Have A Lot Of Gravel? How To Use It To Enhance Your Landscaping
If you have a lot of gravel leftover from a project, or someone gave it to you, etc., you may not know what to do with it. Instead of throwing it away, one thing you can do is use it to enhance your landscaping. Keep reading for two of these ways to help you decide what to do.
Use For Flower Gardens
You can use gravel as mulch for your flower gardens. This not only makes the flower gardens look much better but also offers benefits as well. There are different types of mulch on the market that you can purchase but you may find that gravel works best. Gravel is beneficial because it does not break down as fast, which means you won't have to worry about replacing it each year.
Gravel will prevent weeds from growing in your flower garden, which can save you a lot of time. Weeds also compete with flowers when it comes to the water and nutrients you provide. If you have soil erosion problems in your flower beds, gravel will prevent this from happening.
If you do not have an edging around your flower garden, you can also use gravel for this. To do this dig a trench around the flower bed. Lay landscaping fabric in the trench and placed the gravel on top of the fabric. The fabric helps prevent the gravel from sinking into the soil.
Use for Paths
If you have an area of your yard where you would like a walking path, this is a great way to use gravel. You could create a walking path that leads to your front door, leads to a flower garden, or other areas of your yard.
To use gravel for pathing you first need to dig the path's shape and then dig a trench in the shape. Add crushed stone next, and compact the stone. Lay landscaping fabric over the stone and compact this. You should then install an edging along the path. The edging will keep the gravel from moving outside of the path. You can then fill the path with your gravel. As far as edging goes, you can put a concrete edging, use stones, or there is edging that you can stick in the ground. This type is very flexible and can be bent.
If you need help, contact a landscape contractor or gravel supplier. They can give you many more ideas on how you can use gravel for your landscaping.