Before you can devote yourself to imaginative design in the gravel bed, the focus is on sober facts. Primarily, the structure has to be right so that the gardener's dream of magnificent plants without annoying weeds becomes reality. This guide will familiarize you with the ideal structure of a gravel bed.
How is a gravel bed constructed correctly?
The optimal structure of a gravel bed consists of a 15-20 cm high, water-permeable substructure, with weed fleece or pond liner on top, followed by at least 10 cm of decorative gravel and a border. This structure allows for a diverse selection of plants and the avoidance of weeds.
A gravel bed is made up of these elements - structure at a glance
The perfect gravel bed is made up of different layers, each layer of which fulfills an important function. Before you start setting up, dig the soil at the intended location to a depth of 20 to 30 cm and remove all old roots. In this pit there is enough space for the following layers to come together to form the following structure:
- Water-permeable substructure with a layer height of 15 to 20 cm
- Weed fleece or pond liner
- Decorative gravel with a layer height of at least 10 cm
- Border
This structure makes it possible to create beds with gravel in dry-sandy to loamy-moist locations. The selection of plants that you can plant proves to be very diverse.
Gravel bed elements in detail – tips about quality
The plants will later take root in the water-permeable substructure. At this point, mix a third or half of the topsoil with coarse gravel with a grain size of 16/32. The weed fleece (€19.00 at Amazon) should be of the highest quality so that it does its job reliably for many years. Choose a thickness of at least 125 g/m². Alternatively, 1 mm thick pond liner acts as an effective prevention against rampant weeds in the gravel bed.
An imaginative design of the border is only limited by the budget. The options range from inexpensive lawn edging to modern metal rails to deep edging made of natural stone. The demarcation is achieved tastefully if the selected material for the path or terrace border is repeated at this point.
Tip
Gravel beds are one of the main components when you create a Japanese garden. The successful combination of gravel, evergreen conifers, Japanese maple and stone decorative elements creates an authentic Asian flair in all small and large garden areas.
