Well, it’s only been about 9 months since the walls were built…we are finally finishing the top patio in the front. In our feeble defense, it’s just been lower on the list since we wanted to spend spring and summer filling the new beds and getting stuff planted.
It was tough to decide which gravel to use. Since we needed massive amounts, the budget needed to be less than $50/yard. That pretty much left us with limestone or pea gravel. The granite chips were 3 times that so…no dice. We can’t use decomposed stone fines (my 1st choice) because they set up too hard and the water will run off away from the tree …we need the water to drain down so that it gets at its roots.
I’ve used limestone before for gravel patios and it worked great, but I wanted to explore something softer and easier on the feet. I’ve always hated pea gravel…it felt very dated and ugly to me, but I found a few nice gardens that changed my mind.
This patio used pea gravel in between the hardscape…
Photo via Studio G
… and this post showed a nice pea gravel patio
Photo via Rock Stock & Quade
Now we have a monster sized pile of pea gravel to put on top of the large limestone. I started spreading it in the rain since it’s as cool as it’s ever going to be (only 87°!). I discovered I can only fill the buckets half way or it hurts. Up all the steps, dump and repeat. 2 buckets are best since it keeps me balanced instead of bending over a single full bucket.
Phew…gonna be a long week. Problem is….I think I might hate the color….stay tuned for a hopeful improvement…maybe when it’s dry…maybe.