Woodway is large, wooded lots and a town of 1,384 people. The canopy is the landscape. Lawns live in the gaps between old trees, the soil stays shaded and cool, and privacy is the reason people bought the property. A shady side yard that is mud and moss is often a gravel path waiting to happen. It still needs fabric and an edge, or it sinks and grows weeds in the fines.
Snohomish County · ZIP 98020 · 2020 population 1,384
Gravel where grass has already quit
We excavate the muck, not just cover it. Tree roots get worked around. A path that heaves on a root is acceptable. A path that smothers the root is not, and we keep the excavation shallow there and thicker where we can.
Leaf fall will collect. Gravel in the woods needs an occasional blow-off. We tell you that. It is still better than a lawn that will not grow.
The ground in Woodway
We are not opening these lots to the street. Pruning is about structure, light, and keeping limbs off the house, done so the screen of trees stays. Under that canopy the lawn is the hard part: moss, thin grass, and roots at the surface. Aeration helps the pockets that get some sun. The deep shade wants a different floor — bark, ferns, and the understory that is already trying to grow — not another season of seed that germinates and dies.
Hardscape, when it belongs, is a terrace or a quiet patio in a clearing, built for wet shade so it does not turn green and slick. Bark on the beds keeps the mud down and the edges readable from the house. The work should look like it was always in the trees, because it is.
How we do the work
Gravel stays put when it has a compacted base, a fabric or a separation from the clay, a slight crown or a cross slope, and an edge. A load of rock dumped on the grass is a mud pit by spring. We dig out the soft soil, build the base, and top it with the rock you actually walk and drive on.
The top rock is not the same as the base rock. Base is angular and locks. The surface might be smaller crushed rock or a cleaner gravel, depending on whether this is a drive, a dog run, or a path.
What we look at first
- Cars, foot traffic, or both
- How soft the ground is in March
- Where the water crosses the drive today
- An edge against lawn or beds so the rock does not migrate
Fabric
Separation fabric keeps clay from pumping up. It is not weed magic, and it is not a substitute for digging out the mud. We lap it and we cover it. Sun-baked fabric at the edge means the gravel was spread too thin.
Base rock and top rock
The base is larger, angular, and compacted in lifts until it stops moving under the machine. The top is smaller and thick enough to cover, not thick enough to rut into piles. One material dumped once is not a drive section.
Refresh
Gravel is maintenance. Every few years a drive needs rock added and graded back to crown. We would rather tell you that than sell a “permanent” gravel surface. Pavers are permanent. Gravel is a good, honest, recurring surface.
More from this crew
- Gravel installation across Snohomish County
- French drain installation in Woodway
- Fence installation in Woodway
- Hardscaping in Woodway
- Paver installation in Woodway
- Gravel installation in Edmonds
- Gravel installation in Mukilteo
Sources for the climate and the water
- USDA plant hardiness map for choosing plants that can take a Snohomish County winter.
- EPA WaterSense on watering less once a lawn or a new planting is established.
- EPA Soak Up the Rain on keeping roof and yard water from becoming someone else’s problem.
