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Gravel can be one of the most frustrating surfaces to work with , it seems to be an instant quick fix which looks neat for so long but then becomes high maintainance .
I feel you will be back to square one barrowing off and replacing the old gravel unless its regularly maintained but you could try using slate instead of gravel on top of a good membrane , I have done this and slate seems a lot more effective and if you go for a colour which fits in plum , grey etc it can look very professional and pleasing and practical to blow debris off especially withered vine leaves .
Obviously you will need to dispose of the old gravel unless it could be used / incorporated into a base layer .
Thanks John, I'm concerned about being back at square one quickly. There are about 120m of gravel paths in this particular garden, and just one 40m section that needs renewing at the moment, so I don't think changing the material is going to be an option. I think I'm going to have to go for a weekly raking regime as mentioned below. I'm intrigued about how stately homes and parks do it, they seem to have much finer gravel that doesn't sprout weeds so much. Maybe there's higher footfall and weed spraying going on.
When I worked in the NT, the paths were raked weekly before the public came in through the doors. Regular raking dispense the gravel, reduce surface compaction and disturbs the weed seeds though from time to time the paths were sprayed as a last resort. I actually enjoy raking the gravel paths myself as it's very therapeutic. At one garden, (West Green Garden) , we had to rake the parterre paths daily to accentuate the formaility of the box hedges.
How interesting, that's handy to know! And I'm guessing there aren't membranes under most of their paths as they would have been laid long ago. No such thing as no-maintenance gravel. I'd rather be raking than spraying though and just doing a bit each week I think will be the answer in this particular one.
At the gardens where I work, the paths were constructed on compacted hard core and builders sand, then small pea shingle. This gets raked by hand of debris as we work, and then periodically raked with the mechanical rake pulled by the tractor. They get spot weed treatment occasionally, as needed.
I have a similar problem or should I say challenge! I think the best way is to regularly rake the gravel on each visit to disperse and disturb the weed seeds. As you have mentioned the leaves can be problematic and these need taking up as a matter of routine maintenance. You don't say how long and wide the path is/are but if 100m then it shouldn't take too long to rake. In any case it will warm you up on these cold mornings. However, if the customer is wanting to replace the gravel, then as others have said a membrane would help.
Thanks Andrew. I think a membrane would be a good idea, I'm just concerned with it getting punctured by the sharp gravel underneath that I've not been able to rake up, making it almost useless. Paths are about 40m long and 1.2m wide and I've started a raking regime on the other 2 that aren't so weed-filled or under trees and that seems to be keeping it at bay. I just am not a fan of gravel!!!
Hi Rosie,
For me there are two options, all involve starting again . The first is the one John has advocated below with the black slate 16-30mm. Brilliant product that's easy to walk on ,looks very smart and does not cost the earth. Lay it on a weed suppressant on top of crushed stone at about 5cm thick max.
The second option is to use something like nidagravel. Which is a plastic honeycombed sheet which you lay on top of crushed stone.you then fill in with the pebbles. Its gives a very solid even walking experience. It can be cut easily with a hand angle grinder to fit around most obstacles. It ain't cheap for what it is but its effective. It has a weed barrier of sorts on it but I would lay a good weedsupressant with it just in case.
Hope this helps and good luck
Paul
https://www.nidaplast.com/en-uk/brands/nidagravel
Thanks for that Paul, I'll have a look into both :-)
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