My old paver patio vs. the new decomposed granite path

I spent years fighting weeds growing between my brick pavers in Phoenix until I tore it all out last spring. Replaced it with a 3 inch layer of decomposed granite and it drains way better, plus the weeds barely pop up anymore. Has anyone else switched from hardscapes to something more natural in their yard?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_simon2h ago

Hold on, I have to push back here. My neighbor Steve put in decomposed granite two years ago in his front yard in Mesa and now he's got a whole different problem. The stuff migrates everywhere after a good monsoon storm, washing into his grass and onto the sidewalk, and he's out there every weekend with a rake and a shovel trying to push it back into place. He also skimped on the landscape fabric and now the weeds are pushing right up through the DG, looking even uglier than they did between pavers because you can't just pull them clean, you end up mixing the gravel into the dirt. And the dust, man, his dog tracks that fine grit into the house on its paws and it scratches up his tile floors. Pavers might need some weed pulling, but at least they stay put and don't turn into a mess every time it rains. I'd take a few hours of weeding over constantly fighting erosion and dust any day.

karen_sanchez493h ago

You spent years fighting weeds between brick pavers" is exactly why I ripped mine out too. I did the same swap in my backyard here in Tucson and it's been night and day. The decomposed granite just lets water soak through instead of pooling up or running off, which is huge during monsoon season. I also put down a layer of landscape fabric under the DG to help block weeds even more, and it's been almost a year with barely any coming through. The only thing I have to do is rake it smooth after heavy rain, but that takes ten minutes compared to the hours I used to spend pulling weeds from between bricks. Hardscapes look nice at first but they're way more work than they're worth in this climate.