Stage 1 — Choosing a suitable place on the site

When choosing a place for an alpine flower bed, it is necessary to take into account such factors as a combination of height and shape with the existing landscape, distance from households. buildings, a playground, etc., sufficient sunlight and insulation from the wind.

It is better to choose a place where the flower garden will be visible from all sides of the site. Close to the selected site should not grow flower beds with lush and bright flowering and perennial shrubs and trees that can obscure the light when they grow.

Also, when choosing a place, you should think about organizing irrigation, arranging a drainage system and paying attention to the type of soil.

Stage 2 — Drainage system

A drainage system is simply necessary on clay soils and when planting plants, for which stagnant water in the soil is not desirable and even fatal. Therefore, to start the construction of an alpine slide, in order to avoid stagnant water, it is worth digging a foundation pit, of the required size and shape.

After removing the top layer of soil, the pit is covered with a layer of rubble, pebbles or broken bricks. A sand cushion and a layer of earth are laid on organized drainage, after which the site must be shed well and give the soil time to shrink and dry. And only after shrinkage, you can start laying stones.

Stage 3 — Selection and laying of stones

When choosing stones, you should think about how to make the alpine slide as natural as possible, natural, close to natural reliefs. To achieve this effect, you should not use many different breeds, it is better to take stones and boulders of different sizes, but of the same breed — so the flower bed will be as similar as possible to the prototype from the wild.

The size of the stones depends on the scale of your project — boulders are suitable for a large slide, and small stones for a compact one.

For the device of an alpine slide with your own hands, you should not choose porous rocks that easily absorb moisture, such as shell rock and dolomite. But ordinary natural granite is perfect, in addition, there are stones that have rich colors and an interesting pattern.

Decorative sandstone is also often used, it is easy to process, so you can give it a shape that matches your idea. Suitable for creating an alpine slide are rocks such as basalt, organic limestone, jasper, forest boulder, serpentine, travertine, quartz, serpentinite, elbrus, etc.

Having chosen the stones, we proceed to laying, it is important here not to adhere to any specific patterns, clear geometric shapes and symmetry. The main thing is to achieve maximum naturalness, because in the wild the stones are arranged randomly.

Rock garden stones should be installed, starting from the largest around, around the perimeter, to the smaller ones in the center. When installing, stones should be dug into the ground, and if necessary, boulders are reinforced with rubble so that they do not sway.

Small stones must be placed so that precipitation cannot wash them away. Alpine slides are laid out in several tiers, the largest boulder symbolizes the top of the mountain, so it is better to choose a conical one.

Stones should be installed randomly, periodically stepping aside and examining the composition from all viewable angles. The slide should attract the eye even without planted plants, when you have achieved this effect, then the flower bed is ready.

Of course, between the stones you need to leave a place for planting plants, and fill the crevices and platforms for planting with fertile soil. When the ground under the laid boulders settles, you can start planting plants.

Stage 4 — Selection and planting of plants

When choosing plants for an alpine slide, the following factors should be considered:

• unpretentiousness — plants that take root well in any climate and soil will facilitate the care of the alpine flower garden;
• you should choose low-growing and perennial shrubs that do not grow over time and do not cover the entire hill;
• coexistence of selected species next to each other;
• to make the rock garden pleasing to the eye all year round, it is worth combining coniferous plants with decorative leafy ones. And they, in turn, will make the composition original even in the absence of flowers.

In the classic version, miniature trees and shrubs are usually planted, such as mountain pine or juniper, as well as perennial herbs and flowers, such as oregano, shaker, lavender or lilies of the valley.

To give naturalness and durability, you should combine different types of plants:

Flowers for an alpine slide should be chosen based on the duration and period of flowering. Small-bulb flowers, like undersized tulips, scylla or crocuses, will delight you in the spring. In the future, they will be replaced by barberry, buttercups, cloves, edelweiss, phlox, saxifrage or even decorative strawberries. Also bloom beautifully yaskolka, Himalayan geranium, beetroot, colchicum.

Onion and bulbous bulbs will delight with their long flowering. Snowdrop, corydalis, clivia, babiana, thecophylea, dwarf irises and dahlias.

Place ground cover plants on the slopes, their powerful root system will prevent the slide from erosion. These include fern and spurge, tenacious and young, geyhera and stakhis.

Herbs should be undersized, they act as a background and juicy decoration of the hill during the period when the flowers no longer bloom, the mountaineer, eriki, alissum, feather grass, esholz will do.

Shrubs and dwarf trees require the most spacious areas, so they are planted first. Among them may be dryad, Korean fir, euonymus, spirea, cotoneaster

Moss and lichen bring the look of the flower garden closer to the wild, limestone is suitable for their growth. You can transplant moss from the forest, for this, the ground collected from the moss pads is ground in a blender with 2 tablespoons of sugar and 200 g of kefir, the stones on which the moss is planted are smeared with a mixture.

Stage 5 — Care of the rock garden

Having completed the landscaping on the site selected for the alpine hill, its creation cannot be considered complete, in order for the created beauty to please you for a long time, it must be properly looked after.

During the first year, it will be necessary to add soil washed out by precipitation several times, it may be necessary to strengthen the stones.

Plants need watering and fertilizing with fertilizers that do not cause strong growth, do not overfeed the plants so that they do not overgrow.

It is also necessary to remove faded flowers, damaged and dry leaves. Treatment of plants from pests and treatment of plants is carried out if necessary.

The creation of an alpine slide requires a long time and planning, it is better to do the preparation of drainage and laying stones in the fall, and planting plants in the spring, after the land has completely shrunk. To create a beautiful and most natural composition, do not use artificial decor, and also preview photos of alpine slides made by professionals.

Inspired to create a rock garden with your own hands, you can add variety to the landscape design of your backyard and make it unique, you just have to trust your imagination.

Photo of the Alpine slide

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDkqDmYCmAo