Now why did I never think of the prefab edging!!! Thanks! My hill is a constant work in progress, I get a little more done each year. That way I can maintain each new section as I clear it. The area was severley neglected for several years and there are alot of Hackberry trees that keep trying to grow. I am slowly digging out each of them and then shifting dirt into a hill form by hand. Hey, it's cheeper than a YMCA membership!

A plastic sheet type mulch won't wash away, but it doesn't look good unless you have veggies popping out from benieth it.

the shredded has worked best here, also. this was our first year using it on that steep of a hill, and i think we'll keep using it.

I am very happy with my pine needle mulch on my slope. I am lucky to have a row of long needle pines along the [property line. I also planted daylilies and vinca on the hill and spreading juniper and creeping phlox at the bottom next to the driveway. This keeps the mulch and soil from washng down.

I was going to say, pine straw as we call it in GA, is pretty good on hills. It's not perfect though. I can't figure out why it's only sold in GA, SC and NC. Especially since it's havested in Florida but they don't even sell it there!
It's also remarkably good in wind. You'd think it would blow away but not so.

I used a North American Green erosion control blanket (it is an actual blanket made out of various natural fibers, etc. and biodegrades over time) over grass seed which grew up through the blanket. There are many other brands but that happens to be the one that I used. The edges of the blanket are buried and the blanket is also held in place with "U" shaped staples. Keep people off of the blanket until it has done its job. If you can find a local distributor you can save a lot on shipping. Also, do searches on "erosion control" as that industry does a lot with steep slopes. I read "Erosion Control" magazine online sometimes for ideas. There are other things you can do also like "hydro mulch", etc. but I have no personal experience with that and it probably requires a contractor with the right machinery to apply.

Mulching is new to me, 'cause we bought our first house 2 months ago. How long does it take for pine straw mulch to break down? How thick do you put it down on a hill, and do you use a weed block underneath?

All I have access to, and all I can afford, is the leaf mulch that falls from the who-knows-what-kind-they-are trees on the 45 degree slope of nearly open rock in my "yard", which is really the side of a mountain. Underneath is lovely but very rocky forest duff, which is what I want to keep from eroding until I can plant it in terraces like the rest of the slope. As the winter rains are just beginning here, I have cleared all the leaves to the side, uncovered the contours of the rock as well as I can, and will now recover the soil for the winter, to leave the pockets of soil there and let the rain wash clean the rest. In spring, I hope to have little areas of good soil, to plant with whatever local rock slope-loving plants I can scrounge. The leaves are great, they don't blow away, they rot into living yummy stuff, and they're free. Now if I could just find the plants I read about........

There is a new product to help keep mulch in place on hillsides. Go to www.mulchmagnet.com for more details.

Thread revival.

Out here is southern California, we don't have as big an issue with rain washing bark mulch downhill, although the few times it does rain, it rains hard. I do see bark mulch eventually work its way downhill, though. In my experience, wind and gravity are often the biggest culprits, with water rilling from irrigation lines a close third. Over time, bark mulch settles at the bottom of the hill while the top third or so looks bare.

There is a new product on the market now from a company here in SoCal called Woven Earth. It is a mulch, but in a blanket form. Unlike a traditional erosion control blanket, this 'mulch mat' is opaque, so doesn't allow anything to grow through it. It's comparable to black plastic, but made from industrial hemp fibers, so it's 100% natural and biodegradable. It's easy to install and customize, and looks great, too. You can use metal staples to anchor it, similar to an erosion control blanket, or use biodegradable anchor stakes for a completely envrionmentally-friendly solution. Water conservation properties of hemp are fantastic, and with the drought on everyone's mind out here, this mulch is getting attention.

Disclosure: I work for Woven Earth, but use the product in my own yard. As I get older, the convenience of an effective mulch in blanket form, that's biodegradable, is becoming more and more important to me.

The mats are available for pre-sale now, with delivery starting at the end of February.

Here is a link that might be useful: Woven Earth homepage

We use the pine straw on our hill. Laid down thickly and then wet it with the Shower feature on your hose nozzle. If you do this on the day you lay the mulch (and before a rain or wind event) it helps settle the mulch and begin the process of interlocking it together. I like watching it lower itself in place. It is not guaranteed to remain there under all acts of God but the typical worst case situation you will ordinarily find is that sections of it are slumped down a little.

I then get my skinny rake out and gently pull it back in place. We also laid down rolls of natural burlap to prevent soil erosion and that helps grip the mulch. But that's a BIG job!

We have two pine groves. Everything we plant on our hillside is in a gopher basket that extends 6" up to prevent attacks by voles and rats. We fill those baskets with pine straw. Life is good. And I recently learned that pine needles are edible. Thinking of smoking some BBQ over them. Needles to spare here.