@stone
>>>>I would not add organic amendments to the planting hole.
I learned this lesson the hard way. As a novice gardener, I really didn't know any better. I am gardening in glacier slurry/sub soil. My house pad was carved out of a slope created by glacier debris. When I first planted, I mixed compost with my native soil for my back fill in the planting holes. Yup ... the organic material decomposed and the roses sunk. Ooops
@lovesblooms ...
I found out how Mrs. J, the previous owner of my property solved the problem of holding the soil in place for a slope this week. For the first time since I've owned this property, the snow stayed on the ground for six weeks at my elevation. The vinca Mrs. J. planted was looking pretty sad. Since I had been cleaning up the rose bed below the slope, I decided to go ahead and clean up the vinca and get rid of all of the dead growth. I know the new growth will grow up and through it, but this was the first time I could get to the dead stuff underneath the vinca. I think I'll have denser and healthier plants once I can get the light down to the new growth.
I found that she build a pretty stable rock wall at the base of the slope and then covered the rest of the slope with chicken wire and planted the vinca between the wire. There were a few rocks placed on the slope to hold the wire in place until the plants grew through it. The plants are holding the slope in place and there is no erosion.
This is a photo of the slope several years ago. I have since replaced the deer fence and made the rose bed much larger, but it still only has one rose. The rose, 'Linda Campbell', is also much larger. Now that it has more room, it shouldn't take long for it to fill the whole area fenced in to protect it from the deer.
I don't know if this will help you, but it a method of holding a slope in place that seems to work quite well in this location.
Smiles,
Lyn
