Poorly chicken

[WitchHazel]

Our Girls have a walk in run, which has concrete slabs around the base but the ground was just (ex) lawn. Inside, it has gravel boards along the bottom.

 

Over the years the level of the floor has gradually lowered, as the feet of succession of girlies have worn it away.

 

it got so low (and uneven) that we decided we had to do something. We considered putting slabs down, but I didn't really want to do that. Then at this year's Grand Designs show, we saw something which we thought might work,

 

We bought some and installed it. And I have to say, it's been working really well. Thought others might be interested.

 

http://www.coregravel.co.uk/products/corepath-gravel-pathway-stabilisation

 

We (=DH) had to level up the inside of the run a bit, compacted it, then he installed the COREpath. This was then filled and with topsoil and packed down. We didn't have much spare topsoil, so I ended up buying some from the garden centre. If I'd been more organised, I would have put a "wanted" ad on freecyle.

 

Ideally we would have left it for a few days, but we didn't. I put down half a bag of hemp (I think it was Hemp Bed E), and the Girls were back in that evening.

 

They continue to scratch around, but the surface has remained steady. It's much easier to rake over, although I do have to be careful to make sure I don't dig down.

 

I am in no way affiliated with coregravel, I just happened to see it at Grand Designs.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

That looks like a clever idea .

[Olly]

That's interesting - my friends have something similar to this on their drive, and it is amazingly good at preventing gravel from spraying everywhere when they drive in and out. Does it stop the girls from scratching?

[WitchHazel]

Does it stop the girls from scratching?

 

No, they continue to rook around as normal. There is a thin layer of hemp on top of the cells of the corepath.

I'm sure they must be rooking up some of the soil from in some of the cells but, as the surface is held together by the cells, it prevents them wearing the floor away. I use the back of a rake to redistribute the hemp (and loosened flooring, I presume) every so often - I guess any gaps created are refilled that way.

[Patricia W]

I need some new paths in the garden so I'll look at this product for that

[ohcarolina]

And I'm going to use it for my drive! Thanks for the information

[The Dogmother]

Just what I am looking for to stabilise the gravel in my side alley as it keeps ending up out on the pavement due to the gradient.

[Chickabee]

It is good stuff. I know a couple of people who use it. Be careful though if you have young drivers in the family. If they rush to get on or off the drive, it can actually break the hexagons