Viewing 11 posts - 1 through 11 (of 11 total)
  • Garden experts…. Putting gravel down in front garden.
  • monkey_boy
    Free Member

    Had enough with the front garden, so want to gravel it as it's less hassle.

    1 – Do you have to take the top soil off, or can you just stick a good quality membrane down? (yes im lazy)

    2 – The garden is on a very slight slope, i take it after a few months gravity will work it way so would it be advisable to put a bit of a 'terrace' in halfway down.

    3 – what is the best type of gravel, pea gravel looks to be expesnive what about the slate type stuff?

    4 – Is there anti-cat-shit gravel 😉

    5 – It's about 27m2 area, guess im talking couple hundred quid?

    any help appreciated.

    gusamc
    Free Member

    pea shingle is the same size at cat litter, if you want other peoples cat shit all over your gravel get shingle, otherwise get the bigger stuff – also better for throwing at cats.

    don't buy cheap membrane, buy some membrane pegs as well, seal all joints well/edges

    carry out a pre membrane glysophate based weedkiller attack in the style of Bomber Harris

    gravel does flow slowly downhill, (can be raked back up) or I guess terracing might work. (I rake min about twice a yaer – no real problem)

    fimd an amount calculator – plenty sites (2" deep appears to be common) and get a bulk bag delivery and check local suppliers as cost is in travel (and yes you can get gravel off ebay)

    monkey_boy
    Free Member

    cheers done a rough online calc and it reckons 3 tonne at 2" depth.

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    Inbred456
    Free Member

    Pea gravel is quite cheap compared to slate. I bought a ton of purple slate about 1/2 of a cubic metre and it cost me £118 about 6yrs ago. Covers about 5 Sq m's at 50mm depth approx.

    P.S. The cats hate walking over large lumps of stone 30 or 40mm SQ.

    GTDave
    Free Member

    We covered our front with 3 tons of gravel, which cost £60 per ton.
    Foxes and cats used to crap all over it, until we found an effective solution.
    Bottle your piss, and spread it about over the gravel.
    Since doing this we haven't had a single turd appear out there!

    carlosg
    Free Member

    £60 a ton 😯 , crikey they saw you coming I only paid £28 in April when I was doing some stuff in the back garden.

    http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Ground+Maintenance/Landscape+Fabric/d250/sd3225
    OP
    This is the kind of membrane you want , not the stuff most garden centres sell as it's not strong enough. As mentioned above you want at least 20mm gravel anything smaller is just kitty litter.

    simonjf63
    Free Member

    I've got a whole load of pretty chunky gravel that you're welcome to free of charge if you want it – we bought our house last December and both the front and back garden have large areas covered in the stuff. We want to put the areas back to either turf or border so if you want it, it's yours (you'd have to collect though, happy to give you a hand to shovel it up). We're in south Manchester.

    TheSouthernYeti
    Free Member

    I have several ton of purple slate that would fit the bill perfectly.
    You can have it as long as you take away the several ton of catsh1t it's now mixed with.

    Seriously…. get block paving or something… not just a huge cat litter tray!

    *necks another beer, then goes out to piss all over the drive*

    samuri
    Free Member

    I'd only add that these membranes that the DIY shops will try and sell you, are a bit pants. They're usually porous for obvious reasons but that allows the weeds to push through. Since your garden is on a slant you should be able to get away with some plastic sheet which will be much cheaper.

    SirJonLordofBike
    Free Member

    its more expensive but chippings will not move down the slope as much as gravel and look better imo, also if you are never going to grow on the slope don't bother with weed membrane – there's some really heavy duty stuff for sloped sites that will last for years and years, from memory there are two types an kind of rubberised dimpled sheet bit like shallow egg boxes (drainage?) or thick UV stabilised woven plastic sheeting.
    hth

    monkey_boy
    Free Member

    thanks all, and thanks for the offers but live miles away ;).

    went to the local travis perkins yesterday and quite large gravel was £70 a tonne!

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