What Is Gravel For?

Gravel is a lot like decorative rock, sand, mulch, and soil. It’s another way you can control how much water gets to your plants so they don’t dry up or drown. When you’re trying to turn your yard into your dream landscape, you need to know all the materials you may need.

Gravel is just another fantastic option, being a collection of hard and easily replaceable rocks that can be poured or placed wherever you need them. They’re one of the most versatile materials!

WHAT ELSE IS GRAVEL USED FOR?

Like sand, mulch, and all the others, gravel isn’t just for serving as an alternative rock that helps control water filtration and aeration. It also serves as the material for other more specific parts of the landscape.

DRIVEWAYS

While driveways are usually made out of asphalt, it’s far from the most environmentally safe, cheap, or sustainable material to use for a driveway. Gravel is low-cost upfront, compared to asphalt that covers the same distance.

While gravel can be washed away, the fact that it’s incredibly easy to replace makes up for it. Gravel driveways might not also be the best for snow either, but snow isn’t exactly common in Arizona and Colorado.

It’s cheaper to replace gravel now and then than spending hundreds to thousands of dollars replacing asphalt that doesn’t look as good. The fact that it’s so easy also means you don’t have to have someone come in and fill misshapen potholes and cracks as you would with asphalt, you can fill it up yourself.

WALKWAYS

Another characteristic of well-placed gravel is that certain types are soft to walk on, which is great for walkways. It can also withstand a car’s weight, so it can withstand anything you carry over it as well.

Being that gravel is free rolling rocks, it also gives homeowners freedom to create their pathways how they want. You’re not as beholden by high prices with gravel as you would be with cement.

BASE MATERIAL FOR PAVERS

Pavers–perfectly shaped stones–are another awesome material that you can have laid down as a driveway or walkway. While pavers work well on their own, you can supplement them with gravel.

In this instance, gravel serves as the base underneath the paver, rather than a paver base. This allows moisture to drain better and helps the pavers absorb ground tension. This works to help pavers keep their place in the long run. If you put pavers down in a place without proper drainage, what happens to asphalt will happen to pavers, just not as quickly. Together, these two can make the perfect driveway or walkway.

WHAT TYPES OF GRAVEL ARE AVAILABLE?

Your local Pioneer Landscaping Center should offer several different types of gravel that you can also see online. Gravel is a collection of rocks, so multiple types can go into gravel and in several different colors.

• Granite chips - Basic gravel type. This type comes in black only.
• Dellacrose / Road Base - A road base that comes in chocolate brown, maroon, dark grey, black, and reddish-brown.
• Natural Granite - Best type for a walkway or driveway. This type comes in pairs of colors: maroon and grey; marron, dark grey, and black; orange and gold with light and dark brown accent tones; reddish-brown with shades of grey and light brown.
• Recycled Asphalt - Another good type for driveways. It comes in black and reuses old driveways that fell apart.
• Recycled Concrete - Another good type for walkways. It comes in grey.
• Pea Gravel - Perfect serving as a base for pavers. It comes in several mixes of colors, branded as Colorado and Southern Colorado.
• Squeegee - Perfect for pathways, walkways, and general decoration, squeegee is the gravel type with the smallest rocks. It also comes in branded color mixes, Colorado and Southern Colorado.

CONTACT PIONEER LANDSCAPING FOR YOUR GRAVEL

If you’re unsure which of these types and colors is best for your landscaping project, your local Pioneer Landscaping Center can help. Our representatives can take what information you need and help you figure out what material looks best, how much each one is, and how you can lay it down. All you need to do is contact Pioneer Landscaping Centers.