DIY Pathway puts your landscape on the right path

With this easy and inexpensive gravel driveway, you can create more foot traffic in your backyard and protect your lawn from foot traffic.

Another home improvement project, another surprise. It seems like there’s a surprise waiting for us in every nook and cranny, under the boards and behind the walls, in the small mechanic in the upstairs home we share.

After converting overhead power to underground power on our most recent project, we experienced something unexpected. In the center of the backyard was a 75-foot-long expanse of bare earth. What’s a budget-conscious DIYer couple to do? Of course, try turning lemons into landscaping aid.

We created a budget-friendly winding pea gravel driveway to add visual interest and landscaping detail to a dull yard. Even if you don’t have any dirt, you can add a path like this to your yard for about $100.

Materials (price varies depending on length)

✓ Shovel
✓ Rake
✓ Modulation tool
✓ Lawn edge
✓ Lawn stakes
✓ Landscaping fabric and pins
✓ Pea gravel

Start by planning your route. We used a grass edging, but you could also use a flexible garden hose. We kept the path about 3 feet wide to allow for landscaping fabric and plenty of room to move. Once you have the desired layout, you can mark each side. Spray paint or chalk powder work well for this.

Next, remove the sod between the guidelines. If you want to reuse sod clippings elsewhere in your yard, rent a lawn cutter. Then, follow the outline and dig a 6-inch trench on either side of the path.

Place a lawn edging inside the trench. If you’re using a plastic border like we did, place the curved “V” on the bottom facing inward toward the path. Remember to insert lawn edging stakes through the trim at a 40-degree angle every 4 to 6 feet to keep the edge in place and keep the serpentine shape intact.

Don’t like the black plastic trim? Additional colors are available. Decorative options include bamboo, wrought iron and natural wood.

Dig a trench, place the turf edge in place, and then backfill soil around the edge. Level everything and compact it with a tamper tool.

The exterior soil should be near the top of the lawn edge and the interior soil about 1 inch below. The outer depth helps prevent the edges from clipping while mowing, while the inner depth provides a solid foundation and significant coverage for the landscape fabric.

A 1-inch layer of pea gravel worked well for us, but we recommend choosing a deeper depth in terms of covering the landscape fabric and providing a layer sturdy enough to move around. Check with your local garden supply center or hardware store that sells rocks for help with the specific depth of each layer. A sublayer of varying sizes of rock or sand may be needed to aid stability.

Next, spread out the landscaping fabric and lay down the gravel. We worked step by step, unrolling the fabric, unrolling the stone, and spreading the fabric to prevent it from blowing out of place. Landscaping fabric pins keep the fabric secure beneath a rock foundation.

The fabric doesn’t exactly follow the path, but it provides a great barrier against weeds as well as preventing the gravel bed from sinking into the ground. You can layer the fabric to create a complete barrier from side to side.

After laying the gravel, level the path and compact the gravel with a tamper tool. If settling occurs, add more rock to the passage.

Finally, spray the walkway with a garden hose to wash away the layer of dirt that has accumulated along with the pea gravel. Water will also help with settlement. Now take a step back and admire your hard work.

For a more natural look, add paving bricks or river stones along the edges to create a more finished look.

Grass seed was sown on bare ground because electrical work was more likely to damage the grass.

Other great options are ground covers and perennial flowering plants along the edges to help hide the plastic lawn edge.

As a finishing touch, add solar-powered walkway lights along your path.

We enjoyed this route for three weeks and held up quite well to the rainy and windy coastal weather. With a little maintenance, such as raking away debris and removing weeds, you can keep it looking good for years to come.