Laying stones around a border

[ATC1983]

Bit of a basic question - but I've never laid stones before.

 

A lady whose ferns I pruned back today is looking stones put in around maybe a 6 metre long, two foot border at the side of her garden. I think around 1 tonne of stones will cover this adequately. She already has soil in this bit, underneath which is plastic sheeting, so I won't need to relay this. My question is should I take out the soil - maybe only 10cm deep at most - before laying the stones? She has a few shrubs she wants kept growing at intervals inside this border - so I know obviously not to lift the soil here - but should I take it out elsewhere? I know that weeds will sprout as soon as I lay the stones, if I lay them on the soil, but considering she has plant life in here is it best to leave the soil in then put stones on top of it?

 

Thanks

[born2trot]

I would concrete them all in one at a time . Make sure the stones face south . I cant remember why , someone told me i think

[headgroundsman]

It would be normal to lay a membrane to suppress the weeds before putting stone down on a border. However if there are no perenial weeds already there and you can remove the annual weeds as soon as they appear then this is not essential. To calculate how much stone you will need a tonne of stone is about 0.6 of a cubic metre. 50mm of stone is the max this is 0.05 of a metre. Multiply this by the width and length in metres to get the cubic metre of stone required. I see no reason to remove any soil unless adding the stone would raise the level unacceptably.

[born2trot]

Got to hand it to ATC , still reelling them in .

[miker]

I would concrete them all in one at a time . Make sure the stones face south . I cant remember why , someone told me i think

i always face mine north,something to do with climate change,at least thats what someone told me

[born2trot]

i always face mine north,something to do with climate change,at least thats what someone told me

 

Not biting Miker

[miker]

Not biting Miker

 

:lol:

[Pedroski]

Best method to follow is the "iceberg" method. To ensure stability of the stones, for every 10cm height above ground, you need to have stones going 90cm below ground. So while you have only 1 tonne of stones above, you need to order 10 tonne in so you can put the required 9 tonne below.

[born2trot]

Best method to follow is the "iceberg" method. To ensure stability of the stones, for every 10cm height above ground, you need to have stones going 90cm below ground. So while you have only 1 tonne of stones above, you need to order 10 tonne in so you can put the required 9 tonne below.

 

:lol:

[miker]

That may need steel rods tho,i always do mine 45 cm centres to a depth twice the depth of material,no slippage of material this way