sign in sign up
<<
Home , Backyard, Terrace (building), Terrace (earthworks)

Terracing Use terraces to make flower and vegetable gardening possible on steep slopes, or simply to add interest to your landscape.

In your Terraces can create several mini- in your backyard. On steep slopes, terracing can make planting a possible.Terraces prevent by shortening the long slope into a series of shorter, more level steps.This allows heavy rains to soak into the rather than run off and cause erosion.

Terracing saves soil, makes better use of water, and beautifies a landscape.

Backyard Conservation is a cooperative project of: USDA Natural Resources The U.S. Department of (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, gender, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, and marital or family status. (Not all prohibited bases apply to Conservation Service all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for communication of program information (Braille, large print, National Association of audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA’s TARGET Center at 202-720-2600 (voice and TDD). To file a complaint of discrimination, write USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, 326W, Whitten , 14th and Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20250- Conservation Districts 9410 or call (202) 720-5964 (voice or TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer. Wildlife Habitat Council April 1998 One in a series of 10 tip sheets on backyard conservation BACKYARD Terracing

Materials for Because of the expertise and equip- should be slightly wider than terraces ment required to do this correctly, your timber. Make sure the bot- you will probably want to restrict tom of the is firmly Numerous materials are available for terraces you build yourself to no packed and completely level. building terraces.Treated wood is more than a foot or two high. Place your timbers in the trench. often used because of several advan- tages: it is easy to work with, blends Building a 4. For the sides of your terrace, dig with plants, and is often less a trench into the slope.The bot- The safest way to build a terrace is expensive than other materials. tom of this trench must be level probably the and fill method. There are many types of treated with the bottom of the first With this method, little soil is dis- wood on the market--from railroad trench.When the depth of the turbed, giving you protection from ties to timbers.These trench is one inch greater than erosion should a sudden storm occur materials will last for years.While the thickness of your timber, you while the work is in progress.This there has been some concern about have reached the back of the ter- method will also require little, if any, using these treated materials around race and can stop . plants, studies by Texas A&M additional soil. University and the Southwest 5. Cut a timber to the correct 1. Contact your utility companies to Research Institute concluded that length and place in trench. these materials are not harmful to identify the location of any buried utilities before starting to gardens or people when used as rec- 6. Drill holes through your timbers excavate. ommended. Other materials for ter- and pound long spikes or pipes races include bricks, rocks, concrete through the holes and into the 2. Determine the rise and run of blocks, and similar masonry materi- ground.A minimum of 18” pipe your slope.The rise is the vertical als. Some masonry materials are length is recommended; longer distance from the bottom of the made specifically for and ter- pipes may be needed for stability slope to the top.The run is the races and can be more easily for higher terraces. installed by a homeowner than other horizontal distance between the top and bottom.This will help materials such as field stone and 7. Place the next tier of timbers on you determine how many ter- brick. Most stone or masonry prod- top of the first, overlapping cor- races you need. For example, if ucts tend to be more expensive than ners and joints. Spike these your run is 20 feet and the rise is wood. together. 8 feet and you want each bed to be 5 feet wide, you will need 4 Height of walls 8. Move soil from the back of the beds.The rise of each bed will be bed to the front of the bed until The steepness of the slope often dic- 2 feet. tates height. Make the terraces the surface is level.Add another tier as needed. in your high enough so the land 3. Start building beds at the bottom between them is fairly level. Be sure of your slope.You will need to 9. Repeat, starting with step 2. In the terrace material is strong enough dig a trench in which to place continuously connected terrace and anchored well enough to stay in your first tier.The depth and systems, the first timber of the place through freezing and thawing, width of the trench will vary second tier will also be the back and heavy rainstorms. Do not under- depending on how tall the ter- wall of your first terrace. estimate the pressure of water- race will be and the specific logged soil behind a wall. It can be building materials you are using. 10.The back wall of the last bed will enormous and cause improperly con- Follow the manufacturer’s be level with the front wall of structed walls to bulge or collapse. instructions carefully when using that bed. Many communities have building masonry products. Many of these codes for walls and terraces. Large have limits to the number of tiers 11.When finished, plant and mulch. projects will need the expertise of a or the height that can be safely professional to make sure the walls built. If using landscape timbers can stand up to water pressure in and your terrace is low (less than the soil. Large terraces also need to 2 feet), you only need to bury the be built with proper drainage and to timber to about half its thickness be tied back into the slope properly. or less.The width of the trench

2 BACKYARD Terracing

The stair-step effect of terraces gives you a level area to plant on, reducing erosion and allowing more of rainfall into the ground.

Other options for Stripcropping is another way to deal slopes, preventing water from build- slopes with long slopes. Rather than terrac- ing to a highly erosive force. Some ing to make garden beds level, plant terraces are seeded to grass, which If terraces are beyond the limits of perennial beds and strips of grass provides and a nest- your time or money, you may want across the slope. Once established, ing area for birds.Terraces are often to consider other options for back- many perennials are effective in used in combination with other con- yard slopes. If you have a slope that reducing erosion. Mulch also helps servation practices to provide more is hard to mow, consider using reduce erosion.The erosion that may complete soil protection. groundcovers other than grass.There occur will be primarily limited to the are many plants adapted to a wide garden area.The grass strips will act Stripcropping is a common erosion range of light and moisture condi- as filter strips and catch much of the control practice on many . tions that require little care, but pro- soil that may run off the beds. Grass often alternate strips of vide protection.These strips should be wide enough to corn or soybeans with strips of hay. include: mow across the hill easily as well as Many farmers put erosion prone Juniper (Juniperus horizontalis) wide enough to effectively reduce areas into permanent cover. Pachysandra (Pachysandra terminalis) erosion. Wintercreeper (Euonymus fortunei) English ivy (Hedera helix). On the Periwinkle (Vinca minor) Cotoneaster (Cotoneaster spp.) Terraces catch runoff water, let the Potentilla (Potentilla spp.) water soak into the ground, and Partridge berry (Gaultheria procum- deliver the excess safely to the bot- bens) tom of a hillside much like Heathers and heaths eavespouts on a .The earthen ridges built around a hillside on the contour cut a long slope into shorter

3 BACKYARD Terracing

4 Printed by the National Association of Conservation Districts 1-800-825-5547