Stop Weeds From Taking Over Your Gravel With One Easy Solution

There are a dozen reasons why you might pick a gravel driveway for your house. They're cheaper than asphalt and concrete driveways, and you can even build a gravel driveway without excavating. Gravel driveways can feel like the perfect solution until the weeds and encroaching grass show up. Unsightly crabgrass popping up from the gravel can frustrate most any homeowner and make you second-guess your driveway choice.

Thankfully, there's a quick and easy way to rid your driveway of weeds. Regular maintenance with a simple tool you already have in your tool shed can be the answer to your problems. All you need to do is rake your driveway. It's one of many amazing uses for a landscape rake. Raking kills weeds by making sure they don't get a chance to grow deep roots, and it turns over the soil to make it hard for new weeds to grow. Raking also will help the driveway look better, as it can help you level out uneven patches or divots made from heavy equipment or cars.

If you feel like you're in an endless game of whack-a-weed with your gravel driveway, just follow a few easy steps to get the weeds under control. All you'll need is a metal rake and some elbow grease. If your gravel driveway is large or you'd like to save your back, you could also buy or rent a power rake from your local hardware store to do the job.

Using a rake to clear weeds is a simple solution. First, you want to pick the right rake. Grab one with metal teeth, not plastic. You can also use a power rake. Some tractors also have rake-like attachments, such as a box scraper, which can make raking long driveways a breeze.  

Before you rake, pull up the big weeds by hand. Or you can treat your gravel driveway with organic DIY weed killers, like boiling water or salt. Brining your driveway with salt can kill weeds, but also kill grass and other plants, so just be careful with how liberally you salt your driveway. Raking after you do this will get rid of dead weeds, and those too hearty for the salt.

To get started, you'll want to go over the gravel driveway systematically with your rake, either by hand or on a tractor. It may take more than one go round to loosen rocks that have gotten pressed into the ground and clumped together. Be sure to rake your driveway regularly, and remember that raking before you see weeds is better than letting it get overgrown. Preventative raking will move gravel pebbles and stop weeds from finding a path to the sunlight. If you want to be even more proactive, try this landscaping hack if you want to banish pesky weeds from your gravel. Just install a landscape fabric beneath your gravel driveway.