Does your current garden or landscape include gravel? Landscape gravel is an essential component for any homeowner's yard. Gravel is versatile and comes in many beautiful colors.
When your home's yard is growing with weeds, and becoming overwhelming, it's time to consider learning how to landscape with gravel. Gravel or decorative crushed rock can make your yard beautiful and much easier to maintain as well. The best part about it is how easy it is to use in your landscape!
Any homeowner can create the landscape of their dreams by laying down gravel themselves. No professional help is needed because it's that simple.
Are you still feeling like you need a bit more guidance?
Our guide below lists a few different ways you can include gravel in landscaping as a DIY project. Continue reading to find out more!
1. Gravel Seating Areas
Having a seating area in your garden or landscape is beneficial for many homeowners. Imagine waking up in the morning and enjoying a hot cup of tea or coffee as you sit in your garden and listen to the birds singing.
Outdoor seating areas are also ideal for family get-togethers or summer evenings when you want to sit back, relax, and be one with nature. What will your outdoor furniture rest on, however? You could choose to place the furniture directly on the grass, but then your feet would be prone to the creepy crawlies lurking within the green blades.
To create a more comfortable space, consider laying down small gravel in your seating area. It's a great way to help distinguish the seating area from the rest of the garden, and you can enjoy your cup of tea without too many worries of insects crawling up your feet.
2. Gravel Walkways
Just as you want to create a distinction between your seating areas and other areas in the garden, you also want to create a distinction between the garden and your walkways. When you have walkways laid out, you won't have to worry about guests or yourself trampling over your plants.
Lay a pathway from your backdoor or patio to your garden seating areas and other areas. This way, everyone will know where to walk when exploring and enjoying your backyard. The path itself can be gravel, or you can build the path with a different type of material and then border it with gravel for a tranquil look. Just make sure that the gravel you chose is under 1" in size to make walking on it easier.
3. Gravel Fire Pits
Backyard fire pits come in handy on those cold winter nights. They're also the perfect way to bring the entire family together. Roasting hotdogs and s'mores creates a bonding experience like no other.
When including a fire pit in your landscaping design, be sure to outline the fire pit with gravel and place fire pit lava pebbles inside it. The lava pebbles are available in a Red or Black and create a good drainage system and won't crack or break under the high heat.
The outskirts of the fire pit, however, can be made of gravel. It adds to the design element of the fire pit, making it look like a high-end pit.
4. Gravel With Larger Flat Stones
When using gravel in your landscape design, you might feel hesitant to use it exclusively in certain areas due to the limited ability to transfer wheeled objects over it. Small gravel can make pushing certain objects over it difficult, but there's a solution to this problem.
You can use larger flat stones, commonly referred to as flagstone in the gravel. The majority of the walkway can be made of the flagstones, making it easier to transport things. The gravel will then be used to fill in the gaps and joints between the flagstone pieces.
You can also use gravel for the main walkway and lay large stones as the border, or vice versa. The goal is to create a design you'll love and one that works best for you.
5. Gravel Play Area
If you have children in the home, then you'll want to use gravel to form a play area in your landscape. A smaller rounded gravel will work best in this situation. Although bright green grass would look amazing under your children's swing set, it's a lot more difficult to maintain.
Because your children will run through the grass, stomp, jump, and do what kids do, the idea of green grass in the play area won't last for long. Over time, the green grass will turn brown and die.
Gravel will keep the play area well-maintained at all times. You can even add outdoor padded mats for under the slide for a soft cushion landing.
6. Gravel Garden Bed
Using gravel in your garden bed is a great idea! Gravel is a permanent substitute for mulch. It'll look amazing and provide proper drainage for your plants for years to come.
Be sure to plant all of your beautiful plants and flowers in the soil first, follow this with a landscape weed cloth, and then cover them with the gravel rocks. You can choose from a variety of colors as well. Choose a color that'll compliment your garden and garden decor.
7. Gravel Driveways
Gravel can be used in your driveway as well. Again, you'll have many colors to choose from, so finding one to compliment your home's exterior paint won't be hard.
You can lay the gravel loose, or you can place it in a cellular confinement system Cell Tek's LSG for more load support. This will give your driveway color and a bit of texture. It's much more appealing to look at than a plain white cement driveway, which means a boost in curb appeal! And let's face it, who doesn't love the crunching sound of gravel under the wheels of a car.
There's an Endless Amount of Ways to Landscape Gravel
There are so many different ways to landscape gravel. With so many different options to choose from, deciding on one might be hard.
Try out a few of these gravel landscaping design ideas. You might end up liking all of them!
Are you ready to purchase your gravel and get to designing?