The 8 Best Ways To Use Pea Gravel

February 1, 2020

The Versatility Of Pea Gravel

Pea gravel is a home landscape designer’s dream come true. It is inexpensive, looks great, feels nice underneath bare feet, and can be used in several different ways! The smooth, rounded edges of pea gravel are formed naturally by water, slowly eroding rocks into small, pea-shaped pebbles, hence the name. MJS Materials is proud to have been providing Florida residents and businesses with the highest quality pea gravel for over 30 years! We’d like to take this opportunity to share with you some of our favorite ways that you can use pea gravel around your home or business. Take advantage of this versatile material for your next project, including…

Aquariums

Who says that every gravel project has to be a huge undertaking? You can start small with a project like making your aquarium stunning with pea gravel. With a variety of colors to choose from, you can make your aquarium fit your style. You can also use pea gravel for small water features around your landscapes. This is a nice way to get your feet wet with pea gravel (pun intended.)

Garden Landscaping

Pea gravel can be an excellent accent to your garden design. You can create a border around your garden using pea gravel that both looks great and serves a practical, functional purpose — gravel is excellent for controlling the flow of water. Standing water can flood your garden, but having a protective border of pea gravel helps to drain water faster, preventing water, muddy pools from forming. Gravel can also be effective for controlling your weed population, making it more difficult for them to grow out of control. You may also consider featuring something of a conversation starter in your yard design, like a Zen garden. These gardens help promote a sense of peace and interactivity with your garden design. They can be both relaxing to look at and enjoyable to use!

Driveways

Using pea gravel for your driveway material, or as a border to your driveway, can be a lifesaver in wet climates like Florida. Similarly to what we mentioned with garden design, pea gravel allows for better drainage of water into the ground, reducing the headache of having to navigate around big mud puddles or standing pools of water. Even if you have a concrete driveway, laying pea gravel as a border between the concrete and your lawn will drastically improve the way your property handles standing water. A healthy layer of 4-6” of pea gravel will make just about any driveway a mud-free zone.

Pathways

There are not many rock materials that are nice to walk on, especially barefoot, but pea gravel is the exception. The sound that pea gravel makes underfoot almost sounds like the click-clack of marbles, and can be very pleasing to people. We’ve been told by some people that walking on pea gravel can even be a therapeutic experience, like burying your feet in the sand at the beach or putting your hand in a bag of coffee beans. If you have a home with traditional architecture, a nice gravel pathway can transform your home’s exterior into something out of a storybook.

Play Areas

While many people opt for sand or mulch for playground in their yards, you may want to consider using pea gravel! The same holds true for playgrounds as it does for driveways, pathways, and gardens — pea gravel helps playgrounds stay dry! While sand gets sticky when it’s wet, and mulch can break down over time, pea gravel helps to whisk away water, and won’t get muddy after rainstorms. The National Safety Council has also approved pea gravel for use in playgrounds, confirming that it is effective at cushioning falls. Pea gravel looks great, won’t get messy, and helps your kids stay safe! That’s a triple-win.

Dog Runs

You may be seeing a pattern in regards to the practical use of pea gravel — cleanliness. How many times have you let your dog outside, only to find that their paws have gotten all muddy, and then they track all of that mud into your home? It can be frustrating. You may be able to alleviate this problem through the magic of pea gravel! Using pea gravel in Fido’s dog run reduces standing water, which reduces mud, which means less mess for you! The smooth texture is easy on paws as well. When it gets hot around here, pea gravel also stays relatively cool. Reduce pet stress by using pea gravel for your dog run.

Fountains

If you have a nice, gurgling fountain in your yard or garden, don’t settle for plain old concrete for your fountain floor. Pea gravel feels much more organic and natural than concrete, and can liven up your fountain feature. The decorative potential for gravel in your fountain is significant, and shouldn’t be overlooked!

Pool Decks

Using pea gravel to create walkways, decks and paved areas around pools can lessen the harshness of plain concrete. Pea gravel helps to give pool areas a more natural, tropical vibe, and can also be easier on the feet than concrete. Since pea gravel can also come in different shades of color, you can enhance the design of your pool areas at a minimal cost.

Let MJS Materials Be Your Pea Gravel Provider!

We sincerely hope that these ideas for using pea gravel have sparked an interest in you for beginning your own project. MJS Materials is happy to provide you with pea gravel in bulk, or just enough to do a small project! No matter how much you need, MJS has you covered. We have a large fleet of loader and hauler trucks that can deliver materials directly to your property, taking the hassle out of acquiring materials. If you have any questions about the types of pea gravel that MJS Materials carries, please do not hesitate to contact us and speak to one of our materials experts! We’ll provide you with quick, knowledgeable answers. We look forward to helping you get started on your next pea gravel project!