Thanks,
Bill

Anyone have any thoughts?

/peter

Anyway, my question was about how japanese gardens felt about leaves. In western gardens they should be cleaned away from the lawn as soon as possible

/Cheers

I once read in a Japanese gardening book that a very old man or a boy should be the one to sweep or rake the garden because neither would be too diligent and it was picturesque, having a few missed fallen leaves here and there. If kept too carefully clean of fallen leaves it could look artificial rather than natural and spoil the feel.

But again, can you rake leaves out of gravel? I've never had any gravel in the garden before, so any imformation on how to maintain it would be helpful.
Thanks,

Bill

As you mentioned, a scattering of a few leaves is lovely. But if you get leaves like I do (four mature trees drop their leaves on my garden every year), you have to remove a good many every year.

Oh, and, if you need to kill perennial weeds in your gravel, try boiling water poured on them. It works a treat on dandelions, etc. without putting toxic chemicals everywhere.

Bill

On the Oriental side, I'll be installing a meditation deck next spring. Just a quiet spot to do my yoga in the garden without being exposed to the street. I thought originally of doing a zen garden in that space, but I really do need a place outdoors to do my yoga more right now. Someday I'll have the space to have both. The pathway into that will be pebbles, as my walk out the back is. Which is why I have any clue how to maintain gravel. You HAVE to keep it cleaned out, or it will fill up with weeds in short order.

I lived in north Florida for 20 years and I know about the torrent of leaves from the oaks in spring, especially the laurel oaks. Since they are so small, thin, and light, they will pose a problem getting into the gravel areas, so a lot depends on how much time you are willing to devote to cleaning them out. I think that once a week is a good idea most of the time in which case a blower should work fine. During heavy leaf fall you're gonna have to be more aggressive about it.

Here in Japan small rakes and traditional brooms made of plant materials are used frequently, if not daily, to remove unwanted leaves, etc. A traditional garden will be very clean most of the time with bare soil in many spots, some mossy areas, and of course gravel. Yes, fallen flowers and leaves are enjoyed for short periods, but are always removed before they become a problem. A well kept garden in Japan (and anywhere really!) is high maintanence.

BTW, I would use a finer gravel, not one with a large diameter since there is less space for leaves, sticks, etc. to lodge into.

Good luck!

PF

The original rock/gravel applied by the previous homeowner was inch and a quarter and was impossible to keep clean; raking only dislodged the rocks and didn't succeed in collecting much of the tree debris--but blowing might have worked if the leaves were bigger. Debris tended to stick to the surface and decompose, so, basically there is a layer of dirt accumulating on the rocked surface.

Remodeling the driveway--
The first time around, I covered the existing paths etc. with 5/8 minus (5/8ths of an inch and smaller--to dust) gravel but, although it was an improvement, raking still dislodged quite a bit of rock and blowing was ineffective for removing the leaves which had become sodden or embedded in the surface. At the time, this was the smallest gravel available to me. Then, after much searching, I located quarter minus (also called #4 to dust) gravel which is less than 1/4th of an inch and contains fines and I put a 2 inch layer of that over the top of the existing driveway/paths. This is a much superior surface. It compacts very closely like decomposed stone. I can easily rake it clean even of the small debris--bigger leaves and sticks are MUCH easier to collect. I do lose a certain amount of gravel each time, mostly because some of the bigger rocks from underneath get caught up by the raking. Reapplication of new gravel is necessary, maybe 2-3 large wheelbarrows full per 200 sq feet of paths (OK-this is just a wild guess) and not necessary every time.

For everyone who has posted a question in this thread--
Take time to locate a "real" rockyard. The selection is vastly improved over what you may be used to seeing at HD or Lowes. I have no experience with the types of rock used in "real" Japanese gardens, but you must look for sharp gravel (preferably with fines in it) if you want a stable path. Washed or round stone like pea gravel will never really compact and will continue to feel mushy and roll around under foot.

Weeds are not a problem in the raked garden because I installed a high grade weed barrier before installing the sand.

The maintenance of a raked garden is extreme but well worth the effort. Cleaning should be done daily, but who has the time?