Seven great uses of gravel or chippings in your garden

Gravel and stone chippings – known in the business as ‘decorative aggregates’ – are possibly the most under-rated of building materials!  They have so many uses we think every garden needs some.  The knack is picking not just the right colour but the type of stone to suit what you want to use it for.  Here is our summary of the best uses for decorative aggregates and the best choices for each use.

1. To use as mulch or top dressing around your plants

Mulching your beds and borders serves many useful purposes.  Not only does it look attractive but it helps suppress weed growth, it helps with water regulation and retention, and it can help prevent soil erosion.  There are many organic materials you can use to mulch – bark, straw, leaf mould – but all of these will eventually break down and need replacing.  Natural stones have the advantage of a longer life and a better choice of colours!

To mulch with gravel or chippings, plant as you would normally and level out your soil.  Spread a 2 inch (50mm) layer of your chosen aggregate over the soil, leaving a small circle around the base of trees and shrubs clear.  We’d always recommend using a weed membrane underneath your aggregate.  Not only does it help to prevent weeds coming through but also help to stop the aggregate sinking into the soil.  It’s still easy to plant into afterwards, just scrape back your gravel and cut a cross into the membrane.

 

 

 

2. To create a rockery or dry garden

Although rockeries have gone in and out of fashion over the years, dry gardening is becoming increasingly popular.  The latest buzz word is ‘xeriscaping’ – the practice of landscaping with minimal water use, to reduce or remove the need for irrigation.  Popular in desert locations like Las Vegas, there is much the English garden can learn to adapt to climate change.

If you fancy a full-on rockery, with big rocks, it’s worth consulting professional landscaping designers on how to build it to ensure it is structurally sound and has appropriate soil pockets for your plants.  However, planning a gravel or scree garden with perhaps the odd decorative boulder isn’t much different to using aggregate as mulch.  Level the soil after you have planted, lay the weed membrane and spread the aggregate) to about 2 inches (or 50mm) depth.

5. For paths and patios

Decorative aggregate can be much quicker and cheaper to lay than paving slabs or bricks, provides better drainage and has that satisfying crunch as you walk on it.  However, we have all seen badly laid paths and drives, where they have become uneven and there are more stones in the gutter than on the drive!  The key is getting the foundations right first and then in your choice of aggregate.

As a foundation for a path or drive, dig down at least 6 inches (15 centimetres) below the level that you want the surface of the path to be.  Consider installing some edging, like cobbles or narrow bricks set in concrete, to help prevent your gravel spilling out.  Then, fill in all but the last 2 inches of your trench with some hardcore; either large stones, broken house bricks or similar (scalps (Type-1)).  Compact this down well.  You should add a weed suppression membrane at this stage, then add your chosen layer of aggregate.  There are many to choose from but a good choice can be chippings that lock together or are ‘self-bonding’.

Best aggregates for paths and driveways:

• Shingle 20mm
• Cotswold Stone chippings
• Black Ice 20mm
• Ebony Black 20mm
• Yorkshire Cream 15-30mm
• Butterscotch chippings

 

 

 

6. To edge or fill

A decorative border can add some real personality, texture and contrast to your garden, providing a foil for your plants or softening the edges of hard landscaping features. Using gravel or chippings can break up a large expanse of paving or flagstones, for example, and allow you to plant into it.  If you have a fire pit, chippings will provide a more stable, fire-proof surface for it, not to mention a great colour contrast.
Getting the colour and size of your aggregate right is perhaps the most important decision here.  Using an aggregate that’s the wrong size will stand out and look unsightly compared to the rest of the garden.  For example, choosing a smaller aggregate for a long thin border will work better then oversized cobbles, whereas a 40mm slate will give you more interest over a large area then 20mm slate would do.  

Best aggregatefor edging and filling:
Large areas
40mm Slate
Ice blue
Ebony black
Scottish pebbles
Shingle 20mm
Classic white chippings
Butterscotch chippings
Black Ice chippings
Cotswold Stone chippings

Small / thin areas
20mm Slate
Gold coast 10mm
Shingle 10mm
Arctic white 10mm
Premium pea gravel 10mm
Cotswold chippings

7. Aggregate as a building material

Gravel, sand or hardcore play an important part in the composition of concrete.  As well as being a filler to bulk up the mix, the amount of gravel will determine the strength and texture of the finished concrete.  Typically, aggregates like these form between 60% and 80% of a concrete mixture.  Concrete alone wouldn’t have as much structural strength.

Arguably, if you’re going to mix your gravel with concrete, you probably need quite a lot of it and you’re not going to see much of it, so perhaps the cheapest option is the sensible one here.  However, if you are going to polish the finished surface (something called terrazzo), you might want contrasting specks of colourful marble or onyx black showing through.

Best gravel or chippings for aggregate:

• Grit/sharp sand
• Ballast
• 10mm natural pea gravel
• 10 mm shingle