Hi everyone, we are in the process of fixing our garden. I’m looking for some advice on stabilizing a section of stream bank that borders my field. I don't have huge budget, ideally I would like to put something permanent. Also, during winter this stream converts to small river with heavy current.
by TheAKnight
7 Comments
I haven’t done this so pinch of salt – I would find some willow, take loads of cuttings then stick them all along the bank (especially the bank of the small river). They’ll root and if they don’t get washed away in the first couple of winters, the roots should help to stabilise the bank.
Willow cuttings, just take some willow sticks, chop it into foot long lengths, push them into the ground.
It’s unbelievably capable of setting root from cuttings and will stabilise the bank. It likes wet ground and river banks. It’s about as late in the year as you can do this, and there are plenty of online sellers who will sell live sticks for about 50p each, or you can probably just wander down any river and get some free. Buying online means you have more control over the type of willow.
Willows. Push willow sticks into the bank, let them root, they will provide a living lattice. You’ll need to source your own willow sticks though, but they are hardly rare.
There’s many plants that can stop erosion on stream banks
You appear to have showed us a picture of a field rather than a garden. As others have suggested vegetation is your friend. Willow is an excellent suggestion but will undoubtedly become quite large.
If you don’t want to use willow, check FB marketplace for people giving away old bricks. Pile them haphazardly along the bank, from under the water and up the bank to the grass. Fill in with soil and peg hessian down on top. Plant ground covers that will hold the soil when the hessian has rotted away.
Looks like the far bank is very overgrown and pinching the flow of water. You could trim back the trees and then sharpen and hammer the thicker branches into the near bank to add stability. Think of a coffer dam for what I am talking about.