Driveway Options?

bery_451

Ectophile wrote: »

Your driveway is only going to be level if the front garden is level. Many driveways slope one way or another. You need to consider where any run-off is going to go (and across the pavement into the road is no longer acceptable). Either the surface needs to be porous, or else you need to sort out the drainage.


Gravel is going to get weeds, whatever you do. You can slow them down, but they will start growing sooner or later.

Ok what's the best way to slow down weeds?

bery_451

M2808 wrote: »

I've seen drives that are one layer of bricks paved around the edge and then poured concrete everywhere else - no weeds possible, just a pressure wash once a year and must be cheaper than block paving the lot

I have typical hedges with short wooden fences underneath. What edging you recommend for something like this?

Brick edging is suitable for what kind of applications?

Ectophile

bery_451 wrote: »

Ok what's the best way to slow down weeds?

By laying a weed control fabric on top of the soil, but below the gravel. It stops any weed seeds already in the soil from germinating.


But over time, dust will blow in around the gravel, and new weed seeds can blow into that.

Davesnave

bery_451 wrote: »

Ok what's the best way to slow down weeds?

The best way is to spray with a pre-emergent weedkiller, but you won't have access to the product and you probably wouldn't like the price either, as it's geared to commercial use. Although I can buy it, I don't, due to the expense.

I keep weeds controlled in gravel with a backpack sprayer and glyphosate bought in bulk for cheapness. Doing that every 4 weeks in summer would take very little time on an average driveway.

But the trick to low maintenance goes much further than that. It's possible to do ground cover gardening that virtually eliminates weeds and looks better than vast areas of concrete and similar hard landscaping. Unfortunately, a look around some neighbourhoods, especially in some parts of the country which I won't name, residents aren't interested in that.

bery_451

Ectophile wrote: »

By laying a weed control fabric on top of the soil, but below the gravel. It stops any weed seeds already in the soil from germinating.


But over time, dust will blow in around the gravel, and new weed seeds can blow into that.

What is this fabric called?

bery_451

Davesnave wrote: »

The best way is to spray with a pre-emergent weedkiller, but you won't have access to the product and you probably wouldn't like the price either, as it's geared to commercial use. Although I can buy it, I don't, due to the expense.

I keep weeds controlled in gravel with a backpack sprayer and glyphosate bought in bulk for cheapness. Doing that every 4 weeks in summer would take very little time on an average driveway.

But the trick to low maintenance goes much further than that. It's possible to do ground cover gardening that virtually eliminates weeds and looks better than vast areas of concrete and similar hard landscaping. Unfortunately, a look around some neighbourhoods, especially in some parts of the country which I won't name, residents aren't interested in that.

So it's just the matter of spraying glyphosate everywhere in the gardens for maintenance? Whats is ground cover gardening?

Davesnave

bery_451 wrote: »

So it's just the matter of spraying glyphosate everywhere in the gardens for maintenance? Whats is ground cover gardening?

Everywhere? No, it's a matter of spraying glyphosate on the areas that are supposed to stay as gravel, to kill any seedlings growing in it before they get to any size.


Ground cover gardening is selecting plants that cover the soil and knit together completely, so weed seeds can't get started. There are places in my front garden where no weeding has been done in years.

Davesnave

bery_451 wrote: »

What is this fabric called?

It's just called 'geofabric' and any good builders' merchant (not DIY shed) will have it on a large roll. Mine charge by the metre and just cut off whatever I need.

bery_451

Ok my summary from my understanding so far for driveway (please correct me if i'm wrong):

- remove old concrete slabs
- dig to 1 metre
- throw all excess soil and old slabs in skip
- lay 30mm of sand then compact it
- lay the geofabric
- put 3 inches of gravel or lay concrete slabs
- does edging comes 1st or afterwards?
- spray glyphosate only on gravel or can be used on slabs?
- Driveway finished?

Ectophile

If you dig down 1 metre, then lay about 40cm of stuff on top of it, you're going to end up with a really big step down into the drive. And it will need a fleet of skips to take all the soil away.


Be aware that, despite what many green activists say, glyphosate is not persistent in the soil. It breaks down after a few weeks. So there's little point in spraying it until you actually have weeds.