I have a large parking area in front of my house which is DG. There are 3.5 inches on top of red clay. When the weather is hot and dry the DG is as hard as concrete with very little loose material on top which is perfect. When it rains and the clay is wet you get ruts and several hours of repair work with tractor and rake. Unfortunately, my landscaper suggested I not use a rock base as he said it would end up mixing with the DG. I now think he was wrong. My question about this product is whether or not it can be used retroactively. From reading the architect's specifications it appears that it has to be mixed befor the DG is laid down. I'm planning to scrape up the 6 tons of DG I have laid down, install a rock base and relay the DG but I don't have the means to mix the DG with the material. One other thought I've had is to sprinkle portland cement on top of the DG and water it in and then roll and compact. A number of years ago I built some dog runs with ordinary grey fines (about the same size as DG) and did this with the portland cement. It gave the same type of hard surface with very little loose material on top that is described on this product website. So maybe that would work. Anyone tried that option? One of the things I really like about DG is the feeling and crunching sound it makes when you walk on it. Does this product eliminate that?

I did the mid-size and find it fine to walk on. The larger ones look nice but probably not so easy.

Hello, I have a question for any landscapers or gardeners who might be able to help: Background first: We have an area in our yard we wish to garden in, but the area has quite a bit of river gravel mixed into the top six to nine inches or so of the soil (used to have raised bed gardens with river stone paths). We have been digging out by hand, but that is thus far a quite slow and not overly efficient process. Our end goal is to till the area, slightly mound and amend the soil, and garden from there. My Question: how to accomplish this as quickly as possible so as to still be able to have a spring-summer garden? Any advice would be very greatly appreciated! Thank you!

I don't know the answer to your question, sorry. I have a similar path and also have similar problems walking the lawnmower across/along the path. One thing I have which makes things slightly easier for walking is that instead of 18"x18" concrete tiles, I use larger (wider) pieces of flagstone (about 30"x18"), and I find that I can easily walk along the path because the flagstone is wide enough and appropriately placed so that I end up stepping on it, and not the pea-stone. Yes, the pea-stone is difficult to walk on, but most of the time my feet end up landing on the flagstone. However, the lawnmower is still a bit of an issue for me. I would suggest that if you can't find a solution to increase stability , you could try replacing the stepping tiles that you have with something larger similar to what I have, or put a second line of stepping tiles alongside the existing tiles. This would at least help with the walking because the stable part of the path is wider. It may also help with the lawnmower a bit because both wheels will run along the tiles for part of the time. Not a great solution, I know, but if you are stuck. Also you may find that the pea-stone over time works its way into the garden and the garden dirt, mulch works its way into the pea-stone, and then weeds start to grow in the pea-stone - you might want to consider putting something else along the edge of the path to better contain each side.