Choosing The Best Gravel Option For Your Garden

Gravel serves a variety of purposes and is a great choice for your garden. There are several reasons why you may choose gravel for your garden. It is a natural and durable solution, cost effective and as long as you lay it over a weed membrane, it is a low maintenance option.

Various Gravel Options For Your Garden

Gravel can be used in both contemporary and traditional style gardens. It is very versatile and is ideal if you want to add touches of gravel around the edges of a patio, use gravel to create a pathway or create a seaside style garden with expanses of graveled bedding.

However, gravel may be a hard landscaping element and so garden designers tend to use a palette of three to four different materials, such as gravel, brick and oak to easily achieve design unity and avoid a garden design becoming too busy.

Choosing A Gravel Colour For Your Garden

The gravel colour to choose will depend on what is already present in the garden, the colour of the house and the local natural stone. Your gravel should accent or complement existing features in the property.

• You can choose pea gravel as it works well with most materials used in British architecture. It comes in shades of earthy brown, honey, dark grey and deep brick red.
• Alternatively, you may choose a subtler colour combination in white, pale grey and black as they suit contemporary glass-clad or wooden exteriors.
• Furthermore, if your garden gets a lot of shade and you want to brighten it up, you might want to choose a pale coloured gravel or paving that has natural light reflecting properties.

Ensure that you look at the stone properly before you buy it and bear in mind that it will look completely different when wet. You can also enhance colour blending by mixing the gravel if you have several packs of the same gravel to lay.

Choosing A Gravel Size For Your Project

• Use a medium sized gravel that won’t move around too much (or get stuck in tyres) but still comfortable to work on for footpaths or pathways.

• To fill awkward shapes in garden borders, highlight planting, soften edges of edges of paved or decked areas or add interest to corners, use cobbles and larger stones or boulders. They can also be used to define separate zones in a garden.

Making A Choice For Gravel Stone

While most gravel stones will do just fine with general garden use, we recommend that you use harder stones such as granite if your car will be driven on and off it.

Different Available Gravel Options -Loose Gravel, Resin Bound Gravel Or Self-Binding Gravel

For country gardens, choose loose gravel. It can also be used for contemporary gardens. It is water permeable, can be done as a DIY project and is also affordable. It is also the best for pathways. However, you may need to be raking stones back into place regularly unless the gravel is contained.

Loose gravel is not advised if your garden is on a slope or there are regular occurrences of heavy snowfall.

Use a resin bound gravel for contemporary gardens, especially urban courtyards. With the gravels totally set in resin, you do not have to worry about loose gravels. The surface is smooth, seamless and also permeable. It is also SUDS compliant and comes in a range of colours and textures. It can be laid on a new base or a suitable existing one such as asphalt and concrete. With its anti-grip quality, it is also suitable for slopes. It can be used for resin pathways, resin driveways and patios.

The Self-binding gravel works for both traditional and contemporary gardens. It looks more natural than resin-bound gravel and works by knitting together once compacted to form a solid base and surface. It also has a permeable surface and can be used on slopes of less than one in 15.

Cost Of These Gravel Types

Loose gravel costs around £30 per m², Resin bound gravel costs from £40 per m² while self-binding gravel can cost as little as £10 per m².

If you wish to install a new resin bound gravel for your garden, patio, pathway or driveway, you can simply call our London office via our phone lines 08082737505. With our wealth of experience in the UK installation industry, you can only expect the best from our team of expert professionals.

Contact us today for a free quote and take advantage of our free site survey offer as we transform your home with stunning, elegant, durable and unique resin bound gravel ideas.