If you have a sloping garden the first thing to think about is whether to level it and build terraces or whether to live with the slope.
Sloping Downwards Garden
If your garden slopes away from your house then there is a foreshortening effect that makes the garden appear shorter than it really is. The only way to get around this is to divide it up.
You may be able to create two or three broad terraces from your sloping garden. This is the most common solution. Create features on each level and use shrubs to camouflage the levels. Your shrubs can hide part of your garden, until you walk past them, when more is revealed. Use taller shrubs and trees on the lower levels that you may eventually see from the upper terrace.
If you decide not to terrace your garden you can achieve a similar effect by dividing it up using mixed shrub hedges across it, or diagonally across it.
Sloping Upwards Garden
If you have a garden that slopes up when viewed from the house it is more difficult to deal with. Your garden may be so steep that you cannot work in it comfortably, in which case you may need to put in a terrace half way up. This is a job for a professional landscaper if your garden is very steep.
If you have a slope of up to 450 then you can use it as a display wall for shrubs and colourful plants. You can create your own garden art using plant and flower colours that will change with each passing month. Forget grass because mowing it is going to be so difficult.
Plant your shrubs close together to reduce weeding. Build steps at either end so you can reach with a hoe into most of the nooks and crannies. If you build steps up the centre they need to be very attractive because you are making them into a feature.
Plant spring bulbs underneath deciduous shrubs so they get the light they need before the shrubs come into leaf.
Small Slopes in Part of the Garden
If you have a short slope in your garden you can make this a feature by planting a mixture of shrubs along it. This will stop children running down it and remove the need to cut grass on a slope. The shrubs will appear taller from below the slope and shorter from above to give an interesting effect. Interplant a few small trees for interest and variety.
