| Creating a low maintenance garden with decorative | | | | 3. A waterfall area can be truly enhanced through the |
| gravel is easy to do. Gravel is available in a dizzying | | | | use of decorative gravel. It needs to be used in |
| array of colours and sizes that can fit into almost | | | | conjunction with natural looking rocks and stones. |
| anyone's garden plans. Gravel is quite inexpensive and | | | | The gravel can be used to fill in areas between the |
| easy to use. It requires a minimum of maintenance | | | | larger items giving the whole effect a much more |
| and always looks great. | | | | rounded-off appearance. |
| Decorative gravel can be bought in colours ranging | | | | 4. Perhaps the most obvious use of decorative |
| from gold to white, black to red, cream to brown, | | | | gravel is in a main path through your garden. For a |
| and purple to green, any shade of grey, and | | | | path you are probably best to choose one colour and |
| practically any other colour in between. You can get | | | | texture and stick to it, though using patterns or |
| small gravel sizes of 8 millimetres through to large | | | | mosaics is quite possible too. A path is likely to take |
| sizes of 75 millimetres. This article offers you five | | | | a lot of gravel to fill. As a rough guide, expect to |
| different ways to have a low maintenance garden | | | | need around one tonne of gravel for each five |
| with decorative gravel. | | | | metres of path that's one metre wide and 100 |
| 1. Use gravel around plants and flowers. This will add | | | | millimetres in depth. |
| visual appeal to your flower beds. You can choose | | | | 5. A large area of lawn with nothing to break up the |
| decorative gravel in a colour that enhances and | | | | monotony is not making the best use of your |
| contrasts the colour of each group of flowers or | | | | garden. Lawns need regular mowing. For the best low |
| plants. | | | | maintenance lawn, break the area up by creating |
| Gravel around flowers doesn't just look good. It will | | | | winding decorative gravel walkways through it. These |
| help to avoid soil erosion as well as helping to control | | | | needn't be too wide, just enough for someone to |
| the weeds. Gravel around plants and flowers will also | | | | walk over. You can be very creative here for a most |
| help to retain the moisture in the soil, which is very | | | | pleasing effect using different colours and patterns. |
| useful on a hot day in summer. | | | | Having a low maintenance garden with decorative |
| 2. The edges of ponds and pools can greatly benefit | | | | gravel makes sense from so many perspectives. It |
| from decorative gravel. Don't fall into the usual trap | | | | will look great with just a minimum of planning and |
| of making it all evenly ringed around the pool or pond. | | | | thought. There isn't very much work involved in |
| That looks unnatural. Vary the area amounts in places | | | | creating it. It is fairly inexpensive, and you can cut |
| making it a more random layering. Use different | | | | down the regular maintenance work required by half |
| colours and sizes to vary it even more, and possibly | | | | if you do it properly. That has to be worth |
| even include pebbles or sand, as well as larger rocks | | | | considering. |
| and stones. | | | | |