Improving a steep slope with no access for diggers

Hi there,
I'm interested in your experiences dealing with slopes where it's not possible to bring even a mini-digger.
I have a slope in my garden - it's along a big concave curve of +40 metres in length and the slope goes down around 10 metres at a 45 degree angle. My default way to deal with a slope would be to put in swales, but it's a big area and for various reasons machinery cannot be brought in so I will have to do this manually and I don't have a team of young things to help. The soil is very stony clay (rock hard in summer and sticky in winter) and there are mature trees planted irregularly all across the space. We've cleared the brambles that were growing there, although until each root is extracted they are going to keep coming back - but in the meantime it's also bare soil which is obviously not ideal.
Have you ever put terraces/swales in by hand in these kinds of conditions and do you have any tips? I don't have any money or loads of spare materials lying around to create retaining walls or anything like that. I'm going to have to do this slowly and very cheaply!
Thanks in advance for any tips and inspo photos!

Hi Connie,

My very first thought is to take care of that bare soil and get just about anything growing so wind and water doesn’t tear it apart.  There are contractor bags of grass seed that are not designed for supper high-quality lawn grass, but rather just something to grow to hold soil in place.  That’s my #1 concern

But as for actual gardens, I guess you need some type of terrace.  I would start up top and make a pathway and a bed on the upslope section. It will be easier to reach it you reach up.  But this bed is likely only 1-2 feet.  I wouldn’t want to cut i. Too deep.

Also, you don’t have to make the bed the whole length of the slope all at once.  Start at the edge and work in.

As for material, you said stony clay, could you get some stones to make a 6 inch retaining wall?  Maybe a 12 inch?  Old cement blocks could work.

If you took old lumber a char the outside, that charged lumber becomes practically impervious to rot and decay.  It’s called Sou Shi Ban (my spell Checker is fighting with me so look that up and see what you can find.

You said that you cleared brush—does any of the cleared brush remain?  If so, you could make a wattle fence which is just wooden stakes (branches and twigs) pushed into the ground and other branches woven in between.  It won’t last long, but it’s free.


So there are just a couple of starting points.  If you have a picture, it could help.



Good luck, and if you have any other questions, fire away!




Eric

Welcome to the forum.

Several folks here on the forum talk about terracing without machines.

These threads might not be those:

https://permies.com/t/21357/Terrace-gradients-newbies

https://permies.com/t/2401/permaculture/Gradual-Terracing