I'm interested in making a kind of swale but fill it with rocks with river stones for a walkway. Is there a way to make what I want? Obviously it's not going to hold as much water but I just want a way to collect some and have it disperse slowly but I also need a walkway and have it "pretty." Basically a deep ditch filled with specific rocks that have room for water collection with pathway stones on top like the picture. I'm not exactly worried about it being super level, I know it probably won't be.
by HalogenHarmony
5 Comments
imo, neither are going to work well with each other long term. the gravel the path is built on will get clogged with debris and then stagnant as the debris prevents the water from flowing
is there enough room to build both?
maybe a rain garden with an adjacent path
It would be easier to say with a picture of the area to be swaled. I have one that is exactly that, a swale with a path but it’s short (8′-10′ or so) and not terribly deep.
Well what happens when it rains in the walkways filled with water. You’re on to something though and as the landscape or I have done this for clients that ended up with big houses but crappie builder lots. And bad drainage. You should build a stream bed and a swale but contain it and landscape is very nicely with stones and make it look intended and put a really beautiful granite bridge over it or whatever else you like. The path should always be raised and remain dry otherwise it’s a fail
But the stonework concept is good and the plantings and it becomes more of a rain garden and Bridge it with your path And then you will have the best two worlds. I have done this before and it came out pretty nice. Water would spill off the roof over the gutters and fill the appropriate areas but the path would always stay above and clear
The best way to achieve this is to run the swale parallel to the pathway.
I can’t figure out how to edit. But it’s not a pathway that’s ever going to be used other than me checking on the plants. It’s basically the perimeter of my entire front yard that’s pretty big. My husband loves his giant empty grass so I can’t do anything perpendicular. I am a great gardener so I know what I’m doing with the plants, I’m just wondering basically what kind of rocks would go well? If it’s a fail, I’m okay with that. I just absolutely do not have the time to water these beds with everything else on our small farm and huge garden. It’s at the bottom of a small hill and it definitely has the potential to catch a lot of water.