How do you keep the gravel off the grass?

[blackdog2086]

Right now, even though I'm not home, my thoughts are. After a conversation with the wife, (who is currently the groundskeeper) I need some ideas on how to keep my gravel driveway from migrating into my lawn.

My driveway is 3/4 of a mile long, but I only have about 400' that is bordered by lawn, so that's all I'm really concerned with. After a winter of plowing snow (which while I'm away has to be hired out) the driveway is about 3 to 4' wider, and the lawn the same amount narrower. The wife does her best to rake the gravel back where it belongs in the spring, but she finds herself hitting stones almost every mowing, which makes me cringe just thinking about my mower blades.

I tried some of the cheap plastic that you would put around trees or shrubs, but the plow guy destroyed that when he widened my driveway. I want to use something that is low enough to drive or mow over, but preferably a bit more durable than what I was using. The less visible it is, the better, but I'm not against something that shows a bit.

There's nothing I can do this year, but I should be home by late summer so I'll be able to get things ready for next year. Any thoughts or ideas are appreciated, preferably with pictures, since I'm not currently employed by NASA.

 

[oosik]

One easy solution is skid shoes on the snow blade. It won't keep all the rocks out of the lawn but it will sure cut down on them.

And for whatever reason you are over there - be safe.

 

[Scrambler82]

Maybe too simple, a 2x6 or 2x8s, above ground to your liking... a big piece of pipe with a reflector or sign, stressing limits.

If the plow driver doesn't adhere to your limits, replace driver.

if you are in the Military, thank you and keep safe and I hope you had a reasonably Merry Christmas.

 

[dave1949]

You might have the wrong type of driveway topping. It should be fine, like sand, with small stones mixed in. We use a lot of 1" minus around here (stones no larger than 1" mixed with a lot of sand). That will freeze up to a hard surface. Loose stones without the sand will not.

It's about impossible to keep all the gravel on the driveway, especially in the fall before things have frozen up hard. Sometimes the stones stick to the snow even when you keep the plow blade out of the stones--which isn't easy to do either shoes or not.

Some plow drivers do better than others for sure.

 

[Eldubya]

I use this product around my resort with great success.
Bender Board - Landscape Edging and Concrete Forming
It is very durable and WAY better than the thin black plastic crap. I have to agree with dave1949, keep the aggregate small and it won't kill your mower.

 

[Coyote machine]

Buy the tall fiberglass rod driveway markers and drive them in the ground before it freezes. I put them about two feet back from the lawn's edge and about ten feet apart. This way the driver knows how far to keep the plow from the markers and about where the grass begins. And he can push snow up to the 2' away from the marker line without knocking down the stakes.
In the spring rent a weed eater with the powerbroom paddlewheel type attachment, and pull or push the stones that are in the grass into the driveway edge and clean up the piles. The lawn will look great with the above machine having removed the stones that do end up in the grass. Trust me on this I do it every year here in VT. Shoes or not won't make any difference, and most pro plowers don't use shoes anyway.

 

[blackdog2086]

I do use the fiberglass driveway markers, so the path is pretty well marked. I'm not faulting the plow truck driver, as even when I was plowing with my tractor, I would still get some stones on the lawn. Admittedly fewer, but all I have to plow is my driveway, not several hundred, so it's easier to go a bit slower and be extra careful. Don't know if he has his plow skid shoe equipped, but going on what I normally see in my area, I doubt it.

I'm not quite sure what the paddlewheel attachment for a weed eater is, but I wouldn't be against trying it if it works.

The bender board looks great, but I'd need about 800' (both sides of driveway) and I'm guessing that might get a bit pricey. I will definitely check it out though. Thanks for all the replies.

 

[Coyote machine]

ECHO PAS Paddle Attachment-99944200620 - The Home Depot
There is a link with pictures. Read the reviews about removing gravel from lawns. You don't need to complicate things with driveway edging, that's just unnecessary expense and it will get damage by plowing. Keep it as simple as possible. Where is your stateside local?
Thanks for your and your families service/sacrifices to our country! Safe home.

 

[square1]

A rake

 

[Katahdin]

A power broom is the most effective tool I've found to get the gravel off the lawn and back onto the driveway. I rented one the first year then bought one the next, mine is a Husqvarna that takes multiple attachments. After trying one you won't go back to a hand rake.

I will add that after staking my driveway last winter, I was less aggressive with the plow and had a lot less gravel to rake.

Since you're "abroad" I suggest simply hiring a landscape company to do the power broom service this spring, it should only cost a couple hours of labor for 400' feet of lawn frontage. Your groundskeeper will thank you.

In any event, thank you for your service!

 

[Teikas Dad]

I've got a power broom with the paddle attachment linked to above. That works but it is heavy and might be too much for your wife. I had my paved driveway chipsealed a few years ago and I'm still pushing stone chips up on to the lawn when I plow. The past couple years I've just been using my gas powered leaf blower. It blows the small stones right back onto the driveway. I don't know what size gravel you're talking but if it's 3/4" or smaller a good leaf blower might do the trick for you. Multitasking with one tool always works for me.

 

[jcummins]

I've got the same issue. Half mile drive.... half blacktop the other half gravel.

Been thinking of a 3pt landscape rake. Will that work?

 

[jejeosborne]

My suggestion is to widen the driveway and the rocks are still in the drive. You just have to move them back to the center in the spring.

 

[s219]

Where is your property located, and does the ground stay frozen most of the winter? If so, the trick is to establish a plow base that protects the gravel, and you only ever plow snow down to that base, not the gravel. I can't do that where I live though, since the ground doesn't stay frozen for more than a few weeks in the peak of winter. So I just have to be careful and keep the plow edge up off the gravel a little. I plan to put a rubber edge on my blade this winter to be even less destructive to the gravel.

If the plow driver is widening the driveway by several feet with all the gravel, it sounds like his shoes are set so that the cutting edge is all the way down, and he's moving a serious amount of gravel off to the sides with the snow. Not much can be done about that unless he adjusts his shoes and habits. Probably too much to ask if this guy does lots of driveways, especially paved ones where owners probably expect him to scrape down to the surface.

Another idea is to just let the driveway get wider but still only have him plow the middle strip. Then in spring or summer, you can use a rear blade on a tractor to re-crown the driveway, by angling the blade to move gravel from sides back to center. So you will have a permanently wider driveway, but do an annual re-crowning in the spring/summer so that it doesn't keep getting wider and wider every winter. Now that I think about it, that would probably be my compromise solution.

 

[George2615]

Same problem here with a gravel (runner crush) driveway. As mentioned, it almost impossible to stop gravel from ending up on the grass from plowing. Ground still hasn't frozen and until it does gravel will get on the grass. Even with plow shoes and the blade off the driveway the weight of the plow sinks the shoes into the gravel. Come spring time I use a landscape rake for the big piles and a hand grass rake to get the smaller stuff back on the driveway.
Thank you for your service.

 

[Ford850]

Skip the edging. You are wasting your time and money since the plow will still drag gravel with the snow. The key is clean it up early in the spring before the grass starts to grow. I use a powerful leaf blower to move the gravel back to the drive, and it works great. A strong backpack style is best. Time consuming, but it's only gotta be done once a year and you can use the blower all year long for other things. The other option would be to hire a lawn care company to do it for you. That time of year they are looking for work and they already have the equipment.

 

[blackdog2086]

I'm in southeast Michigan, so winter weather wise, I can expect everything from temps near 50, to well below zero. And unfortunately, you can get those extremes within days of one another. My driveway will go from rock hard ice to mud and back to ice again in a very short period of time. all the suggestions are good, but some aren't practical in my particular situation.

I figure if I widened my driveway, which would be tough due to numerous trees, The gravel would still migrate past the new borders. Soon I'd have a driveway you could land a C-130 on. It would be much easier if I were home to take care of my own snow removal, but chances are I'll be away during plow season more often than not.

 

[Opti-Mist]

I'm in SE MI as well. If you were in my neighborhood I'd take care of it for you. Given our long term forecast it looks like the snow plowers will have a lot of time off and your gravel will mostly stay put. Thanks for being there from one who once was.

 

[bigtiller]

I don't have a leaf blower so I use my big Sears shop-vac and suck them up. I put it and a small generator in the gator and get the entire drive.

 

[PILOON]

For the plow contractor it is a no win position.
Lowering his skid shoes will solve your issue but his other clients want a black top surface.
Do not expect him to adjust his skid shoes for each and every client.
Same is with garbage bins. Do not expect the driver to dismount and displace them at every plowing.
He'll plow around them.