[kobrien17]

hi
just getting thru turning a site into a garden, have a lot done but have an area left for a patio that i cant afford to pave or deck i was wondering about putting some weedblock down and putting gravel on it, has anyone any thoughts / experience, i read some very negative comments elsewhere but i cant afford to do much else to it and i cant look at it for much longer as were making such great strides with the rest of the place but this little area looks terrible

[Garlicbreath]

Welcome to the forum kobrien17. I don't think there's anything wrong with gravel areas. I have several. What negative comments have you heard? They look great with stuff planted through the gravel and they look good with pots scattered around too.

[barremic]

Hi Kobrien17,

we were in the same position with our new garden, so much to do so little money.

In january i was sick of looking at an area that had for years been just muck and some stones on top, but it is ina very damp shady area.

So we scalped off a few inches of the soil, leveled it and added a couple of inches of sand. we then put down the landscape fabric, but also because this was going to be an area that was used to get to the rest of the garden, we added a few cheap pavers, and did a hopscotch design. This brough the cost down a lot of both the pavers and also how much gravel we had to use.

I have then put a few pots along the way just to brighten things up. ( i have planted through gravel out the front, picture included, tho its a year on now and has more plants etc).

Also i would recomend if you are getting gravel, to get one that you can have a few uses for. We used beach pebbles out the back which are rounded. And the left over ones have come in handy for filling gaps in the pond, and also the tops of some pots.

I will try and attach a link to another post on the site which will show the path when it was done first.

http://www.gardenplansireland.com/forum/about2433.html

[kobrien17]

the negatives were
furniture wont sit level on it, gravel will scatter everywhere, leaves, food dropped etc will stick to it and itl be hard to clean, gravel will end up in house and scratch the floors, i can live with most of those issues to be honest the furniture things a non issue i have a fairly solid base already so i can just sit whatever i have on that, the others dont really bother me, thinking of using gravel for driveway so when i do get round to paving or whatever i can take this off and put it on driveway when im doing that job. thanks for the photos might help convince the wife, since ye have done these jobs any idea how much itl cost to cover a 6 x 6 area

[Her Outdoors]

I agree with barremic - gravel is quite easy to look after. We have two terraces in the front with shrubs planted in areas, and our back area where we sit out and barbeque is also done with gravel. Once you have the weed control down, the gravel is really easy to rake over and freshen up. Like barremic, we have a couple of tubs to break it up. It's been done for four years now and still looks well. Give it a go!

[michael brenock]

re gravel , prevents prowlers, not suitable for childrens bikes or trikes, not suitable for sloped areas as it creeps and car traffic renders it it into channels but is cool and very acceptable in most areas
michael brenock horticultural advisor (retired)

[kobrien17]

thanks for that guys i think il go with that subject to pricing it of course

[James Kilkelly]

A few solutions to the gravel cons...........

[breezyacre]

This very interesting as I have been considering alternatives to patio and decking myself. I think the area needs a border of some kind like sleepers or border kerbing particularly if the area is in a lawn. I was in a house in France last year which had no patio, deck or gravel. Their furniture on the grass has washer type things on the feet to prevent the feet sinking into the grass. It was a very cheap solution and white garden furniture under a tree looked fabulous.

[kobrien17]

picture of the offending area, think im happy enough to go with the gravel and use some of my existing rocks ( ive a lot of them ) to edge it

[kobrien17]

ok that didnt work il try again

[Bobwilliams]

Go for it kobrien17.
By the way do you live in a video game? That pic looks like super mario bros.

[kobrien17]

i think the mario brothers picture looks better than reality hopefully in a couple of weeks we'll have it all improved, great site by the way have already gathered a lot of information on some other stuff

[barremic]

Hi Kobrien,

You would be amazed at how quickly gravel can transform an area like that. We chose quite a bright one for the front garden and as i said the beach one for the back, the path at the back was just dark and mossy before we did it, and after a weekend (well nearly 2, with the weather) it became a usable space.

With regard to where the bench is going you could always just use a couple of pavers for stablility and that way keeping the cost down.

[kobrien17]

well ive priced the gravel and it works out at 80 euro delivered, and i have weedblock, so all thats needed now is a bit of time and effort both free thank god and hopefully we'll get another bit of good weather to use it then