Driveway Circle Project

Donna Marie Ledington
by Donna Marie Ledington
5 Materials
$170
2 Months
Medium
We were fortunate to be able to build a new house in 2016. We moved in January 2, 2017. Because it was winter we didn't get any landscaping started until Spring and Summer. One of our big challenges was what to do with a driveway circle that is very steep. We didn't want to mow it and the bare dirt kept washing onto our driveway every time it rained. One of our neighbors hauls gravel for a living and he had half a truckload of river rock (sized from about a quarter to bigger than a softball) to get rid of and gave it to us free in February. It sat at the end of our drive until June. At that point I started a project that would last until September. The rock was dirty and had to be washed. So I would fill 2 five gallon buckets with rock and water and wash mud off every rock. I then hand placed the rock over a bed of pea gravel and landscape cloth. The large fieldstone rocks lining the drive and side walk we picked up off our land (free is good). They are mostly meant to keep the river rock in place. My husband says our land grows rock.

Our cost for the project was the landscape fabric, some black drainage pipe and a red bud tree . We purchased 4 rolls of the fabric from Lowes at about $20 a roll. We bought the better quality stuff with the 30 year lifespan. We are both over age 65 so we figured that was good enough. We also needed to purchase black corrugated pipe to solve the gutter runoff problem and to keep mud out of the pipes running under the concrete drive. There was great satisfaction the next heavy rain seeing clear water running onto the driveway instead of an inch of mud! Success!!

I took two months off our finished time because we were idle for around two months waiting for delivery of more pea gravel from our neighbor. Most of the pea gravel we used was left from our build but we needed a few wheelbarrow loads to finish this project. the rest of the 20 ton will be used for other projects. I didn't include that cost in this project.

We divided the area into a planting bed (foreground) and what we call the driveway circle (top of the picture). The black pipe is to solve the drainage issue from our gutter runoff. It runs under the finished rock bed. We planted a red bud tree in the middle of the rock bed.
The pile of river rock at the end of our driveway. Free is good
River rock is partially set.
The upper part of the circle is complete here.
This is the finished rock bed. I can't get the lower part picture to load but you get the idea.
Suggested materials:
  • Landscape Fabric 4 rolls   (Lowes about $80)
  • River Rock   (Free from a neighbor)
  • Field Stone   (Free from our own land)
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  • Yolanda R Yolanda R on Nov 13, 2017

    Did you know that mulch is a magnet for roaches and termites Pine bark and other decomposable landscape materials are magnets for a lot of insects that can cause havoc on your home and the people inside. As a owner of a landscape company for 18 years, I tend to recommend flower beds that owners want mulched to be away from the base of homes. Insects like termites and roaches thrive on dark moist locations and when they have a the need to breed they look at your home to do it in. Landscape fabric is a solution and some only last for 15 years but if you properly maintain it then it can stay beautiful a lot longer. Ask a pro for recommendations on fabric. Most will recommend nursery fabric not the stuff you buy at the the local hardware stores. A lot of homeowners place it down and place rocks down and think well they don't have to do anything to it. Thats is wrong....no matter what you use there is still maintenance to it. Spray for weeds or hand pull anything you see and yes rock will settle just like anything you place on the ground but its more easier to place more rock to an area than to mulch. With mulch you cant get a uniform look without doing the entire mulch area or the new will stick out from the old. If you you are looking for someone else to maintain your landscape creation and they refuse then know they are not a pro or they don't feel that they would be making any profit from you so look somewhere else. A pro can do any job big or small. This project looks well done and classic.

    • Donna Marie Ledington Donna Marie Ledington on Nov 13, 2017
      Thanks for your input as a professional. I'm sure that most people reading will find your advice very helpful. We made the economic decision to do some of the finishing work our selves. We are doing very well in our retirement but have to draw a line and use our own labor sometimes. At our other house we had routine scheduled insect treatments. In this house we had treatment done during construction but I suppose we should set up our routine treatments again.
  • Ruby Ruby on Nov 15, 2017

    love your project, when the weeds start popping out, there is always weed b gone by ORTHO, ready to spray, no mixing any thing! enjoy your project.

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