Yard landscaping can be made up of a variety of different materials and elements, such as metal, concrete, shrubbery, rock, or wood. Rock provides a good solid base for making a pathway, driveway, or patio, and will not decay or break down over time, but you need to follow the right methods to select and install rock. The following provides you with some ideas to add gravel and rock into your yard's landscaping design for an attractive addition.

Choose the Right Rock

Rock comes in a variety of different colors and textures along with varying shapes and sizes to give you different ways in which you can use them in your yard. Flat rocks are good to use for installing a rock patio or walkway because they provide two flat sides in which you can install them right onto a flat surface of soil or sand, and they provide a flat surface for foot traffic or vehicles.

You can, however, install more rounded river rocks, as long as they have a semi-flat side to use as the surface area for your pavement. Just be sure you remove soil in a manner to form around the surface of the rock when you place it into your patio installation. Then, consider adding in some pea gravel around your paving stone river rocks or flat rocks, which will keep them placed securely and also fill in the gaps between each of the rocks.

Install the Rock

When you are adding gravel or rock to your paving area or as a landscape covering, you may want to add in a layer of landscape fabric. This barrier placed between the base soil and your top layer of rock will protect the soil and rock from combining together and causing soil to come up through the rocks. It is also a great way to prevent weeds and grass from growing into your gravel areas. 

Sometimes the rock is not going to settle well on a layer of landscape fabric because the rock will need to settle into the surrounding soil to produce a flat surface. When this occurs, you will need to work on the soil of your rock installation site to remove any traces of vegetation growth. You can treat the soil with an herbicide to stop any growth or apply some vinegar to the soil to make the soil acidic and difficult for vegetation to grow.

Contact a local patio rock supplier to learn more.