Selecting The Right Aggregates For Your Landscaping Project
Selecting the best gravel for landscaping is vital if you are working on adding some landscaping to your property and want to use crushed rock or gravel in the design. There are many different kinds of landscaping gravel and rock available, so a visit to the rock and gravel supplier is an excellent place to start your search.
Understanding The Material Options
If you are looking for landscaping gravel, go to a supplier that offers many kinds of gravel and stone. Not all gravel is the same, and natural gravel can be very smooth and colorful, while artificial gravel may not have the same characteristics.
Gravel is small and round and is often a combination of multiple rock types that have been tumbling along in a stream or on a shoreline for many years. Sometimes the gravel is found in an area that was once underwater but has dried up. In other cases, it is pulled from deep below ground where underground rivers made it into a small material over time.
Crushed stone and artificial gravel are made by grinding and tumbling the material until it looks and feels like gravel. However, the manufacturer can make it with a specific color and material mixtures. While the landscape gravel is very similar, you need to decide early in the design what stone or gravel you want to use so the supplier can ensure they have enough.
Installing The Gravel
When you are ready to put the gravel into your landscape, putting down some landscape fabric or black plastic sheeting first will help keep weeds and grass from growing up through the beds. The gravel for landscaping is typically prewashed and ready to go in the areas you need it, but if it looks dingy, you can spread it out on the ground and rewash it with a hose and clear water before you put it in the beds.
Use a shovel to carefully lay the gravel in the designated areas so that you do not damage any lighting, sprinklers, or other equipment that is already in place. Make a few small piles in the beds, then use a steel rake to spread the landscape gravel out evenly, pulling it only into areas that you want it to be.
Landscaping gravel often works well in areas where water may run off the roof or where you want to put plants like cacti. The gravel will allow water to drain into the ground as needed but offers a unique and often appealing appearance in arid climates or commercial landscape settings. To learn more, contact a company that provides gravel for landscaping.