Berms in the Landscape Design

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!

Ponds and Streams

When the dream became a reality. Jim always said that he wanted two ponds connected by a stream and a sand beach. Really...a sand beach? In the middle of the city? Really?

The above image gives a glimpse at our 10ft high limestone waterfall, our larger pond, the connecting stream and of course the sand beach. I wanted a proper enclosure for the fire pit but Jim insisted on keeping it natural. Ergo, the fire pit is surrounded by larger rocks and not the metal insert I suggested. I must admit it does look pretty good, pretty rustic. Great for making s'mores by the camp fire.

The sand is actually from a beautiful beach just 50km north of Winnipeg, Grand Beach. The fine grain white sand allows for the toes to hide within and the sand castles form perfectly. Our grandson Sebastian enjoys deep digging so thank goodness we carried in enough sand to make the beach 12 inches thick. Underneath the fine sand sits a few inches of coarser sand.

We outlined the stream with our usual spray paint method, however after laying the poly and pool liner (using the same method as when building our two ponds) and adding the river rock, we both concluded ...the stream should be wider. Oh well, too late. I guess we didn't take into account the added space for the river rock. Please check out my web site for a more detailed description on our pond and stream creation: http://www.my-gardening-and-landscaping-makeover.com/building-a-pond.html

Great Soil With Gold (Compost)

Can you imagine having such rich garden gold right in your backyard?

When we first moved to our new property, I had no idea of what lurked in behind the old oak trees. More trees, I thought.

Boy, was I wrong! I walked along the winding path, which led me to an astonishing discovery. There, in front of my wide open eyes lay a mound of compost...at least 30 ft. wide, 30 ft. long and approximately 7 ft. high. This must have been a collection of a lifetime within the pile.

I knew immediately that my garden soil would be extraordinary...the best ever!

As Jim outlined my flowerbeds (to my design, of course), then tilled, then loaded on the soil from digging the ponds, he just knew his next task was the compost pile. Yup. He was right.

To complete the process I always order a 5-way garden soil mix, then add in that wonderful compost. It was really quite the ordeal, I mean getting that compost to my flowerbeds. The compost pile is at least 130 ft. from my flowerbeds. So, with wheelbarrows in hand, Jim (and me too at times) managed to move enough compost to leave a pretty big dent in the pile.

It all worked out. I am positive that the added nutritional value was the key to my Flower Carpet Roses growing almost twice the size indicated on the labels. Eeeek...I actually had to give my carpet roses a hard prune prior to the snow falling!

Stones and more stones...

Ah yes, the stone quarry. For the past 15 years Jim and I have been playing Fred & Wilma Flinstone. It's true.

We rent a truck and off to the Stonewall quarry we go. We try and venture out on cloudy days or on days that are not too brilliant in sunlight. For some reason the quarry becomes a bake-oven at high noon and without proper sun protection...well, it ain't pretty.

As the day is long, Jim and I stumbled over and in between the stones, rocks and boulders, just to find that right one. With rubber mallet in hand, we clobbered and hacked at the larger pieces and by day's end or pure exhaustion, we would have enough red limestone to barely frame one half a flowerbed. Usually our flowerbeds are lined 2 to 3 rows high.

That being said, we persevere every year and bring home the stone. I believe that the rented truck already knows its own way.

If you check out my way to outline flowerbeds, you will see that by spraying the desired flowerbed form on the ground first, then lay down landscaping fabric, then add 1/4 down stone on top of the fabric, you will have made a great base for the limestone...and no weeds will grow through. Another great reason for this kind of hardscaping border is that you can use the gas powered edgers without worrying about lobbing off the tops of your plants!

Once the limestone is laid, Jim still pours a bit of left over gravel in between the limestone. With all complete, the border is sturdy and after a few rains, viola...will not move.

A Caribbean Pond Oasis - The Begining

Can you imagine water so blue? In the Caribbean maybe...

We could not resist coloring the water. The dye used is 'critter' friendly and although I have heard it said that coloring the water doesn't look natural, we like it.

We used a heavy duty pool liner (the blue) and sand and poly as a base. Then we added the different sizes of river rock and finally placed odd sized boulders. All of the stones and boulders were delivered to our driveway and hauled to the back by us...oh...my aching back.