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Landscape Design

patio made of crushed stone?

14 years ago

Hi,

We have a small area behind our house that is about 25 X 13. Right now it is an ugly mess. Previous owner threw down flagstone on dirt. It is next to a very large and steep hill that goes upwards. It is never going to be beautiful back here, sadly, though I am working on making it a lot more attractive... but we don't want to spend a lot of money back here for obvious reasons.

The area is also fairly difficult to access. For all these reasons and because we don't want to impact drainage coming off the hill we are considering crushed stone.

Does anyone know whether 3 inches will be enough to suppress weeds? Should we use the landscaping material underneath it? will this look dirty and gross in no time? How does someone clean the stones once they become covered in leaves, debris, etc?

I am also considering putting down stones and then putting the flagstone on top of this. I have seen this elsewhere and it looks nice. Does anyone know if the stones will really not move once they are on gravel?

A local stone dealer had this brown stone that i really liked. He thought the 3/8 " stone was the better one to get... but i liked the look of the smaller and round 3/4" stone. What are the downsides with going with a smaller stone, other then the fact that we might lose more stone when it migrates as a result of peoples shoes etc?

Just trying to weigh the plusses and minuses of using gravel for a patio area and hoping people can help!

Thanks!!!!

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Comment (1)

raehelen
14 years ago
Tara,

Do you have any kind of retaining wall holding up your steep hill? We had a very large hill on our last acreage, and terraced it to create planting beds and paths. (the paths went up the hill diagonally). We had an Allan block retaining wall for the bottom - it was about 200 feet long. We had a concrete paver path in front of that. It was the crown jewel in our yard.

We have a smaller man-made 'hill' on this property, and my DH made a retaining wall with Allan blocks that curve around a pear tree. We have a 3 foot wide gravel path between the wall and the tree. It is definitely at least an annual chore to clean up the debris/weed out of the gravel. Definitely put down a good quality landscape cloth. We have plans to replace the gravel eventually but we haven't finished off the lower patio area, so we are waiting to match it with whatever rock/concrete paver we choose. I have another gravel path in front of my greenhouse. That I literally had to screen to get all the dirt out. (Not a pleasant job)

Gravel is doable, but requires more maintenance work that a solid surface.

Out of curiosity, why would you put the flagstones on gravel instead of sand, if you are thinking you will reuse them. Packed sand gives a better subsurface for the stone. We also have a flagstone path that is a breeze to upkeep. DH wants something more regular for our patio (as we are DIY), but other than the increased work, I would do flagstones again in a hearbeat.
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If you like white, mix up a batch of white wash (basically slaked lime and a binder) and spray the rocks white again. Cheap latex paint probably works well too, and if you're willing to move the rocks around after, you can have a variety of colours. OR Pick up the rocks, throw them in a cement mixer with a bit of Cold Water Cheer and bleach, and run for 5 minutes. You don't have to dry them. I used white quartz rocks for my potted plants indoors, and found that the tannins from the peat stained them quite well. Mix up a bunch of peat moss and water until it's soupy. Let sit for a week. Gather rocks into an onion bag. Drop in barrel. Let sit for a while, remove and test. Do not wear your good clothes doing this.
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I've used crushed stone many times for hard surfaces such as barns and parking pads. I have not used it for anything that needed to look nice. I agree with annz, in that you will want to accent in some way if used. Even the crushed stone will turn up if your dog gets into it. It is quite literally as hard a concrete as long as the surface stays intact. Once you break the surface though... ... the important thing to do is moisten it up and tamp it as soon as you see it starting to open up. If I knew how to put pictures in here, I would let you see my situation. There were a couple yards of pea gravel left from construction (drain fill because it won't compact) and I decided to use it as filler in a walk area and expanded drive until paving could be done. Even with the big white pavers on top, I'm constantly sweeping the stuff around and my yard has basically become 50/50 grass/ pea gravel. Even the existing asphault has become completely infected with it. I think long term crushed stone will be best all the way around. Certainly if you can afford to put some stepping stones on it soon. The big bonus is it will be there when you are ready to lay down the paver walk later. I don't know if annz is refering to the same post or not, but within the last couple days there was a big discussion on pea gravel for a patio. Look it up for a lot more opinions. Good Luck!
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What kind of stone is it? If it's limestone, it will raise the pH a bit just like lime would. Here in MO we have nothing but limestone, and we call that stuff quarry fines or lime sand. It's what comes out of the crusher at If it's something else like granite, you could probably use quite a bit in your soil mix. Maybe 10-25%? What kind of soil are you mixing it with? Sand, silt or clay? If it's clay, adding sand/gravel can create a concrete effect so you want to stay low (10%) or high (40+%). Of course it won't provide any organic matter so make sure you add enough compost to the mix or use a high organic soil.
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