How to Remove Gravel from a Garden

How to Remove Gravel from Soil

Gravel, pebbles, and other decorative stones always look amazing when freshly laid, either to fill in blank space or use as a path or driveway.

However, issues arise when they either need to be cleaned, or you’re changing the design of your garden. Gathering up all of these stones can be time consuming, especially if they weren’t laid with membrane below them.

Membrane can also start to wear away, meaning gravel starts falling through and looking sparse. Up pops weeds, grass, and other debris.

There are a few methods you could use, depending on how much gravel you have to remove and how much soil you want to save.

Hire a rotavator

Rake as many stones as you can up, before shovelling and collecting. A mini dumper or just a wheelbarrow will be ideal here.

There will likely be stones remaining in the soil, though, unless there was a great quality membrane used.

A rotavator churns the soil up, which is perfect for exposing any remaining stones that have become slightly buried. It will also expose any stones that were already in the soil.

Then, it is a case of either raking or shovelling these out of the ground and collecting them.

SPEEDY TOP TIP: Reusing the stones, or want to save soil? Either rinse the stones in a large bucket to remove the soil or use a sieve.

It is essential to wear PPE when using a rotavator. Eye protection, gloves, work boots, and hearing protection are all essential. You should also clear the area and wear protective clothing, especially if there’s a risk of disturbing stones and gravel while the rotavator is in use.

Hire a digger

Are you not concerned about losing soil? Do you have a big area to cover? Hiring a digger or excavator could be the best option.

This will gather up anything in its path, including stones, with little effort from you. Different buckets, including rakes or riddle buckets, are available to hire for the arm of the excavator. These can sieve the soil away from the stones. Or, you can simply hire a digging bucket if you want to start afresh and remove soil, too.

By hand

It's time-consuming, but it's fine for a smaller area. All you need is a shovel, a rake, and some arm power! If there was a membrane in place, lift as many of the stones as you can and then rake the rest of the area before shovelling the stones up and placing them in a bucket of water to get rid of the soil.

You can also use a sieve on top of a bucket, which the stones can’t pass through if you want to separate the stones but also save soil.

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