Maintaining Gravel Gardens

The spring is a time of refreshing and cleaning. The garden is no exception. One area that can feel daunting is areas with gravel. There are so many tiny stones that can hold in so much debris. We often look at our gravel after the winter and think, “will it always look this rough?” However, a few hours of hard work will make your gravel look so much better and prepare it for enjoyment during the warmer seasons.

The trick to maintaining a gravel garden is using several steps and different tools to rough up the gravel and release the debris. This debris can then be removed and additional stones can be added to make the gravel garden look good as new.

An initial blowing of the gravel is an important first step to remove all the large debris. Large leaves, sticks and other materials fall constantly and can make gravel look messy. You will need to remove this before really digging in to the root of the problem (no pun intended).

After that, you will need to weed. We recommend hand weeding. This method takes less time and is way better for the environment than a chemical that removes weeds. Instead of having to wait sometimes days for the weed remover spray to work, you can get this done with your hands and weed tools. We definitely recommend a knee pad for this part!

Once your gravel garden has been weeded and all the large debris has been removed, it probably is already looking much better. However, there is still a lot of dirt and debris that has made its home in the tiny stones.

The next two steps release the debris that is held in by the stones and makes the gravel look dirty. You can start with a leaf rake to pull up all the debris that is hiding (but not really hiding) in your gravel garden. Then, use the jet sprayer on your hose to rough up even more debris and clean the dirt off the stones. These two steps might seem counter productive, however, you won't get that clean gravel look without releasing and removing this debris.

Once the gravel dries, use the blower again to remove the debris that was released during the previous two steps.

The last part of the process is to add additional gravel to refresh and fill in gaps. Some of your gravel gets lost in the soil below or carried away. The new gravel fills in areas where it is bare and gives your gravel space a fresh look.

Now you can enjoy your cleaned gravel spaces for the season! This process can be spread out over multiple days or completed in a few hours. We prefer to get it done in one shot. Our side gravel yard, which is about 1,200 square feet took three hours to complete.

Materials:

Leaf Blower

Preferred Weeding Tools

Knee Pad

Leaf Rake

Hose with Jet Spray Attachment

Gravel Garden Maintenance Steps

1. Use a leaf blower to do an initial blow off of debris from the gravel.

2. Hand weed your gravel area.

3. Rough up the gravel and remove more debris using a leaf rake.

4. Use the jet setting on your hose to spray down the gravel, further loosening debris and cleaning off the stones.

5. Once the stones dry, use the blower to remove the debris that was released during the previous two steps.

6. Add new gravel to refresh and fill in areas where stones were lost.

7. Enjoy your cleaned gravel areas!

Thank you for reading and watch the full tutorial on YouTube!