Maintenance of a Pea Stone Driveway

Weeding

• Unlike asphalt, a pea stone driveway is often a magnet for weeds. Some weeds grow up through the driveway, while others grow after their seeds are blown through the air and land on the driveway. Regular weeding is an important maintenance task to ensure that your driveway doesn’t suffer from a shabby, overgrown look. Weed the driveway by pulling exposed weeds out with your hands and spraying any remaining roots with white vinegar.

Snow Removal

• Removing the snow covering a pea stone driveway is more difficult than clearing snow off a driveway made of asphalt. Whereas it’s easy to push a shovel or use a snowblower on an asphalt driveway, the rockiness and undulations in a gravel driveway make snow removal challenging. Often, you will have to set the snowblower’s deck height to slightly above the driveway to prevent the blower from picking up excess rocks.

Gravel Replacement

• Over time, it’s common for the gravel in your pea stone gravel driveway to get kicked and shoveled onto your lawn. This is especially common if you live in a climate that gets snow; as you clear the driveway, either with a shovel or a snowblower, you’ll remove some of the gravel. When the snow melts and you’re able to see all the gravel in your lawn, use a lawn rake to rake the gravel back onto your driveway.

Filling Holes

• Throughout the years, your pea stone gravel driveway will suffer from dips in various places, such as tire troughs where you drive your car. If the foundation of the driveway wasn’t packed solidly, dips will occur in these areas. Filling the dips in the driveway is easy, however. Visit a garden supply store that sells a similar size of pea stone gravel, and shovel it into the dips throughout the driveway. This task is common in the springtime, after the ground has shifted after thawing.