Maintaining a Gravel Driveway

August 19, 2022

It's always so important to keep up with the maintenance of my Bedford, New York farm - especially the four miles of carriage road that meander around my homes, gardens, horse paddocks, and through the expansive woodland.

My carriage roads are all covered with natural colored gravel. Over time, rain and traffic cause the gravel to shift or run-off a specific area. Yesterday, Pete Sherpa and Fernando Ferrari took on the task of adding a fresh top layer of gravel to the driveway outside my guest house studio. They edged, weeded, leveled, and then dropped and raked about an inch-and-a-half of new stone. The project took a few hours to complete, but it was an easy way to smooth and maintain the driveway and give it some instant curb appeal.

Enjoy these photos.

: I have four miles of gravel-covered carriage road at my farm. Gravel roads are attractive, easy to maintain, and accumulate less pollutants over time. It’s important to edge and shape the roads regularly, so they drain properly and look tidy.

: Here is a closer look at the section of road after it is edged nicely.

: The driveway in front of this guest house is a high traffic area. Because I do a lot of shoots in this outbuilding, crews often need to park here to load and unload equipment. Over time, rain and use have shifted the gravel. It was in need of some attention and maintenance.

: First, Pete used a lawn and garden edging tool to create a fresh and crisp outline for the new surface layer of gravel. He starts by the stone pavers and goes along the edge of the driveway removing any weeds or excess buildup of stone dust and gravel that have washed out of place.

: This is a razor-back half moon edger. It’s designed to cut back grass or move rocky soil that ends up over the edges of flower beds and sidewalks. The top edge also has a turned step for secure foot placement.

: Pete also cleans the edges of the catch basin and shapes the area for better drainage during storms. A catch basin, or storm drain, redirects rainwater to prevent ponding and flooding.

: This area tends to get a lot of runoff, so it is important to keep it shaped properly. The old gravel and stone dust have moved quite close to the catch basin and needs to be re-graded. Stone dust is crushed stone, which is sometimes called crusher run, rock dust, or quarry dust. Stone dust is used as a base layer or setting bed for laying stone pavers or gravel.

: The carriage road leading to the driveway was also edged.

: Here is the new gravel for the area. I like to use native washed stone in a blend of gray tones. This gravel is from Lawton Adams in nearby Somers, New York.

: The dump truck with gravel is now ready to pour onto the driveway. When maintaining a gravel road, one only needs to drop about an inch or two of fresh gravel once every two to three years.

: As Fernando drives, Pete directs the gravel to drop slowly out of the back of the truck, so it is easier to spread.

: Fernando drops a small amount and then moves up a couple of feet to drop a bit more. Doing this saves a lot of time and manual labor.

: Next, Pete uses a landscape rake to spread and level the gravel.

: This razor-back aluminum landscape rake has a wide head and teeth to level gravel quickly and smoothly. These landscape rakes are easy to find at home improvement shops and some gardening centers.

: This rake also helps to clear the area of unwanted debris.

: Pete starts at the edges of the driveway and works toward the center.

: This day was warm with little wind, so flying dust from the gravel was minimal.

: Here is the new gravel around the catch basin – it looks so much better than before.

: Another mound of gravel was dropped on the other side of the driveway. This is just an added layer of gravel for maintenance. When creating a new gravel driveway, the space should be filled with at least six to eight inches of crushed stone on top of stone dust. To calculate how much is needed for a specific driveway, multiply the width by the length by the depth in yards to find the cubic yards of gravel.