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Landscape Design

Pea gravel paths...help needed

8 years ago

Hello,

We have a courtyard with a parterre garden and pea gravel paths around it. The pea gravel was put on top of larger gravel, granite I believe, which was put on top of the dirt ground. There are about two inches of pea gravel and maybe the same amount of the larger rough gravel beneath it. My mother complains that the walking on our paths is uncomfortable because you sink in it while walking. Is this normal, or should it feel hard beneath? Should we have just put it on top of the dirt instead of on the larger gravel first? Our landscaper installed this so I assumed he knew what he was doing.

Thanks.

Comments (4)

PRO
Yardvaark
8 years ago
Landscapers are generally NOT designers though they are called on all the time to perform this service and many of them offer and advertise it. To be fair, some landscapers have quite the knack for design and become quite good at it. (Specifying what should be used as a garden floor is a design function.)

We hear all the time here about people wanting to use pea gravel as a garden floor. Pea gravel is more or less rounded stones, so if you like walking in a pool of marbles, it could be the perfect solution. However, most people greatly dislike walking on a floor that moves and sinks beneath their feet with each step. A good gravel floor should be fairly firm and hard beneath one's feet. Creating it requires gravel with a mixture of stone sizes, down to dust, and stone shapes that are angular, not rounded.

You could actually improve the walkability of the pea gravel by adding sand over the top. Over time, it would settle in the voids between the pea stone and prevent it from shifting as the voids fill. Because it would happen over time, it would mean adding sand over time. As the voids fill up, it would be good to end up adding sand that is angular in nature and has small chips in it. (What is sometimes called "paver base" or "limestone screenings.") Things are called different names in different parts of the country, so anything that is like a course, dusty sand would work.) Consider that by adding another material to the existing pea gravel, it would change the appearance. Determine ahead of time what would be tolerable. If grade permits, after the pea gravel voids are filled with sand, you could cover the whole thing with a new material (at least two inches) of a proper, packable, granular stone mixture.
Ninkasi
8 years ago
thanks for posting--We are strongly considering pea gravel paths but I am unsure now. I read to put a layer of crushed rock under the gravel, as you did to make the surface stable. For high traffic areas you could lay some large pavers so it would be more comfortable for your Mom. Is she the only one that is bothered by it? I think it looks great, but it has to function as well.
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By mulch, I think saypoint specifically means bark or another organic material (seaweed, shredded leaves). If you have room to make the azalea bed a little wider, you can stagger the plants, with taller varieties towards the house and shorter ones between them towards the front. This will enable you to include kinds that flower at different times of year. The actual crowns of the plants should probably be at least 5 feet from the foundation, for a plant that will get to be 4' wide. One last thing - what's the sun exposure here? Is it partial shade, I hope? That's what azaleas like best, especially in hot areas like GA.
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The reason it is difficult to walk on is 1. Pea gravel has a poor angle of cohesion, meaning there are not jagged edges for the rock to brace against other rocks so the pea gravel moves around between each other. 2. There are few "fines" in the gravel. Since this is a natural rock and not crushed, the particle sizes fall in the same size category. Solution: You need a crushed rock. This will provide sharp angles and fines that will fill up the voids. Dense Grade Aggregate (DGA) is a standard in construciton because it satifies both of these issues. It is not as astetically pleasing, but it is functional. Since you are losing rock, I will assume the base was not prepared using sand or a compaction method. The rock is probably pressing down into the earth below or moving out the sides and having the same result. Either rip it all out and start over, or put the DGA in and hope this will solve your problem. Either way, no solution is a forever solution, so you will have to add rock over time, no matter your choice.
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Doesn't seem like it's necessary for any more people to cast a vote against pea gravel as a walking surface, but I will chime in with complete agreement that it is one of the best ways to wrongly use a material. Just looking at the slate chips has me casting a vote against it, too. It will be a tiny bit better than pea gravel, but far inferior to other materials. The key to getting a good walking surface of granular material is that, a) none of the materials are larger than about 1/2" to 5/8"; b.) in addition to the largest sizes, there are all sizes smaller all the way down to sand and dust; c.) the material shape is angular, not rounded like pea gravel. (The slate chips fulfill only one of these criteria.) There are many crushed rock materials that work well and they vary with the different regions. One just needs to visit the yards where such things are sold and see what's available. Another consideration if it will be used during the daytime is that darker materials are not as glaring in the sun. (This is important to many people.) As one example though it is hard to find, crushed brick is about as nice as it gets. It's dark, pretty colored and packs down hard. Cinders, if not too large, is good too. In the end, a good surface should be almost hard enough to bounce a basketball on.
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Pea gravel has rounded sides and does not compact well, if at all. For that reason, it is seldom recommended as surface that will be walked on frequently as it will continue to slip and the rocks slide around each other. If you want a surface that can properly compacted you need crushed rock or gravel - something with jagged surfaces that will mesh together. Also wood chips make a perfectly acceptable surface for both walking on, keeping the mud to a minimum and stacking the firewood and will not compromise drainage.
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tiffew
Original Author
8 years ago
Thanks for the helpful advice, Yardvaark. If the sand settles into the pea gravel it won't be visible, correct? I can't add another two inches of material because there are planter beds in this area and the gravel would spill into them.
PRO
Yardvaark
8 years ago
The sand will show. Do some experimentation to discover how it will work and look.

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