We have a big, approximately triangular, area of gravel in front of
our five garages (an embarrassingly large number!). I've fought a never
ending battle with the weeds on it over the eight years or so we've
lived here and we're now at the stage where we have a little time,
'space' and money to tackle the problem more permanently.

Weedkiller is not very effective for a couple of reasons I think.
Firstly our land is very sandy so, when it rains, anything in the
soil is rapidly washed downwards, not to mention that the gravel is on
quite a significant slope so that aids drainage too. Secondly the
sorts of weeds we get are pretty tough and well able to survive on the
very poor sandy soil around us so a gravel drive is almost their
native environment!

The major problems with the gravel drive a-

Weeds (as described above)

The slope, the gravel has a decided tendency to migrate down the
slope and then down the (even steeper) concrete ramp that runs
down the to private road/track we live on.

In some places the edging is rather indeterminate, I think the
shape has been changed at several times in its history.

The sheer size of the area, it's approximately a right angled
triangle with the two shorter sides being around 50ft and 100ft or
so I would guess.

The gravel gets everywhere and isn't terribly good for man powered
(and/or two wheeled) vehicles.


So, what alternatives are there and/or how can we rejuvenate the
drive?

We don't really want to pave the whole area, it would be out of
character with the rest of the house. Are there any other things one
could try? Is there any way we can try and reduce the way the gravel
moves down the slope?

If we decided to stay with gravel then presumably a membrane of some
sort is the way to keep the weeds at bay. What sort of equipment
would one need to scrape up the existing gravel, lay the membrane and
then relay the gravel?

--
Chris Green

In article ,
writes:
We have a big, approximately triangular, area of gravel in front of
our five garages (an embarrassingly large number!). I've fought a never
ending battle with the weeds on it over the eight years or so we've
lived here and we're now at the stage where we have a little time,
'space' and money to tackle the problem more permanently.

I have a similar problem, although the area isn't as big.
In my case, the gravel is covering up what I assume is the
foundations of some earlier building on the site. For the
weeds, this spring I set myself a task of pulling up about
10 weeds each time I walk from the car to the house. This has
kept the main body of the area clear, and I normally have to
walk to the the far edge now to find my quote of 10 weeds.
In my case, the weed roots usually don't go very deep as
they hit the concrete/brick foundations, but sometimes you
find one which has come up through a crack in that and is
a bugger to get out.

--
Andrew Gabriel

wrote in message ...
We have a big, approximately triangular, area of gravel in front of
our five garages (an embarrassingly large number!). I've fought a never
ending battle with the weeds on it over the eight years or so we've
lived here and we're now at the stage where we have a little time,
'space' and money to tackle the problem more permanently.

Weedkiller is not very effective for a couple of reasons I think.
Firstly our land is very sandy so, when it rains, anything in the
soil is rapidly washed downwards, not to mention that the gravel is on
quite a significant slope so that aids drainage too. Secondly the
sorts of weeds we get are pretty tough and well able to survive on the
very poor sandy soil around us so a gravel drive is almost their
native environment!

The major problems with the gravel drive a-

Weeds (as described above)

The slope, the gravel has a decided tendency to migrate down the
slope and then down the (even steeper) concrete ramp that runs
down the to private road/track we live on.

In some places the edging is rather indeterminate, I think the
shape has been changed at several times in its history.

The sheer size of the area, it's approximately a right angled
triangle with the two shorter sides being around 50ft and 100ft or
so I would guess.

The gravel gets everywhere and isn't terribly good for man powered
(and/or two wheeled) vehicles.


So, what alternatives are there and/or how can we rejuvenate the
drive?

We don't really want to pave the whole area, it would be out of
character with the rest of the house. Are there any other things one
could try? Is there any way we can try and reduce the way the gravel
moves down the slope?

If we decided to stay with gravel then presumably a membrane of some
sort is the way to keep the weeds at bay. What sort of equipment
would one need to scrape up the existing gravel, lay the membrane and
then relay the gravel?

--
Chris Green


What about that paving that lets grass grow through? The appearance is
grass that you mow, but the support is like paving, they use it for airfield
taxiways, car parks that are only used sometimes and the like. The
slightly cheaper alternative is sold by screwfix and is like a honeycomb of
plastic, the soil goes in the holes and the hexs keep people and cars from
crushing it.

mrcheerful

wrote in message ...
.... gravel drive area issue...

We had something similar. We edged the area with Railway sleepers, pinned to
the ground and to each other using large staples made by the local
blacksmith. Works brilliantly - the gravel is contained, the grass marries
nicely with the sleepers, and it looks good. Stops SWMBO and her friends
driving on the grass when doing turns too... Did take 72 sleepers, though...
we have no membrane - just about 50cm of type 1, with compacted gravel on
top (about 5 - 10 cm).

Use Roundup (aka. Glyphosate - the generic term) on the drive with a
back-pack sprayer. Glyphosate is systemic (taken in by the leaves and goes
down to the roots). very very effective. Has the added advantage that it
immediate decomposes on contact with soil into inert chemicals, so is not
going to kill anything "downstream" (or your pets). Keep it away from direct
spraying into ponds, though.

With a big area like yours, I'd buy a 5liter container from an agricultural
merchant - we buy ours from UAP - its the only cost-effective way. We spray
the drive annually, and that does the trick nicely. Takes me about 2 hours
to do.

Mike

In article ,
"Mike Deblis" writes:
Use Roundup (aka. Glyphosate - the generic term) on the drive with a
back-pack sprayer. Glyphosate is systemic (taken in by the leaves and goes
down to the roots). very very effective. Has the added advantage that it

Unfortunately, the main weed around here, Marestail, seems to
be completely immune to it, even after several applications.
It's not even touched by the strong stuff the council use up
the pavement.

--
Andrew Gabriel

mrcheerful . wrote:

What about that paving that lets grass grow through? The appearance is
grass that you mow, but the support is like paving, they use it for airfield
taxiways, car parks that are only used sometimes and the like. The
slightly cheaper alternative is sold by screwfix and is like a honeycomb of
plastic, the soil goes in the holes and the hexs keep people and cars from
crushing it.

Now that is an idea, thanks, I've seen that in various places and
mowing is something we can do. We have a small rotary mower, two
strimmers, a Viking sickle bar mower, a Kubota ride on mower and a big
topping mower for the tractor! :-)

It might also solve the bits around th house problem too.

--
Chris Green

mrcheerful . wrote:

What about that paving that lets grass grow through? The appearance is
grass that you mow, but the support is like paving, they use it for airfield
taxiways, car parks that are only used sometimes and the like. The
slightly cheaper alternative is sold by screwfix and is like a honeycomb of
plastic, the soil goes in the holes and the hexs keep people and cars from
crushing it.

By "slightly cheaper alternative is sold by screwfix" do you mean:-

http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/...98320&id=55900


If so that's going to cost around £7000 for our drive, eek!

--
Chris Green

wrote:
mrcheerful . wrote:

What about that paving that lets grass grow through? The appearance is
grass that you mow, but the support is like paving, they use it for airfield
taxiways, car parks that are only used sometimes and the like. The
slightly cheaper alternative is sold by screwfix and is like a honeycomb of
plastic, the soil goes in the holes and the hexs keep people and cars from
crushing it.

Now that is an idea, thanks, I've seen that in various places and
mowing is something we can do. We have a small rotary mower, two
strimmers, a Viking sickle bar mower, a Kubota ride on mower and a big
topping mower for the tractor! :-)

It might also solve the bits around th house problem too.

.... and a bit of searching has led me to:-

http://www.pavingexpert.com/

which seems to have just about all the ideas and information I could
ever want! :-)

--
Chris Green

wrote in message ...
We have a big, approximately triangular, area of gravel in front of
our five garages (an embarrassingly large number!). I've fought a never
ending battle with the weeds on it over the eight years or so we've
lived here and we're now at the stage where we have a little time,
'space' and money to tackle the problem more permanently.

Weedkiller is not very effective for a couple of reasons I think.
Firstly our land is very sandy so, when it rains, anything in the
soil is rapidly washed downwards, not to mention that the gravel is on
quite a significant slope so that aids drainage too. Secondly the
sorts of weeds we get are pretty tough and well able to survive on the
very poor sandy soil around us so a gravel drive is almost their
native environment!

The major problems with the gravel drive a-

Weeds (as described above)

The slope, the gravel has a decided tendency to migrate down the
slope and then down the (even steeper) concrete ramp that runs
down the to private road/track we live on.

In some places the edging is rather indeterminate, I think the
shape has been changed at several times in its history.

The sheer size of the area, it's approximately a right angled
triangle with the two shorter sides being around 50ft and 100ft or
so I would guess.

The gravel gets everywhere and isn't terribly good for man powered
(and/or two wheeled) vehicles.


So, what alternatives are there and/or how can we rejuvenate the
drive?

We don't really want to pave the whole area, it would be out of
character with the rest of the house. Are there any other things one
could try? Is there any way we can try and reduce the way the gravel
moves down the slope?

If we decided to stay with gravel then presumably a membrane of some
sort is the way to keep the weeds at bay. What sort of equipment
would one need to scrape up the existing gravel, lay the membrane and
then relay the gravel?

--
Chris Green


If you stay with the gravel, then my advice is to put down a membrane
( glass mat roll ). However, things start to get complicated. You need
to put a layer of sand under and above the membrane to protect it from
puncturing. This has the effect of lubricating the gravel so it parts from
under your feet when walking on it, exposing the gravel. This would be
more of a problem with 10mm rounded gravel than with 20mm angular
gravel.

Anyway, to cope with this you may need to put a binder layer on top
of the membrane. This will act as a medium for plants to grow in, but
you're not quite back to square one, since they will always be shallow
rooted and easy to remove. Whatever you do, soil will always find its way
into the gravel eventually so this cannot be avoided.

The binder itself may be some sort of clay subsoil ( that's what I
used
since I was able to dig some up ). I mixed mine with the 1" layer of sand
that goes on top of the membrane, then poured the gravel on and compacted
it a bit. In certain areas you can get 'Hoggin' a natural clay/gravel
mixture that
forms a firm, stable surface of its own accord.

You need to contain the gravel on all sides: a solid step
surrounding the
gravel and 1" higher than it ought to be enough. Whether you use concrete or
wood or whatever is your decision.

Pesticides have been covered by OP's. Give the drive a rake once in a while
in
the opposite direction to the slope, to move gravel back uphill and grub up
incipient weeds.

Andy.

We have a big, approximately triangular, area of gravel in front of
our five garages (an embarrassingly large number!). I've fought a never

ending battle with the weeds on it over the eight years or so we've
lived here and we're now at the stage where we have a little time,
'space' and money to tackle the problem more permanently.



Keep the gravel!!!

It's noisy when walked on, so you can hear the burglars coming!

Homer2911 wrote:
We have a big, approximately triangular, area of gravel in front of
our five garages (an embarrassingly large number!). I've fought a never

ending battle with the weeds on it over the eight years or so we've
lived here and we're now at the stage where we have a little time,
'space' and money to tackle the problem more permanently.


Keep the gravel!!!

It's noisy when walked on, so you can hear the burglars coming!

To be quite honest this sounds like a UL (or an old wives tale), how
many people would really notice steps on the gravel outside when
watching the TV or sleeping?

--
Chris Green

wrote:
It's noisy when walked on, so you can hear the burglars coming!
To be quite honest this sounds like a UL (or an old wives tale), how
many people would really notice steps on the gravel outside when
watching the TV or sleeping?

I hear cars coming into my gravel car park at night.

However, crunching over gravel in the dead of night will sound loud to
the burglar, so it acts as a deterrent.

Owain

wrote:

Homer2911 wrote:

We have a big, approximately triangular, area of gravel in front of
our five garages (an embarrassingly large number!). I've fought a never

ending battle with the weeds on it over the eight years or so we've
lived here and we're now at the stage where we have a little time,
'space' and money to tackle the problem more permanently.


Keep the gravel!!!

It's noisy when walked on, so you can hear the burglars coming!


To be quite honest this sounds like a UL (or an old wives tale), how
many people would really notice steps on the gravel outside when
watching the TV or sleeping?

Yes, instantly.

"Owain" wrote in message
...
wrote:
It's noisy when walked on, so you can hear the burglars coming!
To be quite honest this sounds like a UL (or an old wives tale),
how
many people would really notice steps on the gravel outside when
watching the TV or sleeping?


It scares the postman when I just open the door and put my hand out
having heard him scrunch across our drive !

AWEM