Gravel Pathway

Last year I had a very large area approx., 8ft x 22 ft that was just dirt. I spent the whole summer season the year before doing nothing but digging up weeds and going through too much round up! ha ha
I decided to do a winding gravel pathway, turned out beautiful, problem is I dont know how to end it? Thought about flowing the pathway into a little pond but having trouble visuallizing.
Can it just stop, or does it have to continue somewhere? I really dont want to make it two much longer.....

Do you have a picture of the path and the area you want it to end? I feel like it should end at something--a pond could work, or a small sitting area, or something along those lines, but if you can post a picture of the area it'll be easier to make suggestions.

Ill post a picture....thanks

I have gravel pathways through my main flower bed that were not my idea. My SIL was helping me and he is the straight path-type. The only thing I could do was end each one at the brick edging that goes around the outside edges. I have the scalloped kind of edging that comes in sections that are straight or curved.

I have come to hate the gravel pathways because it's hard to keep the gravel where it's supposed to be and weeds grow up through it no matter what. I just spray them now as they appear and deal with it.

I was having the same problem with the gravel moving around. Pets and gravel do not mix. Ha ha
I actually placed large river rocks all along the path and they keep the gravel in!
I was going to place weed out down, but figured way to much work and the darn weeds would still sneak through.
What do you use to spray the weeds? Anything that works really good? I have tried a few different brands which I haven't seen great results?

could you burn the weeds roots with salt? wild speculation, to see what somebody knowledgeable says...

I have that black pathway edging and the gravel still gets to where it shouldn't. As far as the weeds are concerned I have sprayed with RoundUp and a couple of other brands--basically what's on sale. I've not had any problems with any of them not killing the weeds. Some take a little longer is all. I've used straight bleach and that's the cheapest of all. We put down the black rolled stuff that is supposed to keep weeds out, but as soon as you get a bit of dirt on top of it the weeds take advantage.

flowerprincess, you have dmail.

I have never heard of using bleach! I'll have to try that! Yes I have dmail.

In my head............how about when it comes towards the end t it off and circle it back into the main path. Do you have room for that? and right where it t's off you put a bench. Or part way up the path have the path go out and around something, like set a birdbath there, or perhaps a birdfeeder with a clump of flowers under it. So as you go up the path you have to walk around it. Does that make sense? What about using a preemergent as well such as preen?

thanks sounds like a good idea. I found this picture, think i am going to try to do this?
And encorporate a bench like you said...
Never used preen but heard it works good. I'll buy some this week!

This message was edited Apr 1, 2007 10:28 AM

AAAAAGGGHHHH!!!!!
I found this site thru a Dogpile search. I read some real good stuff on how wonderful Organic Gardening is. I expected this fourm to reflect that. Don't you guys read the articles??? Does anyone here garden organically? Salt? Bleach? Round-Up? Try White vinegar. It is also a non-discriminating weed killer, but it's cheaper, nicer to the environment in general, won't give either you, your children or your dogs cancer & it works better (in my experience). I have a neighbor who was a die hard Round-Up fan. She saw me spraying my driveway & laughed that I had given up on my silly Organic ways. She asked what I was spraying w/ & nearly bust a gut when I told her it was vinegar. I proposed a test. She spray her driveway crack plants w/ her stuff & I'll use mine. The next day she was back out spraying & mine were already dead. She now uses vinegar & is in the process of converting to my silly Organic methods.
Have you ever heard of Salting the Earth as a term meant to treat the soil so that an invader can't grow crops? Bleach is going to do your plants no good! Round-Up is going to be worse! Spray Acetic Acid (Vinegar) in the morning. It's best if you put it on while the plants are still taking in the moisture of the dew. They try to use the moisture in photosynthsis & if that liquid is Acetic Acid... it fries them, from the inside. If you get any over spray anywhere, it'll also kill any plant. But the cement.... it evaporates, leaving no toxic residue.
I'm sorry if I seem like a know it all. But,I've been doing this for over 30 yrs, even tho I may be new here. I've got more time on my knees in dirt than most of you (probably) have on the planet. :D

I forgot... the gravel pathway. Can you curve it at the end? Or spread it? If it ends in an abrupt straight line, that could be quite jarring to the eye. But, if it's curved, the eye is already traveling & will keep on going to the next thing. Maybe have some sort of feature to attract the eye. I think the bench would be a great idea.

AllMuxedup~ I can verify the vinegar treatment, especially on a hot day, vinegar will take a weed down before sunset! My DM taught us as kids to squirt the vinegar on grass/ weeds between the sidewalk and driveway cracks with those plastic ketchup and mustard plastic containers. As a kid, now that was fun! BESIDES, a large container of vinegar from the grocery store will save you a more than a few bucks than chemicals with enough to buy some more gardening supplies and plants.

I've never heard of the white vinegar method. I'll definitely give it a try, thanks!

Weeds! Just pour BOILING hot water on them .... works every time and no need to worry about all the chemicals!

Allmuxedup,
I feel bad you seem to be offended. I am new to the sight, and honestly do not know a thing about organic gardening. Just struggling with weeds, tired of going through tons of bottles of round-up! Thanks for all the info on organic gardening, I haven't really put much thought into it and promise you I will start looking into it :)
I'm going to kill weeds with vinegar today..... You just use the distilled white vinegar, straight?
You know I teach horticulture to kids. I think I will start implementing organic gardening!
Good to spread the word!

I am going to try to pool the rocks into a like a kidney shape, probably put a bench in, and hopefully when money starts growing on my trees... lol put in a water feature!
Thanks for ideas, just seemed wrong to just end it, needs to flow.

Flower, in case you didn't shake enough money out of that tree, you can make a very nice bench with pressure treated decking, cut to desired length, paint with desired colored acrylic or laxtex paint and waterbase varnish it then place on or glue to 2 builders cement block (cement blocks- painted or not) voila, a bench!

Here's the link to the Organic Gardening Thread:

http://davesgarden.com/forums/f/organic/all/

Thanks great bench idea!
I have learned so much on this site, and have even been able to pass on info!

You're welcome! ;0)

flowerprin,
I'm not offended, I was just shocked. It was such a surprise, hearing all these chem solutions. I usually hand out on the Organic Gardening website & am just not used to it. I'm sorry if I over reacted. It's just that there are so many solutions that don't involve the chemicals that are responsible for the high rate of canacer in this country. People spray the lawn that their child plays on a few hours later! Then, they're shocked that their child get cancer. Those chems are on the lawn until the company comes again. That's why they have to come back. Please, don't wait... stop using the chems! There are Organic solutions to virtually every problem. But... you won't find them on TV or in the chem isle of the store. The only solutions you find there are the one's that have a marketing dept behind them! And, you won't find them in anything by Jerry Baker. He's got a great marketing dept & he makes mega bucks!
I'd be happy to help anyone learn how to wean their yard off the chems. Problem is that it's not easy. The chems kill the microbes in your soil. Those microbes are a critical part of the soil circle of life. In Organic Gardening we feed the soil & the soil feeds the plants. When your plants are hooked on chems, they're like junkies. It's a hard road for a junkie to make it back to a healthy life & it's hard for your garden to come back as well. But, I have people w/ their own gardens ask me for my fruit. Because mine tastes so much better & has a much better shelf life. they are also farm superior in nutritive value.

"Don't mess with Mother Nature!"
evelyn
who is her humble servant (& has taken a few deeeeeeep breaths :) )

I really need to start visiting the Organic Gardening Forum more often myself, we all could take some lessons on growing and living a more organic life. I have always had the belief that Man will destroy himself. The way we are going, if a lot of us don't begin to make changes pretty soon, it won't be long before this earth is so polluted nothing will survive. I despise chemicals. I have breathing difficulties when subjected to fumes of bug spray and other things, sometimes even gasoline at the pumps. I always think about the stuff we put on our lawns and the birds and other critters that eat the worms (or seed that's fallen from the feeders.) I look at the amount in my recycle bin each week (for just two people) and know that a lot of cities don't even have a recycling system in this day and age! It amazes me at the amount of stuff that comes in plastic in just the past 40-50 years, and knowing what some of the landfills in this country have that will take eons to disinegrate, if ever. I think of the soil contamination from so many chemicals and garbage .... and that soil contamination washing into rivers and streams and contaminating our water supply. I don't know if we could ever recover completely from all the damage we've done to our own "home", planet earth, but if everybody pitched in, we could reverse some of that damage to make it a better place for future generations to live and breathe.

Sorry, I'm way off topic here and will get off my soapbox!

Lin

Does anyone know a good method for getting that dirt out of an old gravel pathway?

Thanks for your posts Evelyn! I am really trying to figure out the best way to deal with my yard and I abhor the use of all those chemicals. We had a house built 4 years ago and of course when the home was constructed they removed all the soil down to clay. I wasn't into gardening then so I didn't make much of a fuss about it. Now I have realized the worst mistake I made was spending the thousands of dollars on sod which I am now in the process of eliminating and replacing with beds and borders. I want nothing to do with the Scotts turfbuilder and weed control chemicals and keeping up with the joneses in the lawn department. Unfortunately we are in a new development area with no established trees or free forms of compost and we have solid clay to work with. It's been interesting. Thanks for the tip on the vinegar I'll keep a bottle handy.

Ok, so I am a little slow, I couldn't figure out where to send pics from my phone, but I think I got it figured out now. Patience

So here is my pathway, it looks a little bare cuz all the perennials are just barely coming up. Going to add more hostas and japanese forest grass, maybe some coral bells...
I used to have a big ugly shed in the corner, moved it across the yard to the corner last year. There are a lot of rocks where the shed was so I plan on extending them from the corner to the pathway, and have the pathway kind of pool in the corner.
I would like to incorporate a small rock fountain also.

Any ideas???

Getting dirt out of wanted gravel. It wasn't easy, but it was effective. I hand shoveled the gravel into a wheelbarrow,trying to leave as much dirt behind. then I got the water hose out and got a heavy duty screen or a grate with small holes in it, and take a shovel full of gravel , dump it on the grate/ screen, and rinse the dirt off of the gravel.then transfer that washed gravel to a clean area for re-rinsing, if needed. then put the gravel back where you want it. I had a 60' x 36" area to do so I spread it out over several days as it can take it's toll on your back

I have a problem too. I have a 10 x 15 ' covered patio in Florida. The floor is concrete, covered in riverrock. It is very much in tact but its old and looks bad, and it isn't very comfortable to walk on in bare feet. Is there any type of a concrete material that I can just pour over the riverrock, then just paint it.? I have to be sure that what ever I do that it won't crack. I also thought about dry laying thin pavers down, but they are costly. Any ideas ??? thanks!

allmuxedup, the white vinegar sounds great. I assume you spray it on but how much do you use and how long does it last?