Gravel Paths - Good Or Bad?

I'm thinking about getting a gravel pathway to run along most of my garden. I was wondering if anyone had any opinions on them and also what size gravel I should go for.

I have a large supply of 20mm gravel and was also wondering if other members could give their opinions on this this sort of stone for the pathway.

 

.....as mr Marley Farley says . gravel makes a stonkin path . U could use bark in the same way . One piece of advise- I'd warn against slate -it looks lovely but it's almost impossible to clean when the dear black birds have been along the edges digging for grubs in the winter. U can rake the bigger bits out of gravel but because the bits of slate r so variable in size the only way to tidy it is to get on your hands and knees and pick the bits out and the ornery little $ *&%£?! will be back within half an hour of your tidying to flick stuff around all over the place again - black birds have a very questionable sense of humour !!! : )

 

I don't have gravel where I will walk in wellies - e.g. en route to the veg patch - as muddy wellies just pick up all the stones. But other than that we have gravel paths where we want to walk in winter and where grass would be soggy (we are on heavy clay). For a hard path to use with wellies I would have slabs or bricks - each to brush / wash down when they get mud on them.

I think grass / bark / gravel / paved [brick or slab] each have their own attractions, and we have some of each in our garden :thumb:

 

I like the look of gravel, but just a word of warning. If you live in an area where there are lots of cats, you may find that you have installed an unusually commodious litter tray rather than a path. A neighbour of mine gravelled over the whole of her small town garden and has regretted it ever since.

 

I'm finding this a major problem at the moment. I graveled up the pathways around my vegetable beds and find that the gravel gets kicked around or sticks to my boots. I was thinking of moving all the gravel and using it for a main pathway but think I will stick for something more solid.

 

Depends on what you mean by gravel.
I've seen a lot of pea shingle driveways,(Bloody Ground force), which tend to migrate into the road most of the time.
True sharp gravel, does tend to compact and settle better, but I always think its a cheap fix, and serves a purpose without looking good.

 

Apparently it is used for just this purpose in large estates, you cannot drive in without being heard!!

Val

 

I like the look of gravel and have gravel paths in my garden as it was cheap and simple to lay, with edges od sandstone chunks. The downside is that soil inevitably gets mixed into it so it acts as a fantastic seedbed, accumulating weeds at the edges where no-one walks. The paths can be spruced up with a rake or a yard brush easily enough. Also, I like to walk in the garden in bare feet and they are not very suitable for that.

10 years on, I'd like to renovate them with a sturdy mortared edging of brick or stone which would contain the fresh gravel I need to put down and limit weed growth. Also, my garden is now so full and slightly chaotic that a formal looking path would create a more structured feel. I also fancy doing something creative like having a concrete path that I could paint or put mosaic onto. Can't see me having the time, somehow!

 

I would avoid using a weed membrane under gravel. It seems to end up trapping the dirt and then eventually gets tangled with weeds (as they will grow though it eventually) and makes it harder to maintain in the longer term.

We have gravel paths in the garden and they are not really any bother at all.

 

I too have a gravel path - sadly I put weed suppressing membrane down and, of course, wish I hadn't (to the extent I'm actually thinking of taking it up).

Anyway, my thoughts are:

For:

1. It was relatively cheap (an 850Kg bag of pea shingle is about £40). Don't buy the silly little bags, they cover about the size of the bag it comes in.
2. Easy to lay - no spirit levels needed!
3. Doesn't get slippery in the frost
4. Easy to weed, no scraping between paving stones, brindle blocks etc., just water on weedkiller if all else fails.
5. (I think) it looks better than paving - but then that's in my garden where the path meanders around.

Against:
1. You can pick up gravel on muddy wellies (as has already been said)
2. It needs 'containing' - my paths are edged by bricks.
3. It's difficult to push a wheelbarrow over it, or indeed a wheelchair or anything with small wheels.
4. The birds love flinging it everywhere so you do have to be a bit careful there's none on a lawn before you mow and totally ruin your mower.

As for cats - I have a cat who walks on it as though it's made of hot coals (rather like me walking on a beach without shoes) - you can almost see her going 'ouch, ouch, ouch' as she tip-toes down it. Both my neighbours have cats, as does just about everyone round here so it appears, but in the 17 years our path has been down I've still yet to find a single 'animal deposit' on it.

 

A bit like me, then. Pea shingle is not too bad, but anything with edges is agony to walk on with bare feet.

 

It's hard work dragging a wheelie bin over from my experience. I prefer paving but have a mix of both.

 

We've put some gravel paths in - no idea of the size of stone - not tiny, not huge pebbles! Not comfy to walk on in bare feet! OH has put gravel paths between his raised veg beds.....we have heavy clay soil too and he gets heavy clay laden wellies - hopefully, with the paths, the wellies won't get too muddy, having read the comments regarding the gravel sticky to mud on wellies!!!

Our first path encloses my flower bed, and is enclosed with a brick border (london bricks laid on there sides, as in previous garden, water and dirt, weeds, etc, grew in the dipped bit of the brick when laid with the dip at the top).... and we have also put a membrane beneath - though we still get stuff growing in the stones, but it's pretty easy to remove. As we'd dug the path from the lawn, and also in previous garden, had trouble with stone paths being un-lined, OH put the lining down. It looks so so nice, ours is not a formal garden at all - and the colours looks so so nice against the flower bed, and the veg patches look so much nicer since the paths were done too.

A downside is the stones are uncomfortable to kneel on too - I have now got the knee pads - so so pleased I forked out for some! My poor knees aren't what they once were...... (i kneel on stones to garden my flower bed, btw...!!)

You could also plop some bigger paving slabs within the stones - almost like stepping stones - we've done this near my daughters play house. Also looks fab - especially if they are natural, or natural looking, irregular in shape slab!

Just to add - we have 2 cats - the cats lay on the stones to cool down at times - but have never used as litter tray - they have 4 veg patches to do that in grrrrrr (OH has a poo bucket to remove their 'deposits')