A way of making a ‘grass’ driveway

Press, 28 August 1979, Page 10

A way of making a ‘grass’ driveway

Grass on its own will not tolerate for any length of time the wear and tear of vehicles running over its surface. In wet weather grassed areas are definitely out-of-bounds — that is, until paving modules were produced which will allow the grass to grow through them and at the same time take the weight of any vehicle running across. This immediately opens up many new and exciting possibilities for the use of grass. Instead of having a

The paving modules can be laid flat or to definite falls or they can be sculptured to follow the contours of the land. In fact, anything you can do with grass you can do with the paving units. The type of paving units available are either of concrete or clay. What ever you decide to use they all work on the same principle: the paving units have been designed with holes or cells which carry right through the module; and they have shallow cross channels. These cells and channels are filled with soil Of good quality. The'weight of a vehicle is carried on the nodes in the case of concrete units, and on the solid edges of the clay in brick units. The roots of the grass grow down inside the protective cells and channels, while the upper part of the plant is protected from crushing by the sides of the channel or nodes on the module.

The paving units themselves need to be laid over a solid earth base to avoid any depressions after use. Because of their structure these units allow water to drain freely through into the ground below.

Make sure that the ground itself is adequately drained; if necessary, provide a field drainage system to remove surplus ground water. This type of paving can also be used to grow a lawn of ground-cover plants such as Thymus seraphyllum “Album” or “Carnea” if you wish to reduce the amount of time required for mowing the conventional grass lawn. Before filling the units with soil plug the cells at one-metre centres with newspaper, then fill the units.

When this operation has been completed remove the newspaper plugs and insert the plants of Thyme packed in with soil. Mulching can be done by spreading a thin layer of “crusher-dust” over the surface. Thyme is usually best mown Once a year after it has finished flowering. Where grass has been sown this can be mown in the normal way, in fact in time the majority of the units will end up being entirely covered by the grass, except possibly where a vehicle is run over the surface regularly. It should be remembered to treat these areas as you would any Other grassed area that is, mow regularly, feed from time to time, water well during the summer months, and control any pests and diseases.

These units are a visually pleasant and practical answer to anyone who wishes to combine the motor vehicle with the soft unobtrustiveness of grass.