How do you keep the gravel off the grass?

[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.