Pebble powder for plants. Decorative colored gravel

1. We create themed flower beds, emblems and logos using the “stone carpet” technology (stone + binder = many years of operation).

2. Using the same technology, we install floor coverings in the premises.

And also in the field of memorial arrangement.

3. We enhance the aesthetic appearance and value of your suburban property with a flexible concrete landscape border. The curb is laid directly on the spot along any given trajectory.

1. Decorative colored gravel

With a quality guarantee for color fastness and integrity of the LC coating for 3 years and an actual service life of more than 6 years. That is how much time we are engaged in its production and monitor the very first completed object. (fractions 2 - 4 mm, 5 - 10 mm, 5 - 20 mm)

2. Natural stone chips for "stone carpet" coatings.

We sift, we wash, we calcinate, we pack, we send. In general, we carry out all the necessary preparatory work with the material for its subsequent use when laying "stone carpet" coatings without any hassle.

1. Garden plastic border "Geoboard".

Serves to separate different types of landscape coverings.

Attention. Unlike analogues, which are widely known in the Russian market, our curb is produced in Europe. The curb itself, as well as its end locks and ears, have extremely high elasticity and DO NOT BREAK from the word at all.

2. One-component binder for laying "stone carpet" coatings

Service "Remote project master" We will do all the preparatory work for you. What does it mean?

We will prepare preliminary sketches for your customer.

We will calculate all the necessary materials depending on the color palette of the composition with an error of up to 3%. This is extremely important when the material is ordered from far away and can save tens of thousands of rubles.

Let's draw layouts with 100% correspondence to the drawing from those. tasks. With their help, you will hand over the object with 100% compliance.

We will provide detailed video instructions for each of the stages of work and provide remote control of their implementation.

If necessary, it is possible to travel to your facility.

A new trend in landscape design is decorative backfilling. If you see such an interesting design solution, you will definitely want to do something similar in your garden.

This service is offered by many companies. But that doesn't mean you can't make your own decorative backfill. And we, in turn, will try to reveal the most pressing issues in this topic.

Decorative dumping - a new trend in landscape design

Decorative backfill - these are materials that have a loose structure and are used for soil mulching. As for the dimensions, fractions and other physical properties of the material, everything here depends on your desire. The most commonly used are:

• stone chips (in particular, marble and granite),
• pebbles (large and small),
• sand,
• shells,
• glass and plastic "balls",
• bark, shredded wood, etc.

The purpose of decorative dumping can be very different: from mulching the soil around trees to decorating garden paths or flower beds (rose gardens, rock gardens). Decorative backfilling can be applied both in creating a pond and a “dry landscape” (Japanese-style design). With its help, you can even "paint" a picture. One “but” - this will require some perseverance and a sense of beauty from you.

Decorative dumping is useful not only for its aesthetic, but also for practical properties. Thanks to it, the frequency of weeding flower beds or garden paths will decrease. As for cultivated plants, they receive undeniable benefits from decorative dumping, especially in hot summers, because it reduces the level of evaporation of moisture from the ground. In addition, due to backfilling, the amplitude of soil surface temperature fluctuations per day decreases. Consequently, the energy costs of plants to overcome the stress associated with temperature fluctuations are reduced. This means that the plant blooms better and brighter or performs other decorative functions.

Types of decorative filling. Their pros and cons

Depending on the origin of the materials used for backfilling, it is divided into two types:

• organic,
• inorganic.

Each dump has its own advantages and disadvantages, so when choosing, you need to carefully weigh and think through everything.

organic dumping

The most popular organic decorative fills include pine bark and cedar husks. Of course, it is almost impossible to create material for dumping on your own. This requires special machines and units. But to buy it and use it in the landscape design of the cottage will not be a huge deal.

The main advantages of such materials are:

As for the disadvantages of this type of decorative filling, they are:

• fragility. The lower balls of backfill (if they are adjacent directly to the ground, not separated from it by a film or other waterproofing material) are prone to decay, acidifying the soil. Therefore, it is necessary to carefully monitor the state of such filling in order to prevent its complete decay.
• ease. Well-dried wood is easily carried by the wind. Therefore, it is useful, along the edges of the territory with decorative backfilling, to make a finish of stones or other material that holds it back in windy weather.

The combination of these properties contributes to the fact that organic decorative filling must be poured from time to time. Thus, its constant quantity and quality is maintained.

Inorganic dumping

Inorganic decorative filling is more often used in landscape design. As the name implies, these are materials of inorganic origin. They, in turn, are subdivided into

Natural - these are materials obtained by man from the environment without their chemical processing. These include:

• crushed stone - material obtained by mechanical grinding of stone. For this, different rocks are used - marble, granite, slate, quartzite. Due to this, crushed stone has a different structure and color scheme, which is convenient when creating multi-colored decorative filling;
• sand is a material that is characterized by a fine fraction. It is used as natural washed river or sea sand, and obtained by grinding marble, granite, expanded clay, shells, etc.;
• decorative gravel - small stones of various shapes, which are used mainly for decorating central paths (for example, the entrance to a summer cottage);
• pebbles - round smooth small pebbles. They are of river or sea origin. Especially appreciated is the sea pebbles. It is used both by itself and in combination with artificial materials.

The advantages of these materials is their durability, as well as the preservation of the decorative appearance and properties for quite a long time.

In addition, they require less maintenance than organic backfilling: weeds fall out more easily, and the material itself does not rot.

The main disadvantage is the difficulty in autumn cleaning. After all, if you have a gravel path under bushes with small leaves, then over time a lot of leaves will pour in there.

Artificial decorative inorganic dumping is a variety of colored and plastic "pebbles". A person receives them thanks to the chemical industry. This backfill comes in all colors of the rainbow, making it especially useful for creating contrasting landscapes. Artificial backfill also needs to be covered on some kind of base - film, geotextile or something similar. This will make it easier to care for her.

The pros and cons of artificial filling are similar to those of natural. It should be added only that it costs a little more. But this is covered with decorative properties.

Laying decorative backfill and how to care for it

Before filling the area with backfill, you need to create a plan for its placement. After all, planning will help determine exactly how much material you need. For example: for 1 m2 of area, about 25 kg of wood will be required, while gravel - more than 50 kg. The reason is in the different fractionation and structural features of the materials.

On the plan, you also need to mark out different types of dumping, colors, boundaries of its location and other little things.

After all, you cannot keep everything in your memory, and, as they say, what is written with a pen cannot be cut down with an ax.

In the case of using inorganic backfill, you need to select the material for it. Geotextile is the best. It has all the necessary properties that help preserve the decorative properties of the backfill, as well as its quality. Ordinary film is also suitable for use. Only you need to choose with a thickness of at least 0.7 cm. After purchase, the film must be perforated. Excess water will drain through the holes. This will ensure a longer life for your backfill. As for organic backfill, it does not require any additional backing. Such filling itself acts as a fertilizer for plants after decay.

• Creation of markings on the territory of the site. It will help you to make the filling as perfect as possible;
• Clearing the area from debris and weeds;
• Removal of sod in the territory of the future dumping;
• Laying a lining for backfilling (if inorganic is used);
• If planting is planned together with backfilling, at this stage it is necessary to make the necessary holes in the lining and plant plants in them.
• Backfilling the lining surface with a layer of 5 to 10 cm.

As for the care of the backfill, it includes the following procedures:

Decorative dumping is an innovative, but very interesting solution in landscape design. It allows you to "revive" the territory of the site even in cloudy autumn and early spring.

A video about creating decorative backfill will help you become more familiar with its principles and methods of creation.

The presence of free space on the site is an excellent reason to diversify the landscape, supplementing it with an unusual flowerbed of crushed stone or gravel. Such a flower garden will not cause problems in the care process and will become an effective element of decor, it can be arranged exactly the way you want, thanks to the convenience of the source material. A do-it-yourself gravel flower bed is a great option even for inexperienced gardeners. Everyone will be able to create a real work of landscape art, showing imagination.

What is a gravel bed

A gravel flower garden is a piece of land of small or medium size, the space of which, with the exception of the place for planting plants, is completely covered with rubble. The selection of plants for such a flower bed depends on the overall design of the garden, but most often gardeners choose perennials of an evergreen or decorative deciduous type. Herbaceous annuals are used much less frequently, since with them the flower bed will quickly lose the desired decorative effect.

Important! Gravel is able to reduce the evaporation of water from the soil and can reduce the frequency of watering plants, in the summer it prevents the soil from heating up, and in the winter it protects from frost. This versatile material also limits the growth of weeds.

Flowers in flowerpots will also look beautiful if you include them in the composition of a gravel bed. Pots can be dug into the soil and sprinkled with the smallest stones, or simply set securely on the surface of the gravel fill. One of the main advantages of such a gravel flower bed with your own hands is the ability to change the location of flowerpots at your discretion and at any time. A huge number of flowerbed design options based on crushed stone allows you to create a flower garden of any type.

Advantages and disadvantages of flower beds with rubble

Flowerbeds made of coarse gravel or small gravel look original and interesting, this is the best option for those who want to diversify the design of their site. For such flower beds, both large and small stones are used, depending on the location of the flower bed and the type of landscape. To make the flower garden look more interesting, it is better to use decorative gravel of various sizes and combine it as you wish. A large number of advantages makes such flower beds more popular among gardeners looking for non-standard design solutions for their plots:

• does not require serious care due to the absence of weeds, because they are based on a backfill of stones;
• flower beds can be planted anywhere in the territory, in the shade or in the sun, on a sloping surface or plain;
• can be of any size, shape or decor;
• allow watering and fertilizing plantings much less often;
• give the garden a well-groomed appearance, are an original element of the landscape.

An additional bonus is the low price of the material and its environmental friendliness, it protects the root system of planted plants by blocking air exchange. Gravel finishes are easy to create and work well with other materials such as wood, moss or metal.

Of the minuses of filling the flower bed with gravel, it is worth noting the problems during harvesting in the fall, when it needs to be cleaned of fallen leaves.

How to make a gravel bed

To make a flower bed with rubble with your own hands in a country house or a plot of a house, it is important to choose a place to place it. Depending on its size, you can determine the exact amount of materials. First of all, you need to choose the main material - crushed stone of various fractions and shades, depending on the design of the flower garden. For work, you will also need to purchase a special mulch canvas with fasteners, a weed membrane and containers for planting.

Soil preparation

First of all, you need to choose a suitable area where gravel flower beds will be located, and determine its boundaries using pegs with a stretched rope. On the site, the top layer of earth with a depth of at least 20 cm should be removed, its surface should be leveled. The place must be completely cleared of weeds along with the roots. In order not to miss those weeds that have not yet sprouted, the earth must be watered and left for up to a week until sprouts appear, then remove them.

Important! Decorating flower beds with gravel is not only beautiful, but also profitable. The garden always looks well-groomed with them, and the plants are reliably protected from weeds and other adverse factors under a layer of gravel.

After harvesting the weeds and preparing the land, the site is dug up, adding expanded clay or coarse sand in the process. Next, the earth is compacted with a garden roller and covered with the first layer of mulch cloth, which will prevent subsidence of gravel and the growth of perennial weeds. When the area is completely covered with fabric, it will be necessary to make holes in it every 3 square meters. m. to remove excess water. In the process of decorating a flower bed with gravel, such measures will help create a perfectly even layer.

Preparing a site for planting

To prepare the site, you will need to make holes for planting in the geotextile material, having previously determined how many plants you plan to grow in the flower garden. The holes must match the dimensions of the planting containers. In each of them you need to dig a small hole, fill it with earth and plant a plant. Soft containers are ideal for gravel beds, they protect the roots of flowers and shrubs, and also reliably separate a layer of solid or colored gravel for beds from the planting site.

Advice! Small conifers, palm plants, azaleas, yuccas, maples, hydrangeas and ornamental grasses are best combined with gravel. They can be advantageously combined, forming interesting compositions.

You can also plant plants after decorating the flower beds with gravel, for this you need to remove excess gravel in places for planting. Then make holes in the mulch sheet, bend its edges down and make a hole in the soil for the seedling. After that, plants are planted in the prepared holes, sprinkled with a layer of earth and watered after the distribution of the excavated gravel.

How to fill a flower bed with rubble

To properly lay decorative gravel in a flower bed, you need to prepare the soil and level its surface. Next, the gravel is evenly distributed on the site, making sure that its first layer is at least 3 cm. A thinner layer will provoke the growth of weeds due to the presence of crushed stone gaps with the soil. It is better to make the layer thicker so that the weeds do not interfere with the plants in the future flower bed. Plant types also need to be taken into account, for example, a thick gravel layer is better suited for rhododendrons and azaleas.

The function of the first layer is to drain rainwater and drainage. A second sheet of geotextile is laid on it, designed to separate the main and decorative layers of crushed stone. The final stage is the backfilling of the decorative layer, with which the geotextile is masked, it must be completely hidden under plain or colored gravel for flower beds. At this stage, the composition of the flower garden is also formed, taking into account the pre-designed pattern design.

How to paint crushed stone for a flower bed with your own hands

Ordinary rubble can be turned into decorative by painting it in different colors depending on the design of the flower garden. The technology for coloring crushed stone for a flower bed is not difficult; when choosing high-quality dyes, the stones retain their original color for a long time. For them, a special aerosol enamel in cylinders is suitable, as well as acrylic or alkyd-type paints.

The process consists of several stages:

1. Selected stones must be thoroughly washed.
2. Paint each stone on one side and the other in the desired color, waiting for the paint to dry.
3. The paint is applied in a thin layer, if in the end the color is not too bright, the process can be repeated.

The method with coloring each stone is suitable for processing a small amount. When there is a lot of gravel, it is poured into a large container and the paint is poured on top, carefully mixing the stones. For these purposes, a concrete mixer is well suited. Flowerbeds with white gravel look no less impressive, but often site owners prefer a more original decor.

What plants to plant in a gravel bed

The versatility of a gravel bed allows for the use of many different types of plants. When choosing them, it is necessary to take into account the overall design of the landscape and the selected decor of the flower bed. Lot owners can make a gravel bed without grass or use coniferous plants. On light gravel, cypress trees, boxwood, yucca, yews and Rogers look especially beautiful.

Shrubs with bright and variegated foliage will also look spectacular, for example, Fortune's spindle tree, hydrangeas, Thunberg's barberry and others.

There are many types of plants that can be used in the composition, for example, a gravel bed with conifers is considered the most popular option. It is easier to remember which ones are better not to choose, these are fast-growing plantings and plants that require frequent transplants.

Photo ideas of flower beds with decorative gravel (gravel)

The number of ideas for decorating flower beds with rubble is limited only by the imagination of the site owner. Below are the most interesting and non-standard gravel beds with photos, which are easy to do step by step with your own hands using colored or plain gravel.

Conclusion

Making a flower bed with colored gravel, as shown in the examples in the photo above, is not as difficult as it might seem at first glance. This is a popular and environmentally friendly idea that many owners of summer cottages and house plots have long been using with pleasure. A beautiful flower bed made of crushed stone with your own hands will delight you with its appearance for a long time, and will also become a wonderful decoration of the landscape, if you arrange it correctly and tastefully.

We meet each new summer season with new ideas and new plans. And at the same time we want to get the maximum result with a minimum of opportunities. For example, on the territory of a summer cottage, a flower bed is an indispensable decoration. And we take up the work with zeal and desire. But what about weeds? There is a solution - these are gravel flower beds that combine bright flowers and multi-colored (or plain) decorative gravel around them. In addition, our flower bed can be of any shape and color!

Advantages of the new material

Pebbles are formed during the decomposition of rocks, and run in water (sea, river, stream). Round stones contain impurities, on which their strength depends. They are crushed industrially and the sizes are selected depending on the purpose of application: decorative or construction. Various sizes can be used, ranging from 1-3mm. and ending with 40-70mm .. Usually, for greater expressiveness, both for the flower bed and for the garden, decorative gravel of different sizes is selected. But for the path they use small stones: the smaller, the more convenient it is to walk on them.

• This is a cheap and environmentally friendly material that has a number of indisputable advantages:
• Closing the soil layer, it does not interfere with air exchange, so the root system does not suffer.
• Rubble is beautiful and looks good in any weather.
• Does not require special skill in application.
• You can decorate any unsightly part of the garden or flower garden.
• Good in compositions, for example, with moss, glass, metal, wood.

We try to keep up with the times, using new, unusual forms of garden design. The use of crushed stone and gravel in landscape architecture is becoming more and more popular.

How to use decorative gravel?

There are no problem areas in the garden now: empty and useless, swampy, shaded. We close them with rubble, and not necessarily the same size, you can add medium and large stones. And small colored gravel will give an unusual look to the paths branching among the trees in the garden. Here you need a layer of 5-8 cm.

Without it, it is impossible to create an alpine slide. Without stones and gravel, the hill will “lose” its external color and will look uninteresting. And the closed space between the plants makes the slide an element close to natural conditions. The bottom of the decorative pond, decorated with blue gravel, will give it a special, slightly fabulous look. You can bring large boulders that will protrude from the water.

If you want to create a Japanese style garden, no problem. Stone is an important part of Japanese design. There are "gardens of the void", completely lined with stone. Large stones are scattered without a special system, depicting islands and mountains, and the ground is covered with small gravel. The "rock garden" also needs care, but it is special.

Colored natural stone is indispensable in complex landscape compositions, and, of course, in flower beds. Here it is laid out in a layer of 2-4 cm. Decorative gravel does not require constant care, and the space filled with it remains clean and looks aesthetically pleasing. In addition, dyes do not lose their juiciness and brightness for a long time, they are harmless to the environment and its inhabitants. Therefore, after cleaning it, the site can be used by planting any plants on it.

Crushed stone can be painted by yourself

You can choose the color you are interested in. Acrylic and alkyd paints, paint spray enamel in a can are used.

• First, the stones must be washed well.
• Paint on one side and wait for complete drying.
• Paint on the other side and also wait until the paint dries.
• You do not need to apply a thick layer of paint, but if the rubble is not bright, then the process will have to be repeated.

This method is suitable for painting a small number of stones. If you need to paint a lot of pebbles, then you need to pour it into a large container, and pour the paint on top and mix it properly (you can use a concrete mixer for this purpose).

Decorating with streamlined pebbles

Of course, rubble in a flower bed looks unusual, but why not try streamlined pebbles? Then we need a large container, cement and paint. We do everything in stages:

• Pour a third of the rubble into the container, add paint, mix thoroughly.
• Then pour water into the rubble, twice as much in volume as paint.
• Add cement (determine the amount yourself), mix everything. Then pour out the remaining pebbles and mix everything again.
• Stones completely stained with cement are laid on a mesh or polyethylene until completely dry. When the process is completed, it can be seen that the stones have become more streamlined and well painted over. You can use them in the same way as decorative gravel.

Creating a flower bed using crushed stone (complicated version)

Let's try to create a new generation flower bed using modern technologies. In our work, we will need 2 types of geotextile mulching fabric, devices for fixing it, a special membrane from weeds, containers for planting flowers, decorative crushed stone of various colors and sizes.

We must prepare a place for a flower bed: give it the desired shape, build a fence, making a margin for height. It depends on the gravel layers and the height of the landing containers. Then you need to lay out the first layer of the canvas as a protection against the remaining weeds and their seeds. It is cut and laid as a continuous coating or overlapped (up to 10 cm), fixed with needle decomposable clamps. When fixing the canvas at the fence, metal clamps are used.

Holes are cut out in the coating and recesses are dug for soft containers of the required shape. Subsequently, they are filled with soil and plants are planted in them. They will separate the vegetation zone from the gravel layer and protect the roots from pests. You can begin to fill up the first layer of gravel, the thickness of which is 2/3 of the thickness of the fence. Its main role is drainage and drainage of rainwater. If a flower bed is planned at the foundation of the house, then a gravel groove is created to drain water.

The second layer of garden geotextile will serve as a filter between the gravel layer below and the decorative rubble on top. A decorative layer of rubble is poured on it. It is desirable to wash both gravel and crushed stone. Geotextiles should not be visible, so we use crushed stone of different colors and sizes. Everything is ready: you can fantasize and create your own unique drawing of the composition.

Creating a flower bed with crushed stone (simple option)

This method is simple and does not require special skills. All you need is free time and a desire to experiment. The flower bed is already ready and a variety of flowers or flower arrangements grow on it. It is necessary to remove weeds, take a bedding of crushed stone of a certain or neutral color and fill the space around the flowers. A layer of crushed stone is laid 2-3 cm. There should be no gaps in the ground. And as a final chord - the creation of a homemade border or purchased in a store.

But this method also has its downsides. Crushed stone eventually mixes with the ground and does not look so beautiful and aesthetically pleasing. Then you have to slightly renew the flower bed. At the end of the season, rubble can be collected, washed and reused the following year.

Modern garden: minimum costs and maximum decorative effect

Advantages of gardens using crushed stone and gravel:

• The area planted with plants and in need of care depends on the desire of the owners.
• Compositions and sizes are also selected individually: you can ennoble any corner of the existing site.
• You can create a garden using gravel and rubble yourself, since the creation technology is quite simple.
• To create such a garden requires a minimum of financial costs.
• Plants mulched with flower gravel will look decorative almost anywhere in the garden.
• There is no need for constant loosening and watering, which makes gardening less labor intensive.

The best for a rocky garden is an area with light sandy soil. The site is backfilled, the sod is removed in a 20 cm layer of soil, carefully digging and removing the roots and rhizomes. The site is moistened and left for 10 days for the germination of the remaining roots.

Dig up the site with the addition of baking powder, draining the soil.

The soil is compacted and covered with geotextiles. Sheets must be joined to each other. The area is covered with crushed stone 5-10 cm thick, in which holes are dug, filling them with earth and planting plants. In landscape design, stone chips, crushed stone of several colors, sea pebbles, and shells are used. In this case, select the desired color and size.

Planting plants in the flower bed and in the garden

First, a design project for plant placement is created. Shrubs are planted in the designated areas. When they take root, you can plant carpet plants and perennials. Daylilies are best planted in clusters. Single landings do not look so advantageous, they lie down from rain and wind. At the end, seeds of annual and biennial crops are sown, which are subsequently renewed by self-sowing. Annuals are sown in early spring, and biennials in June, which guarantees flowering the next year.

The varieties chosen for a garden with gravel and gravel should be drought-resistant and at the same time be decorative. It is necessary to pay attention to the biological characteristics of plants, to the cycle of their development, so as not to create additional difficulties for yourself later.

Magonia holly during the year draws attention to itself with shiny dark green leaves, yellowish flowers and gray berries. Varieties of the host decorate the site with wide leaves. They may not be transplanted for several years. Irises, daylilies, ferns are also unpretentious. Plants with silvery leaves look beautiful on rubble: gray fescue, chistets, wormwood, lavender, cineraria, carnation. Among shrubs, cotoneaster and gorse are more often grown, among cereals - blue fescue.

The uniqueness of the new material

Despite the simplicity and availability of decorative gravel, any flower bed will become unusual and a little fantastic if the flowers are surrounded by light gravel. It is this background that emphasizes different colors. Colors may be different, there is always the opportunity to experiment. Flowerbeds, paths, garden paths will be practical and original. Rubble next to the pool and fountain - and you are on the beach. Decorative crushed stone allows the designer to implement the most daring projects that can be admired again and again.

If you are still wondering whether it is worth trying to create a flower bed using decorative gravel, then think about which is better:

• Weeding all season long.
• See withering plants that, without mulching material, need frequent watering.
• Constantly spent extra on organic fertilizers and seeds, or just pour a bucket of rubble.

Think and create your own unique flower plot using decorative gravel.

The use of dumps in the landscape - organic mulch, chipped or rounded small stones, sand, etc. - literally transforms the backyard. They can be used very widely - from paving paths and patios to decorating flower beds. Where accuracy is especially in demand, they cannot be dispensed with.

Mulching (namely, this is the name of the use of dumping of any kind) has a long history, its own traditions and laws. Every gardener knows about the beneficial properties of mulch: it helps to almost completely exterminate weeds; protects the soil from night frosts in the spring and autumn and from deep freezing in winter (for example, in places covered with nutshells it will be 10-15 cm, and in uncovered places - 20-25 cm or more); prevents overheating, drying and caking of the surface layers of the earth. In addition, some dumping can serve as a source of necessary substances for the soil (for example, needles can, where necessary, increase its acidity), create a barrier for pests and stimulate the reproduction of beneficial microorganisms.

The principles of using dumps change significantly over time. Their transformation is spurred both by the emergence of innovative materials and the birth of new styles. And if, say, in formal gardens (French, Italian, Moorish styles) they diligently sought to get rid of weeds by mulching large areas, then in naturgarden gardens, on the contrary, they welcome the invasion of wild plants and use dumping in a completely different context and in limited quantities - for example , to bring color to the garden palette.

All mulching materials are divided into organic and inorganic.

Colored decorative dumping is an invariable attribute of the design of alpine slides, rockeries, "dry streams" in Japanese gardens. With the help of bulk stone "mosaics", ornaments and panels, you can exclusively decorate the area of ​​​​fountains, water cascades, the banks of miniature artificial ponds

organic dumps

These include widely used wood chips and bark, fallen needles, cones, pine nut shells, forest and marsh moss. Peat, hay, straw and rotted leaves are also included here, but the difference is that they are no longer used for decorative purposes, but purely for pine nut shell benefits of the cause - as a fertilizer that simultaneously retains moisture in the soil and eliminates the growth of weeds.

Organic dumping is a real find for those who want to save money while creating a beautiful and well-groomed garden. Okorje, technological chips, peat, shells, sphagnum - all these materials are either inexpensive in themselves, or are industrial waste from various industries, which also makes them quite cheap. And coniferous litter, spruce, pine or cedar cones, if possible, are generally easy to pick up on your own while walking through the forest, and in any quantities.

Perhaps the most popular variant of mulch - bark of Siberian pine and larch, so to speak, a by-product of woodworking enterprises. In the process of harvesting, the material is exposed to high-temperature effects, due to which it does not contain pests, microbes, and foreign impurities. It is especially good to use the bark for filling all conifers, heathers, rhododendrons, ferns. The bark rots for a long time and may not lose its decorative properties for two to three years. Sometimes it is dyed using only natural pigments.

Getting chips for dumping

Chips (sawdust, shavings) obtained from the trunks and stumps of trees. Like the bark, it can be dyed with organic dyes (yellow to black in color), although it is quite decorative on its own. This is an environmentally friendly material, most often made from hardwood. If you have a vegetable waste shredder in your arsenal of gardening equipment, then you can make your own mulch chips from tree branches cut when thinning crowns.

Mulch from bark and wood chips is poured with a layer of 5-10 cm around the plants, leaving a small distance to the stems free for air circulation. Weeds must first be removed and the soil loosened. If a geotextile layer will be used, then you need to remove the sod, select the top layer of soil (to a depth of 10 cm for flower beds, 20-25 cm for trees and 15-20 cm for shrubs) and put complex fertilizers into the loose soil of the bottom. Then the site is leveled, lightly tamped, geotextiles are laid and mulch is laid. It is recommended to install a low but solid border along the border of the backfill - so it will not spread beyond the trunk circle or mixborder and gradually litter the lawn.

If the site is sunny, the layer of mulch can be quite thick, but in those places where the shadow is always preserved, it is better to make the filling thinner - otherwise water will stagnate under it for a long time and the roots of the plants will begin to rot

Pine nut shell

Excellent mulch is obtained from shells of pine nuts. Such filling promotes the development of beneficial microflora in the root system of plants, prevents soil erosion, and has good moisture and air permeability. Since the composition of the shell includes substances such as lignin, phytoncides, flavonoids, it does not rot and decompose for a long time and retains its decorative effect for five years, you only need to add a fresh portion of the material from time to time, and gently loosen the surface with a rake in spring.

In flower beds, shells cover the entire space between plants. Sod is removed under shrubs and trees (within a radius of at least 50 and 80-100 cm, respectively), the soil is dug up to a depth of 20-30 cm, compacted a little and covered with mulch with a layer of 7 to 15 cm. After that, so that it is not swept away by the wind, the shell should be spilled with water and lightly trampled.

In the spring, when cleaning the site after winter, decorative dumping should be renewed: they are slightly loosened, leveled and, if necessary, a fresh portion of the material is added. First of all, this is required by organic mulch, since in three to four years its lower layers rot, and it sags.

Decorative filling of the trunk circle

The disadvantage of the shell is that it is an excellent food for rodents, birds, which will attract them to plantings. The decorative properties of dumps of organic origin often make us forget about the caution of their use, and yet they all change the properties of soils in one way or another. For example, peat, needles, pine and especially spruce cones affect the agrochemical characteristics of the soil - as agricultural technicians say, they acidify it. Therefore, they can only be mulched with those plants that benefit from increased acidity - in particular, these are any conifers, heather, rhododendrons, hydrangea, blueberries - or use them in combination with fallen leaves, hay, ash. In addition, along with coniferous litter and cones, fungal diseases (rust, root rot, etc.) can be brought to the site, and they will easily spread from mulch to garden crops. Pre-treatment of the mulching material with fungicidal preparations will help protect against this.

From the shells, tree bark and wood chips, you can not only make decorative filling in flowerbeds, beds and near-stem circles, but also create a soft coating on recreation areas and paths in the depths of the garden. This process is not particularly laborious. It is necessary to remove 10-15 cm of the top layer of soil, compact the base well and cover it with mulch. If the soil moisture is high here, it is better to first arrange drainage in the form of a gravel cushion 5-10 cm thick, and then fill it on top of it.

Properties and approximate price of various organic dumps

inorganic deposits

The most common inorganic deposits are gravel, pebbles, crushed stone (stone chips), sand. Expanded clay, due to its unpretentious "appearance" and literal weightlessness (easily washed off with water), is used more for drainage, and not for decorative purposes, however, if you show imagination, it can contribute to creating the image of the garden.

Options for inorganic backfills

In small quantities, other inert materials may be present on the site - for example, shells, glass pebbles (artificial soil) popular in the aquarium hobby, plastic granulate, or colored (environmentally friendly paints) bottle caps. True, their use should be limited by considerations of common sense and, above all, safety: it makes sense to make such dumping in high flower beds, be sure to surround it with a fence and assign them the role of certain accents rather than a background cover.

Inorganic dumps are good because they have a long service life, are not blown up by the wind and are not washed away by rains, and do not affect the composition of the soil in any way. However, they also have their drawbacks - it is difficult to remove small debris from such coatings, and besides, they do not accumulate water. The exception here is sand, which perfectly retains moisture, thereby creating a favorable microclimate near the surface of the earth.

Sand- the most accessible material, widely used in the improvement of adjacent territories. In addition to the usual quarry, washed and sifted river sand is sold, quartz (white and tinted with safe polymer dyes in all colors of the rainbow), calcined, intended for children's playgrounds, sandboxes and creating beach areas. A quality product does not contain impurities and has a homogeneous structure with the declared particle fraction (up to 1 or up to 3 mm).

The main advantage of inorganic mulch is durability, appearance and maintenance-free

The size of the stones used as backfills varies from 2 to 70 mm.

Especially popular with buyers is river and sea pebble, but it is relatively expensive and not available everywhere. However, the modern market offers its artificial counterpart. Moreover, this is not a polymer in its pure form, but a material that also contains natural components - quartzite, marble, gypsum. A wide color palette and the ability to imitate rare, and even unprecedented in nature, rock types are achieved thanks to coloring pigments.

Unlike rounded pebbles, gravel can be both smooth, rounded shapes, and angular. Natural shades - pinkish, beige, blue - make it attractive enough to be used in landscape design. Often, gravel filling is included in a composition made from different types of stones.

Even at the design stage, it is necessary to consider: will the planned composition withstand annual climate changes? You can invest a lot of money in a high-quality project and special effects, but, for example, a normal spring flood will mix with the soil or simply wash away expensive stone fill in the coastal zone of a pond or stream. The solution in this case may be the use of a special gravel film. If you lay out the coast with such material, then in the spring all the gravel will remain in the same place, despite the sharp change in the water level.

The widest decorative potential has stone chips, which is produced from a variety of rocks - marble, granite, limestone, quartzite, solar goldite, spotty emerald serpentine, multi-colored felsite, etc. The material is obtained by crushing, so the stones have an irregular shape and sharp chips, however, subjected to mechanical polishing - tumbling, they become completely smooth. In garden plots, tumbled crumb is preferable to untreated gravel, since it will not be able to injure a child, will not injure a dog's paws, and will not puncture a bicycle tire.

One of the main functions of stone fills is covering the blind area and footpaths, and not only secondary, as in the case of organic mulch, but also lying in the front part of the garden. (For car access, it is better to lay a hard tile or concrete canvas: cars slip on a loose coating, it is difficult to clean it from snow and ice.)