How-to Guide
How to Make a Gravel Garden
The short answer
Pick a sunny, well-drained spot, improve heavy clay with organic matter first, then plant your drought-tolerant plants and spread gravel around them as a mulch - a 25kg bag covers about 0.6 sq m at a 5cm (2in) depth.
Decide up front whether you want plants to self-seed through the gravel or not: if not, lay landscape fabric over the soil before planting and cut a cross just big enough for each rootball; if you want that relaxed self-seeded look, skip the membrane. Mediterranean plants such as lavender, salvia, santolina, sedum and ornamental grasses thrive in these conditions.
Site and soil
A gravel garden is a great low-maintenance option built around Mediterranean-style, drought-tolerant planting. The RHS notes that while any area can be used, a sunny, well-drained spot is best for most of these plants. Naturally sandy or gravelly soils are ideal as they are.
If your soil is clay-based, incorporate organic matter first to improve drainage before you plant, because the plants that suit a gravel garden dislike sitting in wet ground over winter.
Membrane or no membrane
This is the key decision. If you do not want plants to self-seed and you want to minimize weeding, the RHS advises laying landscape fabric over the soil before planting and cutting crosses just large enough to insert each rootball, then spreading gravel over the top.
If you like the naturalistic look of plants seeding themselves around, omit the membrane - but expect more hand-weeding, especially early on. Either way, spread gravel as the surface: a 25kg (55lb) bag covers about 0.6 sq m (0.7 sq yd) to a depth of 5cm (2in), which is a useful figure for estimating how much to buy.
Plants and upkeep
Choose plants that thrive in lean, dry, sunny conditions. The RHS names lavender, Verbena, Santolina, Phlomis, Ceanothus, Cistus, Salvia, Sedum, Eryngium and Euphorbia, along with ornamental grasses such as Miscanthus and Stipa.
Maintenance is front-loaded: weeding is most intensive in the first few years while plants establish, after which the plants are generally large enough to suppress weeds themselves. Cut back spent flower stalks in autumn or early spring, and the garden largely looks after itself.
Sources
Reviewed 2026-07-18. We cite university Extension, government, and established horticultural sources — and never invent pesticide rates or dangerous treatments.
- Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) - Gravel Gardens — Recommends a sunny, well-drained site (improving clay with organic matter), gives a coverage figure of a 25kg bag over 0.6 sq m at 5cm (2in) depth, advises landscape fabric under the gravel only if you do not want self-seeding, names suitable drought-tolerant plants (lavender, salvia, santolina, sedum, grasses), and notes weeding is heaviest in the first few years.