How Do You Get Driveway Gravel Out of Grassy Areas?

[sparky61]

I use an old Sweepster broom that I adapted to the rear PTO on my BX80. The broom was originally a front unit on an old JD 216. The broom is now 42 years old and still going strong. You have to control the height carefully other wise you can dig ruts. I am probably going to add boogie wheels to prevent "digging".

 

[veedub]

Get a backpack leaf blower!!!! You can thank me later.

I live on a gravel road in Vermont several times a winter the town pushes the banks back about 5 feet into my lawn to widen the road back up .Usually I use the old hand rake method and atleast get it knocked down to an even layer for the grass to grow through. Last year I rented both the Stihl flap broom and a backpack blower. After about a half hour of trying each I put the power broom back in my truck and used the backpack blower. It was hands down the better tool. Faster, did a better job, and easier on the body. I returned both to the rental place and bought a nice backpack blower...

 

[piercedtiger]

The long term solution - Invest in a snow blower and you'll reduce the stones on the lawn by 90%+.

Good to hear! Just invested in a front mount blower in February. (I know, horrible timing being after the 44" single day snow fall we got before Christmas!) I plowed more this winter than probably the last 6 years I've owned the tractor combined, and I cringe every time I see the gravel and chunks of sod in the lawn. Ground didn't freeze solid until late Jan/early Feb after I'd plowed multiple times. I was sick of using the plow for hours on end of back n forth chipping away layer by layer and finally bit the bullet on the blower. I was also hoping having the blower set .5" off the ground would help reduce gravel pickup on the few spots we have it. Not to mention no scraping up the lawn while pushing piles off to the side.

 

[txndncowboy]

A bored teenager in need of money and a rake.

Where do you find one that isn’t afraid of a little work? Video games or buried in their cellphone is all I see them doing here.

 

[Varmintmist]

It's that time of year again when the snow has melted leaving the gravel that was plowed off the road in the grass. This is an age old problem that normally isn't a big deal but I plowed so much this year that there is more stone in the grass than on the road in places.

Usually, I wait until it's dry, put the stone rake on and drag what I can back into the roadway. This does a fair job with the larger stuff but most of the stone 1/2" and smaller is left behind. If I get too aggressive with the rake, I tear up the grass and drag it into the road along with the stone.

For areas near the house, I use a fine bladed hand rake which does a pretty good job. I maintain 1.25 miles of gravel driveway and private road though and hand raking is out of the question. I thought about getting a power sweeper but I'm afraid it will also tear up the grass. Can anyone offer tips or tricks to ease the problem?

I set the backblade to the last hole on the turret (most angle). Change the toplink so that the cutting edge isnt aggressively digging, then run the edges. The grass grows back, and the big stone is back in the driveway. The little stone will become yard lime in 200 years or so

 

[Buggs67]

By careful plowing, and then plowing the snow bank into the driveway on warmer days I get little in the grass. And I use my Stihl backpack blower to get the stone out of the grass.

 

[EVRE]

Get tractor. Get plastic rake. Put tractor bucket with slight down tilt in front of gravel. Rake gravel into bucket. Move tractor and bucket. Repeat until no more gravel in lawn.

 

[Alabastershame]

I put the deck down real low on my riding lawnmower and blow it back into the road.

 

[MotleyCrew]

A prior owner of my place used an end loader for snow removal so there were random large piles of gravel and rock everywhere in the yard. An Echo PAS 2620 power head with a ProPaddle attachment will run you about $600 and sweeps gravel/rocks out of your yard into the driveway or road shoulder nicely (just be certain that if you have a lot to sweep, wear a shoulder strap to assist holding the weight of the unit or you'll regret it afterward as I did the first time). Works great for sweeping crabapples into piles for removal too. And if you're a "live in that manufacturer's eco-system" person, there are lots of other attachments (string trimmers, etc.) that you can purchase to use with the single power head (Stihl has the same sort of system). I use a front-mount snowblower on my SCUT and don't run it in the float position until there's some mat on the driveway. That way can avoid tossing a lot more gravel into the yard each year. Would love a power broom for the tractor but can't justify the cost and was able to remove *most* of the major gravel/rock piles from the yard the first year I used the Echo power head/ProPaddle setup.

 

[Wakey]

I've used a shop vac in the past. I have a Stihl power head, looks like I need a new attachment.

Oh wow.. I wonder if my Husky would run it..