen the size and shape for the slide, these parameters must be transferred to the site. Along the perimeter, it is worth protecting it with rope and pegs, clearing it of debris and stones, and uprooting plants. Next, you need to make drainage:

Remove the soil layer from the selected area. The depth depends on the area of the rock garden - for wide elements, it will be necessary to remove the soil to a depth of 70-80 cm and even up to 1 m. In this case, you will get good drainage with excellent moisture removal, which will also serve as the foundation for the composition and ensure its durability.
The bottom must be filled with drainage material: expanded clay, construction waste (broken bricks, parts of concrete, etc., wood cannot be used). The thickness of this layer is 35 cm.
The next layer is sandy. Sand must be laid with a thickness of 35 cm, compacted and leveled, and then pour water to shrink.

At this stage, approximately 30-40 cm should remain to the soil level - we will fill them with soil.

Alpine slide device.

Laying soil and stones

To prepare soil for a rock garden, you can use one of the "recipes":

We mix coarse sand with peat and humus in a 1: 1: 1 ratio.
We mix peat and clay soil in a ratio of 1: 3. Gravel can be added to this mixture in the amount of 5: 1.

Important! The soil for the rock garden must be thoroughly cleared of weeds and rhizomes, otherwise it will be more difficult to care for the slide.

The resulting mixture is poured over the sand around the perimeter of the future rock garden. The soil layer can be up to 1 m thick - it will be an excellent base for stones. Next, it is worth waiting for about 1.5-2 weeks until the soil settles down. Sometimes you have to wait up to 5 weeks.

Rock garden device step by step.

In addition to the diagram above, we attach a step-by-step photo of the process:

Now we will start an important stage - laying stones. We will tell you step by step how to make an alpine slide with your own hands near the house:

Start with the largest pieces according to the chosen pattern. If they fall unstable, use sand, soil, gravel to strengthen them. It is very important that they are securely fixed.
Next, install medium-sized specimens, and only then - the smallest ones.
Do not place stones close to each other - there should be a place for planting vegetation between them.

Avoid symmetrical placement - try to arrange the stones a little chaotically so that the composition has a natural look.

Colonization of plants

This is the final stage in the design of the alpine slide. First, plant trees and shrubs, then fill the main volume with perennials.

Important! A little more moisture accumulates at the bottom of the slide, therefore it is better to plant moisture-loving species here.

The process of planting plants in an alpine slide.

How to care

The advantage of rock gardens is that, with all their decorativeness, they require incomparably less attention than flower beds and flower beds. But still some care is required:

the soil in rock gardens dries out faster than on ordinary beds due to the elevation, heated stones and wind, therefore the plants should be regularly watered from a hose with a fine nozzle;
plants need to be fed regularly at the root (about once a month);
during the entire flowering period, regularly remove faded shoots, add mulch if it is washed off by rain or watering, check the plants for diseases and pests.

For the winter, the composition must be covered with agrofibre. In the spring, the film is removed, the dead plants are removed (if this happened), the stones that have moved down are corrected, and the foliage is raked up. Next, you need to renew the layer of soil and mulch, add new plants.

Now you understand that it is not difficult to create an alpine slide with your own hands, even out of the blue, if you follow the step-by-step guide with photos and diagrams.

Video: how to quickly and easily make a rock garden.

Many people think that an alpine slide is a disorderly heap of stones of different sizes. But in fact, such a composition of carefully selected stones and plants mimics the natural mountain landscape. Professional masters of landscape design recommend starting the arrangement of the alpine slide in September-October. In the fall, it is necessary to carefully consider the design of the structure and accurately mark the territory of the site.

Alpine slide scheme

The first stage in creating an alpine slide, without this it simply will not be possible to correctly plan the work, is the development of a drawing. First, you need to think about the configuration and the number of tiers. The scheme is drawn up immediately in relation to the terrain and landscape of the existing site in order to make the most of all the beneficial points. On a piece of paper, you need to draw up a plan and indicate the location of stones and plants. It is better to draw a drawing to scale and paint with colored pencils in order to have a clearer idea of its final form. Only then can the scheme be transferred to the site. The marking is carried out using an ordinary twine.

If you find it difficult to think over a plan yourself, you can view photos and diagrams of alpine slides on landscape design sites. On their basis, you can easily draw your own composition without much difficulty. Below is the original circuit:

Video

Site preparation. Seat selection

Of course, I would like to decorate more than one corner of the garden with such a structure. But in order for the alpine slide to show itself in all its glory, it is better to choose a place for its arrangement that is spacious, clearly visible and illuminated by the sun's rays. The best option is a plot on the east side of the house, so that in the morning the sun illuminates the hill well, and in the evening the rock garden would be in the shade. Do not forget about the arrangement of a recreation area nearby the rock garden.

To make the composition feel natural, you need to provide a beneficial foreground and background. In front of the slide, it is best either to fill it with stones, and behind it, plant a hedge or a group of coniferous bushes.

The composition of the soil also plays an important role. On a sandy night, you can immediately break a rock garden, if the earth is clay, you need to prepare drainage. To do this, remove the topsoil (30-35 cm) and select the roots of perennial weeds.

Drainage of the site

All plants used to decorate alpine slides prefer well-drained soil. Therefore, it is necessary to prepare good drainage:

Form a bottom layer about 10 cm thick from slag, gravel or brick debris. Pour all this with plenty of water.
The material of the second layer is coarse sand. Spread the sand evenly over the bottom layer (5-10 cm thick) and pour water over it. The sand makes it easier for stones to sink into the ground and provides additional drainage.

Mountain plants do not like stagnant water, so this work cannot be done without.

Soil for plants

Next, you need to prepare the ground. It is necessary to mix in a 1: 1: 1 ratio of earth, cleared of stones and weeds, sand and humus. This mixture is poured onto the previous layer and a mound of the required height is formed. The mixture should be light, airy and crumbly. It is recommended that instead of ordinary soil, take the earth that the mole raised to the surface. Such mounds are found in abundance in parks and plantations.

After that, the work on creating the slide must be suspended for 3-4 weeks, so that the drainage layers of the base are compacted and shrink.

Stacking stones. Laying principles

When the prepared layers have shrunk, they begin to lay the stones. The stones should be of the same type so as not to disturb the naturalness of the composition. The larger the area of the rock garden, the larger the stones should be. There are many schemes for laying stones, one of the simplest looks like this:

Large stones are laid out along the edges of the site, burying them in the soil by ¾ of their size (as small as possible). Then they will be more stable, moreover, they will imitate real rocks well.
Then there is a line of medium-sized stones.
Then small stones are laid on the top of the mound.
The final touch is the decoration of the summit with one massive stone or several smaller stones.

In the process of laying, you should not worry about observing symmetry. Nothing is symmetrical in nature, so all the rules of geometry can be dropped. The rocky landscape created by human hands should imitate real mountains in miniature to the maximum. It is necessary to achieve such a result that the laid stones look beautiful even without plants.

If the slide is large, then it is worth laying out paths of stones along it. In this case, the stones must be laid out with the flat side up, so that it is more convenient to walk. The stones are checked for strength and stability, if necessary, fixing them with smaller ones.

Alpine slide decoration

Alpine slide is a decor and decoration of any garden, therefore it does not require the use of additional decorative elements made of glass or plastic. The same goes for the use of various garden figurines. A strict taboo is imposed on artificiality. The naturalness of the natural landscape should not be disturbed by artificial materials. The combination of strength and tenderness in the appearance of stones and flowers gives an unsurpassed effect and does not need any additions.

Alpine slide is a fashionable attribute of the arrangement of modern garden and park areas. Do-it-yourself rock garden device in the country: step-by-step photos, diagrams, selection of plants.

When choosing a place for an alpine slide, it is important to provide for the following conditions:

In landscape design, there are many styles of garden design, including elements of a desert landscape, rocky gardens, ponds and bridges, which must be in harmony with the erected slide.

Do-it-yourself slide device is most preferable when decorating a garden. If you do the work yourself, you can avoid high costs for the services of a landscape architect. Having step-by-step photos and diagrams for arranging the slide, it will not be difficult to complete the construction of a rock garden with your own hands.

It is very important to carry out the preparatory work correctly so that the slide is stable.

Alpine slide - preparation

First you need to determine the place on the site where the slide will be located. Perennial shrubs and trees should not grow nearby, which can over time obscure the plants on the hill. A place open on all sides, accessible for viewing from all corners of the garden, must be dry. A high water table will adversely affect the durability and strength of the slide base. In this case, the groundwater level needs to be lowered with the help of special drainage.

Do-it-yourself drainage under an alpine slide (step-by-step guide).

The drainage device begins with digging a pit, the dimensions of which are equal to or slightly larger than the area of the hill. First, you should make a markup with the installation of pegs and pulling the cord. The durability and strength of the slide structure depends on the degree of drainage reliability, so the depth of the pit should not be less than 0.8 m.

An alpine slide in a garden or on a personal plot allows you to realize the dream of a harmonious oasis, in which wildlife and inanimate nature are perfectly combined with each other. The decorativeness of the rock garden consists of a whole compositional ensemble of inaccessible and cold stones and lush blooming of green spaces with its own special energy. Artificially created mountain slopes, decorated with calm greenery, allow you to feel like a conqueror of mountain peaks and enjoy their unique beauty.

There are many types of alpine slides and you can choose what is more suitable for resources and preferences. But to create a "zest" in your garden in the form of a rock garden is not only to lay out flat stones on the territory, you need to spend a lot of time, patience and effort to achieve a complete image and obtain a high-quality result. There are several basic rules that are recommended to be taken into account when arranging an alpine slide on your own.

Choosing a place for an alpine slide

The first thing to start with is to choose a place on the site where the object will be erected. The "face" of the alpine slide should look in the direction of the southeast or southwest, and the "mountain slope" (if such is planned) - in the south direction. The plot must be sunny and open. The object on it cannot look lonely and apart. On the contrary, it should be in harmony with all neighboring and nearby objects and cultures. The ideal location for a rock garden is considered to be a recreation area or an area near a residential building. This decorative structure will attract attention and admiration.

Number of materials

After choosing a location and assessing the available space for the work, you can start the project plan. It is necessary to reflect the sketches and sketches of the future structure, the sequence of work and, of course, the preliminary amount of materials used.

To bring the project to life, you will need many different natural stones. Their number depends on the scale and types of the alpine slide. For example, for a high multi-level slide, you will need large boulders with a natural irregular shape (without additional processing), which will be used to simulate a gorge, cliff, mountain slope or plateau. Treated stones in the form of a rectangle are necessary for the construction of a retaining wall. Also, you can not do without stone chips, gravel, crushed stone, sand and cement.

When building a stone garden with a flower garden (rockery), it is assumed that such a landscape is built for many years and does not require frequent changes, so less stone materials will be needed for it. But creating a relief from artificial irregularities, stones will be used much more.

To create a natural and harmonious object, landscape designers are advised to choose for construction only stones of a given area and always of the same breed. The minimum weight of one large stone should not be less than thirty kilograms, and the total weight of giant stones on the site begins with a mark of four hundred kilograms. The total average weight of small "stone" material (crushed stone or gravel) for one rock garden is 300-500 kg.

It is necessary to preliminarily consider ways of transporting stones and other heavy objects around the site. Any suitable means of transportation will help save time, energy and health. Work on the construction site can only be started when all the necessary tools and materials are already at hand.

All work consists of three main stages, but before proceeding to them, you must first mark the territory, according to the prepared plan, evaluate the preliminary result and, if necessary, correct it by making small changes. With the help of a rope or twine, wooden pegs and bright ribbons, you need to outline the contours of the alpine slide and designate its largest elements. After that, you can proceed to the first stage.

The land plot must be cleared, a drainage layer must be laid (if a rockery is planned), planned artificial irregularities and stone hills must be created, a channel must be laid for a future stream (or other type of reservoir) and the support walls of a rock garden must be erected.
The work consists in arranging large stones in the form of a planned composition or ensemble and in preparing the soil layer for planting vegetation.
The stage that requires taste, creative thinking and imagination is decoration. It consists in planting plants, placing additional accessories and placing fine stone material (gravel and stones).

Drainage layer construction

High-quality drainage helps prevent stagnation of water and rotting of the root system of plants, controls soil erosion and shrinkage, and maintains a moderate warmth of the soil in the off-season. The most suitable material for drainage is pebble (large) or broken red brick.

The top layer of soil with a thickness of ten to twenty centimeters (depending on the type of rock garden) must be carefully removed and spread around the perimeter of the pit. Then smooth the resulting surface and thoroughly clean it of all vegetation and its roots. If the future rock garden assumes a flat relief, then the thickness of the drainage layer is 10 cm, with the further construction of irregularities in the territory - 20 cm of drainage.

After laying a ten-centimeter drainage layer, it is covered with fertile soil and the surface is carefully leveled. A thick (20 cm) drainage layer serves as the main platform for the construction of various heights and irregularities and therefore is not covered with soil.

A multi-level rock garden is the most difficult type and requires a lot of patience and responsibility in the construction. Its reliability and durability depend on the quality work when creating this structure.

The first row of stones, which are the supporting wall, are laid out along the perimeter, placing them as tightly as possible to each other and deepening into the ground by about ten centimeters. For the reliability and strength of the connection of stones, it is recommended to use cement mortar or tile adhesive.

For the full development of future plantations, it is very important to prepare the soil, which will be located at the bottom of the rock garden and help maintain moderate moisture, as well as prevent erosion. It is recommended that the removed earth layer spread out along the edges of the pit be mixed with peat or humus, as well as with fine pebbles or coarse sand (in equal proportions). The resulting mixture must be laid on a drain, tamped well and poured with plenty of water for quick shrinkage.

After the first level dries up, they move on to the construction of the second. A layer of crushed stone or gravel is applied to the surface of the earth and a second terrace of stones is laid out, fastening them with a reliable solution. It should be borne in mind that a place must be left between the stones for the future bed of the reservoir. The terrace on the second level is covered with soil, watered abundantly and left to shrink.

With each new level, the area of the next terrace gradually decreases. In the final, a separate stone is exhibited, which will become the top of the rock garden. The height of the alpine slide depends on the land area used for the base. To build a meter-long structure, you will need about 10 square meters of land.

To complete the process of soil subsidence, as well as to fully dry the solutions, the object is left for about 10-15 days. Only after that you can proceed to decorating, planting plants and arranging the reservoir. Plants are recommended to be planted, starting from the top and gradually moving to the bottom of the hill.

Alpine slides with a height of about one hundred centimeters will require less effort and the amount of materials. Construction waste (for example, pieces of bricks or stones) can be used as a core and a reliable foundation for a structure. With their help, the contours of the slide are indicated (right on top of the main drainage layer), and then a soil mixture is poured on top, which will be resistant to erosion and shrinkage. Its composition: garden soil, expanded clay, pieces of red brick and fine gravel. The average thickness of this layer is 50-60 cm. The next layer is again drainage, consisting of the smallest pebbles or crushed stone, on which large stones are placed or stone slabs are laid out, burying them by about forty percent into the soil. The surface of the rock garden is covered with fertile soil about 20 cm thick. The composition of this soil mixture should be light, loose and nutritious and correspond to the preferences of flower crops.

The final shrinkage of the slides takes approximately 20-25 days. After that, you can plant numerous plants, arrange various decorative details and small stones. Large stone boulders on such a mini-slide are not advised to be used, unless they are located at the base of the structure.

Landscaping of rock gardens

The main plants of the alpine slides are herbaceous and semi-shrub species of low height. In the natural environment on the mountain slopes, you can find mainly low species and varieties. The vegetation of the created rock garden should look as natural and believable as possible. And to maintain its attractiveness throughout the year, it is recommended to choose winter-hardy (evergreen) and coniferous crops. The color of green foliage or needles goes well with stone compositions.

Plants for a rock garden should be distinguished by such basic characteristics - unpretentiousness, cold resistance and drought resistance. To maintain the decorativeness of the relief and create a harmonious composition, experienced flower growers and landscape designers advise planting flower and deciduous crops in a checkerboard pattern.

DIY alpine slide (video)

Also on the topic

The collapse of the military construction complex

Decree of the Council of People's Commissars on the establishment of the Red Army

Pavel Petrovich Anosov (1797-1851)

Day of military glory of Russia in honor of the victory over the swedes at Cape Gangut

Ulyanovsk Tank School