The image above is from my backyard taken June 17, 2009. We had just laid down the fresh sod.In every part of the world a Berm is called something different. I recently posted a reply on the RHS (Royal Horticultural Society) Forum to someone who was looking to build a 'bund'. Again, another great word for a berm.
What's a 'berm'? Actually it simply a formed earth mound. Berms can be as high as you like or can just be tiny hilly mounds. Berms can be planted with all sorts of groundcover, shrubs, spreading evergreens or even sod.
We created berms in our landscape in order to bring some relief to our front and backyard landscape. And, besides enjoying a hilly landscape, certain portions of our backyard were low lying and always filling up with rain water so this made perfect sense.
As I explained to my fellow gardeners in Britain, clean fill can be purchased through local gardening supply stores, garden centres or from ads placed in local newspapers. Many advertisements are for 'free fill' so check around. Just make sure that it is 'clean' meaning that the fill does not contain large stones, bricks, tar shingles or other garbage.
The job is not an easy one, but the reward of either raising a low lying area or simply adding height to an area of your yard is plentiful. In the above image, the area collected far too much water in the spring with the snow melt and even though we created the big pond, too much water is too much water!
