Pebbles to Your Garden or Not?

Probably you have seen a lot of pictures on social media about beautiful gardens, perfectly looking with pebbles, or you have visited one in person, and after that you want to start decorating your garden with rocks or pebbles. It looks nice and easy, but is it really that easy? can pebbles affect your plants? can plants grown through it? what to consider before starting? Keep reading this article!

Benefits of using pebbles: 

• Keep weeds away: pebbles block sunlight from reaching the soil underneath, so weeds will have a hard time trying to grow through pebbles. 
• Regulates temperature: pebbles work as a protection for the soil, it keeps the temperature for longer time, and when it gets hot in the Summer, they can block the sunlight keeping the temperature of the soil cooler than air temperature. (But for long periods of time exposed to direct sunlight it can get too hot affecting the roots of your plants).
• Keep the water in the soil for longer time: this barrier makes the water stay for longer time in the soil, it reduces the speed of evapotranspiration.
• If using in potted plants: it helps to have good aeration for the roots in potted plants. 

Can pebbles harm your plants?

It depends! pebbles can help your plants, but also can harm your plants, so, how to know when to use it and when not?

• Weather. How hot or cold is your city or town? remember that pebbles and rocks keep the temperature for longer time, so, if you are in a hot area and your garden has direct sunlight all day, those pebbles or rocks are going to be hot even when the sun has moved away, this can cause stress to your plants, and after couple days or weeks you'll see your plants getting weak and probably dying. If this is the case, try to add some shade to your garden, or avoid using pebbles or rocks. 
• Color of the pebbles. Dark color gravel, pebbles or rocks get hotter than white or bright colored pebbles. Don't use dark colors in hot climates. 
• How much are you using? depending on the size of the rocks or pebbles, and how much you use, if the layer of rocks is thick and heavy (2 inch or more) the water in the soil can be there for a long time, and if you keep watering this is going to create problems with microorganisms in the soil, lack of oxygen (hypoxia), root rot, etc.  

Another CON that doesn't hurt your plants but can affect your soil temperature is in the Spring, this layer of pebbles makes the soil cooler for longer time, it means that your soil is going to take more time to get warm and be ready for your plants in the late Spring to early summer. 

Decide based on your plant needs

Pebbles, rocks or gravel are not bad or good by itself, it depends on your plants. It's not the same having pebbles around berries or roses than having them around small flowers or vegetables. 

If your pants need to be wet all the time and your soil has good drainage then you can add pebbles to reduce the evaporation of the water. In the other hand, if your plant needs a moist soil but not too much, and you have issues with drainage in your soil, then pebbles are not a good idea. 

Read about the flowers or plants that you want to grow, how much water, sunlight and temperature does it needs, etc. Based on this, you can decide if pebbles are good idea or not. In some cases you can decide to use mulch instead of pebbles. 

if your decision is YES to Pebbles, then follow this steps:

1. Buy your pebbles: Select bright colors if possible, nice textures, check the reviews of the product, and if you're trying a new brand, use it in a small area first and check how plants react to that one. How much to buy? it depends on the size of your garden, in average 1 ton of pebbles can cover 100 sq ft area with a thickness of 3/4 to 1 inch. 
2. Clean the area from weeds: It's true that pebbles keep weeds away, but it's not going to be successful if you add pebbles to a place full of weeds. Clean the area first, remove weeds, garbage, and rocks before adding your pebbles. 
3. Arrange pebbles: design your own garden, or you can check online for gardening with pebbles designs. Recommendation: play with your design as you want, but don't add cement, cementing pebbles is going to block completely the entry/exit for air and water to your soil. 
4. Maintenance: water your plants and not your pebbles, if pebbles have water for long periods of time they're going to start having algae. If you see weeds growing among the pebbles and your plants, pull them as soon as you see them. Remove dead leaves or plants, this also favors the growth of algae. 

Planting only with pebbles:

Some plants are hardy ones and can survive in pebbles, for example:

• Cactus: in the nature they live in hostile environments, where rocks, gravel, sand or pebbles can be part of the substrate, so cactus are going to survive if you plant them with pebbles. 
• Other succulents: in general succulents are hardy plants and they are going to thrive even if you place them only in pebbles. But always add some soil to this mix, pebbles don't retain water, also these plants need some nutrients that can be present in the soil. 
• Orchids: depending on the orchid, some orchids can survive in pebbles, in natural environment they anchor on trees and their roots like to be in contact with air, so, pebbles can be a good option to keep in your orchid pots. 

If you are going to plant only with pebbles, mix tree bark and vermiculite with the pebbles, this will deliver nutrients and water to the plants. 

In conclusion

Using pebbles is a beautiful way to decorate your garden, keep weeds away, retain water in the soil for longer time, keep temperature in the soil, and provide air for plants with different root system like orchids.

Read about your plants before adding pebbles, also take in mind the temperature in your garden, in this way you make sure pebbles are not going to harm your plants. 

If you don't use pebbles you can use mulch instead, it also provides a beautiful view for your garden. 

Before investing a lot of money in pebbles, try first with a small area of your garden or pots, check different sizes and compare the results. In this way you'll know if your plants are good with it, and if they start having stress, turning yellow or dying after applying the pebbles, then you know that is better to look for different options or different plants to grow there. 

Last updated May 19, 2023