Although some areas of the country are more prone to rock slides and soil erosion, and hilly terrain is at risk, especially after unseasonably heavy rains or wildfires that lay waste to the land. If your property has steep slopes or has recently endured a devastating wildfire, then these are issues you will almost certainly need to deal with. It’s time to landscape your property and you haven’t a clue where to begin. Here are a few tips which may prove to be quite useful.
Preventing Rock Slides
Let’s get this one out of the way first. While you probably have seen soil nailing along all those steep and rocky cliffs lining motorways, this might not be something you would have ever thought you’d need at home. Perhaps you never even realized that what you saw was soil nailing! Those wide nets literally nailed to the ground and secured to things like bridges or stone walls are obviously meant to keep rocks from tumbling down into the road. So, how does soil nailing work? Basically, those nets nailed to the ground help to prevent rocks from breaking loose and since you know what a driving hazard those loose rocks can be, imagine one tumbling down into your home which is seated at the bottom of a hill! How do they work? That’s exactly how they work! They keep rocks and soil in place until Mother Nature can restore the land.
Preventing Soil Erosion
This is a far more common issue among homeowners. Typically, soil erosion is what happens in the aftermath of a heavy rain or wildfire. However, rain is one of nature’s ways of refreshing soil and once the earth begins to repair itself, a new life begins to sprout up. You can speed up the process with a few landscaping techniques, one of which is soil nailing. The ultimate purpose is to keep the soil in place while grass, shrubs, and trees take root to keep that soil where it belongs. After a fire, soil erosion is even more difficult to repair.
Extreme heat has glazed the soil making water runoff an even bigger problem. Rain (or snow melt!) can’t penetrate that glaze so the first step is to rototill the soil to aerate it so that water can seep down in allowing vegetation to grow. Unfortunately, all that loose soil is now a danger, so the next step is to use a technique to keep it in place, among which is soil nailing. Now while new vegetation takes root, you’ve no worries about the soil staying in place.
Finally, It’s Time to Landscape!
Now that you’ve seen to preventing further erosion with techniques and products like those mentioned above, it’s time to plant vegetation to further prevent erosion. Companies like Maccaferri have international studies that show just what kinds of solutions are available to prevent rock slides and soil erosion, especially in locations adjacent to motorways.
Whether you are a homeowner trying to recover landscaping after a fire or a road construction company seeking to keep boulders in place, there is a wide array of products to help you meet your goals. Rock slides and soil erosion are often more than a nuisance, they can be deadly as well. This is why you need to understand prevention and landscaping tips, but in the process, you will be creating a lovely space and that’s always a welcome plus.