Gravel gardens are an excellent addition to your garden and are very low maintenance. These are also ideal in Mediterranean style gardens which are drought proof and can be host to a whole number of exotic plants, such as lavender, santolina and euphorbias. They help to modernize the garden and attract nectar and pollen loving insects. Mediterranean plants need a sunny area with good drainage, although most of these plants will live and grow comfortably in other areas with less sunshine. You can make a gravel garden on almost any type of soil although it is best if the ground is mainly of a sandy or gravelly mixture and consistency.

Exotic plants in gravel gardens thrive in a sandy soil which is unimproved and that has a low fertility. If you know that your soil has a lot of clay in it, then you might want to incorporate plenty of organic matter so that the soils character changes to suit the preferred growing style of the plants. If you do not want the plants in the garden to self-seed then you should lay down a landscape fabric before you plant and make cross shaped incisions into it, making sure that they are just large enough to still fit the root balls of each plant into the ground. There are different types of gravel available, the smaller grades can be 10mm or less and the larger grades can be 20mm or more. If you want something that is easier to walk on, you should buy the medium sized grades, particularly if they are an angular shape. If you get a lot of cats in your garden, however, you may wish to use the larger sizes as these prevent them from doing any unfavourable business. If you are planning on growing acid-loving plants, you should avoid using limestone chippings as this will affect the acidity of the soil. To cover a 0.6sq m piece of land you will need a bag containing 25kg of gravel. If you are dealing with a larger area and wish to buy the gravel in bulk, it comes in 1 cubic meter amounts and should cover around 20sq m.

In order to keep your gravel garden going you should top up gravel levels when necessary so as to keep the soil or lining from showing. During the first few years of the establishment of the garden, you will find that weeding will be most intensive. After this time has passed, plants are usually big enough to stay in control of weeds, but your intervention may be required once in a while. Once flowers and plants have died, you should remove the stalks during autumn, or, if you wish to keep them there for decoration, removing them in early spring.