Terraces

 

Fig & flowers in the garden 2013

The garden at Mercy Haus is on a Southern slope. Three streets border the North, East and South sides allowing maximum light and movement for the land. Hackberries, Sliver Maples and Mulberries create natural fencing and a bit of privacy, though, because of the hills everyone looks into their neighbors lot.

There is a gradual slope of the land, perfect for terracing which is what I set about doing in the spring of 2009. Building terraces prevents erosion, conserves water and increases your growing space considerably. Designing the terraces was a bit easier than the actual act of creating them but eventually I made them work. See pattern 169 “Terraced Slope”

Since I was working on my own, with only hand tools I kept the project small and close to the top of the lot. I began by digging a trench and building up the north side of the trench, using old chair backs as retainers. Once this had been properly defined I was lucky enough to have a friend with a soil connection and we spent an afternoon filling the bed with rich soil, putting it almost at the level of the highest point in the yard. I echoed this on the east side of the house.

This makeshift terrace worked for the last 3 years giving the most bountiful space to our herbs and catching rainwater for our Plum tree, see pattern 170 “Fruit Tree.” Happily this past summer, Seth, our sometimes contractor had second go of it, this time with a tiller and Belgian block and finally put to good use all the bricks that were left over from the two fireplaces to create a lovely pathway. See Pattern 120 “Paths and Goals” and Pattern 121 “Path Shape.”

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