How do I maintain river rock in landscape?

Vinegar and salt.

https://homeguides.sfgate.com/use-vinegar-salt-weed-killer-49329.html

You need to pull your weeds. Move rock a side and lay new cloth down . Then add 2 inch’s of rock at least. When the leaves start to accumulate and it’s needs a pick me up use your leaf blower to blow the rocks clean of the debris,

it is initially a little work but with minimal upkeep it will last for years. And yes rock will need to be added occasionally along with the Preen each season which is pet friendly.

Good luck!

Sprinkle Preen on the rockbed next spring before the weeds come up.

This has nothing to do with an answer but your Dog looks like my Maggie.

I have an area with a similar rock covering. After quite a few years the same thing happened. I used a hoe and removed all of the rock and some dirt it was imbedded in. I then put down new weed cloth.

The rocks need need to be washed. I used several 5-gallon buckets with a cup of bleach and a squirt of dish soap in each. Put the rocks in the bottom third of the bucket. Stir it well then pour off the dirty water into another bucket with rocks. Keep washing and rinsing in a series of buckets until the rinse water is clean. Dump those rocks onto the weed cloth then continue with the other buckets. This sounds complicated but it goes pretty quickly when you get the bucket to bucket routine down.

Martha Stewart has the same problem with the gravel in the driveway to her house at Turkey Hill. She has all of the driveway commercially removed, washed and replaced. I don’t see stirring and dumping buckets.

I have a large area of rock and pea gravel in my back yard. I used a thick black plastic under my rock. It has been down for about 15 years. It is just now beginning to need replacements in some spots. I use Round Up for weeds that come up, mostly where birds drop seeds. I have a couple of bird feeders at the edge of my rock garden. I also pull up some weeds. The weeds don’t have good roots, since the seeds started out on the rock bed and not in dirt. I think one thing that has helped is, I have stepping stones where we walk out to the yard. This keeps traffic off of my rocks as much.

‘If you enjoy you rock garden as much as I do, I would take it up and put down a heavy plastic, replace the rocks and add stepping stones for a walk way. Hope this helps :)

We live in the Az desert. We yearly blow the_debris of the area and power wash the large rocks. As for the pea gravel and small stuff like your pups on. DON'T USE ROUND UP ON ANYTHING IN YOUR YARD. Gives people and pets cancer. I use a mix or rock salt and bleach spray it let dry. But after about 3 yrs you'll need a new layer of rock. Which is when you could spray then top.

Do yourself a favor and get rid of the rock. Plant grass it's much easier.

I have rock and pea gravel in my yard. I live in the desert in California. I like the rocks but some weeds sneak through so the rock salt and bleach sounds good to me. good luck.

All you need to do is kill off the weeds with vinegar and salt. Then add some fresh rock on the top. It will look like new. To remove it and put down another layer of fabric is a lot of work for a short term gain because in a few years you will have to do it all over again. .

You need more rocks first of all, then maintain as the others said.

I clean out the weeds each spring and sprinkle Preen on that area. It keeps the weeds out. Then I would add some rock on top. You won't need to put down new weed fabric, all you need to do is update your Preen when you see any weeds appear. The Preen is activated by water so when you first sprinkle it on you have to lightly sprinkle it with water. I put Preen on my mulched areas, also.

I use a weed torch. It heats up the top of the plants and they die back to ash. I only have to use it occasionally. My husband bought a small tank that is I can easily carry. It works beautifully and is about as sustainable as possible without contaminating the soil. I tried everything else and this worked the best for me. Google it - I love it. (I have granite gravel, river rock and natural limestone paths.)

If you are ambitious you could take up the rock and put down the plastic, not fabric. If you get the thick one, it wouldn't have to be replaced for years. and you wouldn't have sinking rock. it will collect dirt and debris over the years and start getting some weeds, but those are easy to pull. I also use the Preen weed preventer and it works really well on anything that germinated from seed except for tree seeds. It does not cover things like creeping charlie or grosses that come from a mother plant. If you take up the rock to plant some kind of ground cover, make sure you did up as much as possible, the underground buried rock may cause problems in the summer by heating up and killing the roots of what you plant. It would be easier to fill in the bare spots with more, but if the fabric is bad, it will start sinking again.

Hi, Just add more of the same rocks on top. What happens is the ground compacts, so you have to top it up to maintain the height.