In addition to attending Tour de Fat over the long weekend, I also managed to get stoned.
Ugh, the previous owners of our house went hog wild with gravel landscaping, of which I am not a fan. I'm okay with the borders along the back yard, but the front has this area next to the driveway all graveled out, presumably a place to park a vehicle?
I got this image from google maps streetview from 2012
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| standing atop my plunder |
It's a pain to keep gravel weed-free without using weed killers - can't hoe or rake efficiently. It's been an exercise in ultra-inefficiency.
Magnum made a couple of gravel sieves of half-inch screen, and I had it out with those obnoxious stones. Extracted, shoveled, sieved, and made an ugly mountain of gravel up near the fence, exposing the soil and whatever tatters remained of the ancient landscaping fabric underneath.
Of course now, the area is but a rectangle of dirt. Plan is to put mulch and pavers. We'll park the boat... except we have no boat nor plans to get one. Small detail.
13 comments:
Loving invisible toys on big spaces of crushed rock
Abby can you put down that fabric before the stones to prevent weeds growing up? We were planning on taking out the grass next year in one area and putting stones (around garden) and we were hoping that ground cover before the stones would help with the weeds. If not, then we're screwed. I see so many homes with the gravel in front in drought areas. I hope it doesn't come to that here.
We live in southern Arizona. Our front yard is rock and half of our backyard too. Do I hate it? Yes. Does it keep down the dust? Sort of. I came from the land of green grass, large trees, and lots of water. N0 landscape fabric under the rocks. We occasionally get weeds in the winter and after monsoons. My husband uses a small torch and goes around burning the weeds. Not close to the house or anything that would catch on fire from smouldering. It does the trick.
Linda Sue, I find that invisible toys are pretty low maintenance :)
Peggy, I think fabric works for a little while, but eventually, the weeds show it who's boss. I have no idea how long ago this gravel was placed. Even the street view from 10 years ago makes it seem like it'd been there a while. Our recently planted maple tree - young George - lives on a mulch island. Magnum placed fabric under the mulch for good measure.
Pearl, a few houses around here have full rock or mostly rock yards. We want to reduce our lawn area, but I'm not a fan of this plum and peach sized gravel. It's practically river rock size. I'd never considered torching the weeds, it's a thought 🤔. I use white vinegar on the weeds that sneak through the cracks of the driveway. I'd need gallons of it for the boat port!
That had to be a very big time consuming project to remove the gravel! It does seem like the original plan might have been for an extra parking spot but you are right, it is hard to keep it weed free. Let us know what you decide to do with the area and if you ever get a boat :)
betty
Betty, it was tedious and time consuming, but somewhat satisfying. Maybe I'll put my little car there - make way for more bicycles in the garage 😉
That sounds like a very unpleasant project! Gravel seems to be one of those things that never works as well as you think it will. I think we're pretty much sworn off of gravel now after we've tried a few projects that didn't go so well with it.
Danielle, it was unpleasant, which is why I put it off as long as I did :P. I think gravel looks okay when it first goes in, but the maintenance is a pain. Not a fan!
Our whole front drive is gravel and it's a pain in the arse because the weeds grew through and the gravel thins out every time a car drives on it. I have to spray Roundup weedkiller on it several times a year.
How about turfing it? Actually you don't call it turf do you? Is it sod?
In our last house the previous owners did the front and back landscaping with lava rocks, but really failed to put a decent weed blocker underneath. It was such a pain to keep the weeds pulled it didn't take us long to replace it with mulch and a good weed protector! It's a lot of work!
LL Cool Joe, we don't turf (yes, sod) because of the water usage required.
Xeriscaping is desirable for a good portion of yards around here.
Jeanette, glad to see I'm not alone in my disdain for gravel!
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