Do you want to prevent weeds in your gravel driveway? It takes a little bit of work, but it is much worth it in the end.
Gravel driveways without weeds can be maintained to look very good. They are very popular in many settings because they are the least expensive and easy to keep up with.
The hardest part of setting up a weed free gravel driveway is the beginning. You will first want to dig out a space for the gravel to go. Then before you even pour the gravel you’ll want to put some type of chemical weed preventer down. It is suggested that you take off at least the top layer of soil that includes all of the grass and weeds. There isn’t really a specific depth, as far as how far down you should dig, before you are ready to lay your gravel. Although, the more top layer you remove means needing to purchase more gravel, it also means it will last longer without the worry of weeds.
You should also consider putting a PVC pipe across the driveway (placed under the gravel) to help keep your driveway drained of water. This should be dug out as a trench, below where you have your driveway leveled. The PVC pipe should have holes in it so the water can go in through the top and then out on the sides. Make sure you dig it deep enough that you can cover it well with dirt before spreading the gravel. A hardware store or contractor (if you know one) will be able to help you determine what size pipe would be best to use. You can use several pipes, however you can get away with just one toward the mid-section of the driveway.
You can do a lot of asking around to find out the best ways to lay out your driveway. All of this is important in the prevention of weeds believe it or not. The less water your driveway retains the less weeds and grass you will have as well. Weeds and grass are obviously more unlikely to accumulate in dry dirt.
You should also make sure that your driveway (before gravel) is level. Although it will be level you’ll want it to angle down toward the road. The reason for this is because you don’t want puddles to form and you don’t want to have places where the dirt is higher than others. This is where the weeds will accumulate the most.
The hardest part of all of this is spreading out the gravel. If you already have a gravel driveway you might consider treating it and adding more gravel and raking it out again.
Keeping your gravel driveway weed free, really doesn’t require much work if you do the first part right. All you should have to do is some chemical treatments if necessary or pull weeds as they accumulate if desired. Aside from the spots that may not be level, and where the dirt is closer to the surface, the only other part of the driveway that is at risk would be the edges.
A chemical treatment will work very well with this as well. You can either wait until the weeds appear or you can go ahead and treat it in the spring before any signs of weeds. Some might treat the whole driveway, while others would just do the treatments where the weeds are likely to occur and then just maintain as the grow.
The best looking gravel driveways are maintained to be weed free and raked out regularly when possible.
If you don’t want to use chemical weed prevention. You can try using vodka or gin in a spray bottle. I haven’t written another article that is just about using that alternative. If you don’t find it posted, it will be shortly.
Reference:
- www.howtodothings.com/home-garden/how-to-maintain-a-gravel-driveway
- www.ehow.com/how_4682636_lay-gravel-driveway.html
