Keep Your Gravel Areas Weed-Free With These Simple Tips & Tricks

Sometimes it seems like dealing with weeds is an exhausting and constant battle. And, while there are some weeds that are beneficial and shouldn't necessarily be pulled, it is also true that even the helpful weeds can make your yard and home look unkempt if they start growing in your gravel. Luckily, when it comes to killing weeds in gravel (whether that is in a gravel driveway, path, or a rock garden), there are plenty of options — from chemical herbicides and hand-pulling to Martha Stewart's homemade weed killer. Unfortunately, the problem with all of these methods is that they often require you to stay on top of your weed problem all summer long and reapply your chosen weed killer multiple times.

So, what if you want a solution to weeds growing in your gravel that is more of a one-and-done? In that case, the best option is probably landscape fabric. In fact, laying down landscape fabric underneath your bed of gravel is a great way to prevent weeds from germinating and growing while also avoiding the use of pre-emergent chemical herbicides. Plus, on top of its advantages in weed prevention, landscape fabric can also prevent your gravel bed from sinking and stop soil erosion. Furthermore, putting down a layer of landscape fabric means you can use less gravel and it'll be easier to remove if you ever want to replace or get rid of it. However, the only problem with this method is that landscape fabric is typically put down before the gravel is added and, if you already have a bed of gravel, removing it to lay down the fabric can be quite the undertaking.

Luckily, if you don't want to dig up your gravel beds to lay down landscape fabric, there are other ways to deal with pesky weeds in a more permanent fashion. One of the main reasons that you may be having weed growth in gravel is because the plants have been able to find enough space and sunlight. To prevent this, you want to make sure that you add a thick enough layer of gravel to choke the weeds out — usually, a gravel depth of five centimeters does the trick. So, if your gravel beds are less than five centimeters deep, you may want to add some more.

Because you generally don't want anything to grow in your gravel, it is okay to kill gravel weeds with methods that may damage the health and quality of the soil underneath. For example, you could kill the weeds in your gravel beds with boiling water which is very effective on young weeds but often not recommended because the hot water can easily damage the roots of nearby plants. Another option is to kill gravel weeds with salt water. This method is typically not recommended because the salt can not only kill the weed in question but also damage the soil so that nothing is able to grow in that spot for multiple years. While this may be a bad thing in a garden setting, it can actually be perfect in your gravel beds.