2025 Priority Project: Sideyard Bluestone Chips Garden Path Maintence - Edging and (Maybe) Geotextile - March 2025

In December of 2023, I started to notice that the bluestone chip garden path that runs from our driveway back to the boardwalk on the north side of our house was starting to 'sink'.  The gravel started as a thick, full layer started to sink into the ground and mud was starting to peek through.  In 2024, I added even more Bluestone chips to the path, but it still didn't stop the sinking.  

Last March, I decided to act and began to 'pull back' some of the bluestone chips and lay down some larger gravel.  Then, I pulled the chips back over the top.  But, that hasn't stopped the sinking. 

I've long resisted using any sort of landscape fabric.  On any project.  There's TONS of research showing that it doesn't work to supress weeds and it doesn't allow the soil to breath and regenerate with organic material.  Why?  Because, it creates a barrier.  

A barrier.  Wouldn't that help with the gravel sinking?  Yes, it turns out...it would.  But, what kind?  There are woven and non-woven fabrics.  Or....sometimes called 'geotextiles'.  There are - according to Bluestone Supply - "Major Differences" between the two:

• Woven geotextiles are an excellent choice for reinforcement and stabilization applications, while nonwoven geotextiles are great for filtration, separation, and drainage applications.
• Woven geotextiles with a few exceptions are semi impermeable, and their flow-through rate is low, while nonwoven geotextiles are permeable, and their flow-through rate is high.

(Emphasis, mine)

Nonwoven geotextiles are for 'separation'.  And they allow water to pass through them.  Sounds right for a gravel path, doesn't it? 

Google confirms that non-woven geotextiles are fit for under a gravel path and calls it a 'separation barrier'.  And. this little Google Gemini AI snippet calls out some benefits beyond separation.

One last resource that I read - Washington Rock Quarries - has this post up about why it makes sense to put geotextile or fabric under gravel.  From their post:

Why use landscape fabric under gravel or rock? Here are few reasons:

You want to prevent gravel from sinking into or mixing with soil (or surrounding materials).

You want to reinforce the subgrade where the soil is less than ideal.

You want to stabilize your gravel base with the goal of increasing the lifespan of the gravel surface and reducing the amount of maintenance needed.

A place that SELLS ROCKS touting the benefits of fabric that leads to - potentially - using LESS gravel and not having to replenish the rocks over time?  

I'm sold.  

Over at Menards, they have this geotextile buying guide on their landscape fabric page:

I'm going to focus ONLY on non-woven geotextiles.   That means that ALL of their fabrics - aside from the "Duraweave" line will work - but based on the use cases, it appears that Professional, Duraweb or Duraweb+ are the right fit for me.  I'm also going to focus SPECIFICALLY on geotextiles - and not 'fabrics'.   There are a bunch of non-woven fabrics that are made from: "non-woven polypropylene fabric". I'm going to stay away from those.  This Duraweb geotextile comes in 4' wide rolls.  I'm sure I can use it back by the firepit, too.

The process to install this would appear to involve trying to dig up MOST of the bluestone chips.  I might then need to 'wash' them to get the mud off of them followed putting down the geotextile.  With some staples.  Then, I can pile the bluestone chips back on top.  I'll also need to go get a couple loads of 5 gallon buckets of bluestone chips to top dress the path.  

The other part of this path that requires some maintenance is the edging.  Between frost and heaving, the edging has popped up higher than we'd like it to be sitting.  Thanks to the recent snow thaw and rains, the ground is pretty saturated.  That makes it soft and a little bit easier to pound the edging into the ground.  I used a short piece of lumber and heavy hammer.  

Below, the section of the edging on the right has been reset and pounded in.  The section on the left is where the edging 'heaved' up to - out of the ground:

I pounded the edging in the ground as best I could - see the photo below.  You can see some of the gravel that I put *under* the bluestone chips last year to help prevent the sinking.  All of this gravel would be 'picked up' and replaced once the geotextile goes down.  

I'll plan on including this path improvement process on my 2025 to-do list.