Forum
« ISO someone to level a cement floor Facade work. »
April 19, 2008
making a pebble garden area
Has anyone made a pebble or gravel covered area over dirt in a garden (see pic)? Do you have to dig out three or so inches and put larger rocks below for drainage, or can you just put an inch or so of pebbles on top of existing dirt? I want to make sure drainage is decent but it would obviously be a lot more labor to go three inches down. TIA.
Comments
the depth doesn't matter too much except that asthetically it will look better and keep better if it is 3" instead of 1". However, make sure you put down a fabric weed barrier first. You can get them at any garden center or hardware store
Posted by: guest at April 19, 2008 4:11 PM
Yep. The landscape fabric is key. You also may want to break up the ground a bit underneath if it's dense claylike rather than a looser soil. If it's too hard, water won't drain quickly enough through the fabric.
You can also try crushed seashells if you can find them. That's what I plan to do so I ca pretend I'm in Amsterdam.
Posted by: guest at April 19, 2008 6:53 PM
We wanted quick effective drainage through our gravel area, so we skipped the landscape fabric and instead had the contractor put a layer of sand then a couple inches of gravel on top of it. 3 inches total thereabouts.
Posted by: guest at April 20, 2008 10:55 AM
FYI I have this kind of a surface at my summer house and it is fine the first year of so, but as plant matter gets mixed in you will get weeds and it is very hard to get them out. Stones do not decay like wood chips or organic matter types of mulch and they get dirty looking from dust, leaves, etc. So you have to plan to redo it or refresh the stones every couple of years.
Posted by: guest at April 20, 2008 10:04 PM
To get rid of the leaves, use a leaf blower, less than $50 at Home Depot. For dust, just hose it down. I do that with my stones. Also, use a water-permeable weed barrier under the stones and pick out any little weedlings that might pop through.
Posted by: guest at April 21, 2008 4:11 PM
Pebble and gravel yards and patios are done all over Europe. Very common there. Somehow they manage to do the upkeep and they do not replace all the gravel every couple years. All of Europe would be a giant gravel recycling effort in that case! Our gravel is a year old and looks fine. Even with a little organic debris that gets mixed in. I've also had no problem whatsoever in removing weeds. The weeds are only rooted in the organic matter so they come right out. If someone is having a problem with weeds that means they didn't use enough sand underneath or didn't use a weed-barrier cloth.
Posted by: guest at April 22, 2008 9:31 AM
Post a comment
Please be patient while your comment is published. It may take a moment.