This is my first home so I'm not very experience in this area. I want to put a rock bed around my house that goes from the front of my house and wraps around to the side of the house. However, I see a few issues with this idea and wanted to know what others thought. I attached some picture of the area I want to put the rock bed in. As you can see my house is on top of a hill and slopes down significantly at the corner of the house. I'm worried that if I dont level the ground at the corner of the house, then the rock bed might not look so great. On the other hand I'm not sure If Ill be able to level the area out due to the gas meter being right there at the corner of the house. I'm kinda stuck at this point and I'm not sure what to do.

@Legalily, this might be something you can help with.

Curious as to why you want to use a rock mulch? Welcome to the site!

kalelreturns said:This is my first home so I'm not very experience in this area. I want to put a rock bed around my house that goes from the front of my house and wraps around to the side of the house. However, I see a few issues with this idea and wanted to know what others thought. I attached some picture of the area I want to put the rock bed in. As you can see my house is on top of a hill and slopes down significantly at the corner of the house. I'm worried that if I don't level the ground at the corner of the house, then the rock bed might not look so great. On the other hand I'm not sure If Ill be able to level the area out due to the gas meter being right there at the corner of the house. I'm kinda stuck at this point and I'm not sure what to do.

If you level the sloped side of your lawn for rock you will need a retaining wall several feet high and while you can fill that with rock and put drainholes in the retaining wall it is impractical though if it were filled with class one or two crushed rock the water would drain down and out.
If you put in a retaining wall with dirt then that dirt will hold moisture up against your foundation, plus if you do not put a heavy fabric between the rocks and dirt the rocks will sink into the dirt making a future problem you will not enjoy .
If you do not raise it entirely to the level of the basement window then you will have a captive slope even with drain holes in the retaining wall.
If you ever sold the house the retaining wall and rocks would reduce value.
The gas company can raise the meter but to what point you will have to ask them.
What you want can be done but it will not be cheap, nor would undoing it if it was a bad idea.
What does the back corner look like.

Are you wanting garden beds with a rock border or a bed full of rock mulch?

Terracing is a good way to deal with slopes.

Sorry for the late reply I was working on another project. Thanks for all the responses. I'm on a tight budget so it sounds like a retaining wall is out of the question. Terracing sounds like a good idea, but I'm not sure how to go about doing that. I'm trying to find something that will look nice for cheap. I was thinking that rock mulch would be easier to maintain and would match this block stair kit that I got from menards that I'll be replace my old front porch stairs with.

It would almost be lower maintenance to put in lower maintenance plants and mulch the bare spots with wood mulch until it fills in. Rock mulch is a real pain to pull weeds out of and the leaves from the trees get caught in there and get moldy.

How much shade do you get there? It is all day shade, morning, afternoon? If you get enough shade you could put in hostas and ferns. Low maintenance and pretty. That would work for the front possibly. The side there would work for wildflowers like coneflowers and coreoptis. There are others that would look good there and not require alot of work once they get established.

All of the above would help hold the soil and provide interest there without having to be out there babying the plants or worrying about keeping the rocks looking nice year round.

Rock mulch is anything but mx free, saw a yard today, the majority of the yard was hostas.

kalelreturns said:Sorry for the late reply I was working on another project. Thanks for all the responses. I'm on a tight budget so it sounds like a retaining wall is out of the question. Terracing sounds like a good idea, but I'm not sure how to go about doing that. I'm trying to find something that will look nice for cheap. I was thinking that rock mulch would be easier to maintain and would match this block stair kit that I got from Menards that I'll be replace my old front porch stairs with.

Proper terracing, unless you do it all yourself, and then it is still not cheap would make a retaining wall seem like a bagain basement deal.
They are nice but not easy to put in if you want one that does not fail.

I would just use a metal edging that you beet down a few inches and pin it from the inside. Then place in the gravel. It does not need to be leveled out. It will hold the rocks and the edging can be bent to go with a more curvy or formal design.

I'm trying to imagine the look of the gravel though. The color of rock, type of rock, and so on all makes a difference in look and cost but that's most likely the best option for you based on budget and experience. It can be done very simply or very complex.

You could go as far as notching into the slope at various spots and putting in larger stones. Then running the metal around those, in front or behind, with some more naturalistic curves. Then place in medium sized stones of a different color and finally add in gravel. It would be the same look but more on the design end. Then tuck in some simply ground covers to help hide the edging and give the overall look a more natural feel. You definitely want to keep the slope away from your house though. As for draining, just simple 1 inch pvc pipe can be placed every few feet with the slope moving towards them. Wrap the ends of the pipe with burlap so they don't clog. Have some ground covers hiding the face of the pipe coming out on the slope.

I wouldn't mess with the topography of the soil too much without professional advice (architect/engineer) since it might impact the structural integrity of the house - since it's on a slope and digging away too much soil might make your house 'drift' or even crack perhaps.

Now, that doesn't mean to say that nothing can be designed ofcourse. The slope permits good drainage which is "essential" for a rock garden type. Also, full sun is preferred.
As for design this is pretty personal. Find inspiration on google images.