This is a style of garden that is "in" at the moment. They can be both practical and look fantastic.
But beware the following:
- They do not completely get rid of a garden maintenance problem. Regular cleaning and gardening is still needed. Particularly by the clearance of leaves and detritus blown from elsewhere in late autumn.
- Whereas a lawn still looks acceptable even if it has not been mown for some time, a shingle garden has to kept neat and tidy all the time. If they are allowed to get tatty they look dreadful.
- Don’t site them near deciduous trees and shrubs as this is just asking for trouble with leaves etc.
- Pets, yours and others, have a liking for scratching around in shingle so try and keep to the larger stone sizes i.e. 14mm not 8mm.
- As an alternative to shingle do not use the crushed aggregate, normally granite or limestone, that is widely available and used mainly for road foundations. It might look pretty as a sample and it is inexpensive, but it looks very dull and ordinary when used over a large area.
However they do:
- Provide brilliant texture and colour as a foil for many shrubs and conifers.
- Used with a permeable membrane they act as a weed suppressant.
- Generally provide a low maintenance solution.
- Get rid of the grass cutting problem.
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