River rock instead of lawn?

[HamAndEggs]

I've got a lot of lawn, and some of it is between all my fruit trees and around my generator. I've been tempted to put some kind of rock down instead. Has anyone done anything similar?

 

[no704]

Very common here in Tempe to have a rock lawn. Spray well with preemergent and cover with landscape fabric. Get large enough rocks that they don’t blow around with the leaf blower.

 

[HamAndEggs]

You think if I just cover it and spread the rocks, it should be enough? Can't spray anything around the trees

 

[Metal-Marc]

You have to dig and get the grass out first.

 

[nadogail]

Weeds don’t grow through my concrete.
They can grow through decorative rock.

 

[HamAndEggs]

Hmm, that sounds like a lot of work...

 

[Metal-Marc]

Hmm, that sounds like a lot of work...

Keep mowing then.

 

[Kuma601]

My thought would be flagstone set into the lawn or a combination with river rock to reduce the grassy areas. I like the look of flagstone set into a lawn for areas that get walked on with frequency.

 

[Youngandfree]

You could remove the fruit trees and have clear mowing.

 

[Youngandfree]

You think if I just cover it and spread the rocks, it should be enough? Can't spray anything around the trees

No

 

[tfalk]

Before you do anything, check if you have zoning that allows for stone. Since we are on shale, our town considers landscaping stone to be impervious. We wheelbarrowed 60 cubic yards of stone only to find out that we had to remove it since it put us over the impervious lot coverage. And yes, I asked someone in the zoning desk at the town hall before I did this and they said it was OK. When we went to expand our garage, the zoning officer pulled up the house on google earth and said what's all this? Uh, you can't have that.....

 

[steve308]

Zoysia grass.

 

[Rst277]

If you put rock under the fruit trees it will look weird out there in the middle of the yard. Best would be to move the fruit trees to the sides, one or two rows and then use a mulch / rock / natural grass for ground cover.

 

[bluedog225]

Hey neighbor. Don’t do it. I think you’ll have regerts.

Rock heats up something fierce here. It raises the temp of the area. Not fun for you and not great for the plants. Looks good at first then looks like carp.

And weeds find their way in and are a birch to get out. Weed block can help but it eventually clogs and prevents water getting in.

Much, much better to mulch it. Acts as a slow fertilizer, lets water through, looks good, easily applied and refreshed. Just keep it off the trunk or it will cause issues.

1000% better answer than rock.

 

[Copymutt]

Even w/ good prep. Wind blown dirt will accumulate in the rocks followed by weeds.
My pref. would be flagstone. It gives you a usable surface not just visual landscape.

 

[ctandc72]

You think if I just cover it and spread the rocks, it should be enough? Can't spray anything around the trees

NO. I sprayed. I covered with landscaping fabric (two complete layers). Then covered with tons of pea gravel.
It's got more grass growing through the fabric and gravel than before I started the entire project. At this point I'm considering some kind of barrier (like solid vinyl) or literally salting the ground.

 

[The Tool Tyrant]

Screw that! Here...let me help you spend some cash...continue the exposed aggregate concrete just past your Generac and say, oh 4' in front of it...then a big sweeping radius back toward the house until it meets the NEW sidewalk that wraps around the house and continues to your patio? There...now ain't that better?

 

[Rusty Wrench]

I am a gardening geek. 30+ hrs in plant sciences at local college. We were taught sod is a trees worst enemy. *****/diverts water and nutrients. I think spreading rock is a terrible idea because of its thermal mass.

I'd advise remove the sod around trees and mulch with organic. Homeowner pride shows throughout your pics

 

[zak77]

How about artificial turf? I'd prefer that over lots of stone.

 

[Rusty Wrench]

Forgot to add- If you have the clayey soil typical of Gulf coast: Use a 2" bulb planter auger to core out soil around trees 5 or 6 holes a bit inside drip line. Fill holes with compost. Do annually. Trees will love you.

 

[mm08822]

Anything but river rock. RR ***** to walk across constantly. Too easy to turn an ankle.
I service a few gens surrounded by RR and it is a miserable time.

Large pavers or flagstone would be my go to. (Still need to dig to prep the base properly.)

 

[wafer]

I'm in your area (TX) and I've been switching from lawn to rocks over the past several years. A few things I've learned are,

• I get more weeds in small rocks (pebbles) than bigger rocks (river rock or egg rock)
• I prefer a variety of rock sizes and textures in different areas, including mulched beds, to break up the monotony.
• It's convenient to have a walking path of flat stones within larger areas of rocks or often traveled areas.
• Decomposed granite as a base and/or along edges provides good drainage and is a bit of a natural weed deterrent.

Here are some pics of what I've done so far,

 

[Hank11]

Pay someone to cut your grass. It might be cheapest in the long run and its certainly easy.

 

[Zeke]

@wafer has the answer. Start dividing the area into walkways and differently appointed areas. Some stone, some lawn, some mulch. That is unless you like to play flag football out there.

 

[Wes Tex]

I moved into house that had a "river rock" front yard with some established trees. The first few years it was nice not to worry about mowing or watering the front yard. After about 5-6 years I had to start spraying the rocks to kill the grass and weeds that started appearing. After 10 years I had grass and weeds growing so thick, I decided to remove the rocks and have a real grass yard. I found a guy who would remove the rocks to "pave" a road to his house in the country. I discovered the ground under the rocks was covered with a thick black plastic sheet that blocked the growth of any vegetation for awhile. In time enough dirt built up on top of the plastic to support the weeds and some grass. (It doesn't take much dirt to grow weeds.) After hauling in several large dump truck loads of top soil, I established a nice grass front yard. The big benefit of a grass yard was a noticeable drop in the temperature. I would never consider reestablishing a rock yard.

 

[HamAndEggs]

Thanks guys, lots of good info here!

 

[GrayFlattop]

I would carefully (by hand) remove the sod growing within - or near the drip line of the trees. Bring in some good quality mulch to spread around the trees. Not the dyed **** they sell at big box stores and cedar may repel the insects that you depend on to pollinate your fruit trees. Pine bark mulch is common around here - not sure what is available there. Then rent a sod cutter to remove the rest of the grass around the trees and generator (or better yet, pay a landscaping guy to do the sod removal).

As many others have said, even the best of attempts to keep weeds down with rocks / gravel will be a struggle. I've used double layers of the heaviest landscape fabric I can find - covered it with 2" of pea gravel and the weeds / grass will find a way to grow there.

I'd explore a mix of permeable pavers and low ground cover plantings (like clovers and Vetch which will also help attract pollinators) for the rest of the lawn that you want to decommission.

I hear crushed granite is pretty effective, but no direct experience. No need for chemicals.

You may want to check in with your local arboretum or county extension agent for advice for your area. Houston resources

 

[ycgoat]

You can put heavy black plastic pole down for a season to kill the grass, before removing it from around the trees

 

[CSRPenFab]

It's pretty standard here in Idaho to have gravel down both sides of the house. I would not use round river rock since it makes it hard to walk on, you really want some sort of course gravel that packs down and locks together. Rock against the house on both sides is a lot easier to maintain than lawn up to the house.

Here, they use a really heavy geotextile nonwoven fabric under the gravel; secured in place with large landscape staples. Do not use plastic sheeting! Sure, you'll get a few weeds from dirt that gets blown in, but they pull up really easy since they can't root through the heavy fabric.

Here's a fairly bad pic, but it shows the rock coming down both sides of my rear year and around the lawn.

 

[Miss the Pontiacs]

A number of years back we did the front yard in paving stone. Took out all the grass, left in the shrubs in place. Raised stone flower beds, curved stone walk ways, even a fountain. Driveway has a circle pattern that continues outward. Looks great, many have mentioned that it is the nicest yard on the Crescent.
No mowing, fertilizing or watering required. Once in awhile pull out the leaf blower for a quick clean.
Since doing the front we now have no grass in the backyard either.
Our kids are grown and on their own. When our Grandson comes we head to the park a block away. Generally he is content driving one of his tractor, trucks in the back yard
Backyard consists of a detached garage with a flagstone paving stone and grey rock over a good quality landscape material on the remaining side yard. Along perimeter of fence is flower beds.
I gave away the mower and enjoy my time in other ways besides caring for ****** grass.
Snow removal has increased however as I like my access to back garage cleared for the full flagstone area but that really isn’t necessary. A walkway would be sufficient to back garage.

 

[racecougar]

A different suggestion: solarize the grass and sow the area with native forbs, grasses, and sedges. No need to water, mow, etc.

A few examples from my place:

 

[zendriver]

I wouldn’t wish a river rock lawn onto my worst enemy (well, I might)

I have literally tons of it on my property. It’s a **** magnet for twigs leaves and seeds. It doesn’t allow for rain runoff very well and it seems to just end up everywhere. I don’t want it to go. Weeds and grasses sprout up in willy-nilly. The roots are right in the stones.

Plus, it’s a slip hazard when it’s wet or icy it’s really not low maintenance at all. Miss you wanted to look like ****.

I guess you could say I don’t like it very well. I might give every last bit of it to the OP if you promise to take every last rock.

Have you considered a Plan B?

 

[Kuma601]

I have pea stones at various places around our yard with a heavy duty weed fabric. The stuff that is blown in is easy to pull out. The stuff that grows from under it and up is a different story. The St. Augustine has grown under the concrete and started coming up across the concrete pathway. That stuff and similar weeds are brutal as it tears the fabric and allows it to grow larger and larger. The old sections of gravel that fabric is torn that it needs to be replaced now.

The flagstones that the neighbors have is flush with their lawn so they mowed over them. No trimming so they find their application easy. Stepping stones are another option. FIL used some 18x18" in his yard as well as rounds. Heavy suckers though.

 

[engineer2]

I gave up on trying to grow grass around my shed. It was mostly dirt. I had a landscaper put down river rock. Yes, it is a pain to keep clean. Leaf blower, then raking, followed by a leaf vacuum works OK. After 3 years enough dirt has accumulated to sprout the occasional weed. I think I'm going to put knee pads on and clean by hand. If it was level and treeless, I would have done paver bricks. Maybe I still will someday.

 

[HamAndEggs]

On the native plant front, I already removed 800sqft of grass to a native Texas seed mix

 

[CraigStu]

OP thanks for this thread. We have **** soil and therefore **** grass. I don't care enough to spend $1000s on topsoil, seed, and fertilizer so have been thinking similar to you. I never thought about heat from stone so I think maybe mulch and light color pavers or 18x18s may be the answer.

 

[HamAndEggs]

OP thanks for this thread. We have **** soil and therefore **** grass. I don't care enough to spend $1000s on topsoil, seed, and fertilizer so have been thinking similar to you. I never thought about heat from stone so I think maybe mulch and light color pavers or 18x18s may be the answer.

My soil was TERRIBLE. All clay, and a big mess. It was just fill dirt from when they removed the pool

 

[Packard V8]

As has been mentioned, it doesn't matter what is placed under the rock. Eventually, enough dirt and detritus blows in on top of it and sifts through to lay on top of the underlayment. Then, five or ten years later, weeds are thicker than ever.

jack vines

 

[mikedodge]

We have river rock in areas along our house around ac units etc. There is landscaping sheets under it. Weeds aren't to bad and easily controlled if you stay on top of it. It's far easier to maintain then the flagstone and brick walk ways we have around. Not sure I'd put it around trees but it would work in other areas.

 

[zendriver]

I'd go native, before I'd add the devil's ground cover, river rock.

The native examples here, looks real nice.