How to Make a Garden With Pebble Ground Cover

Dig in your garden bed to loosen the soil. Add in any nutrients or amendments to the soil as desired such as incorporating compost or sprinkling an all purpose fertilizer. Rake over the bed to make it level and smooth out any hills.

Spread out a sheets of black landscaping fabric lengthwise from one end of the garden area to the other. If the width of the fabric doesn't cover your bed, then cut another sheet to the same length as the first. Spread the second layer next to the first and overlap the two by six inches. Continue laying strips of landscaping fabric until the surface of your garden bed is covered.

Insert garden staples through the fabric and into the soil every 4 feet along the edge of the garden area. Add staples to the overlapped portions every 4 feet as well to secure the overlap and prevent weeds from growing between the sheets of fabric.

Arrange the placement of you plants by setting the pots they are in on top of the fabric. Move the containers around as needed until you are satisfied with the layout of the garden. Make a cut into the fabric in an X shape at the point where you want each plant to go with the X as large as the bottom of the pot you're working with.

Pull back the loose tabs in the fabric from cutting the X but do not cut them off. Dig the soil to the depth needed for your pot and plant into the hole. Firm up the soil around your planting and fold the tabs back over to close the X around the base of each plant. Repeat cutting X's and planting until the bed is complete.

Spread pebbles (2 to 3 inches deep) over the fabric. Work carefully around your plants to avoid damaging them. Add pebbles from one end of the garden area to the other to ensure an even thickness of pebbles throughout and rake over the pebbles to smooth the surface.