Planting into gravel?

[Blackcoffeewithmilkplease]

Does anyone have any advice or experience with planting into gravel/rubble hard standing please? I'm not new to gardening but have never tried anything like this before

The previous owner of my house landscaped the sloping front garden into a driveway (on the cheap!) by building a 4ft retaining wall a few feet away from the front window, filling it with builders' rubble to the same level as the footpath, and covering it with gravel. Not what I would have done, and the sodding gravel gets everywhere, but hey ho, it is what it is and I certainly can't afford to re-landscape it. Clearly the intention was to park on it but the council are repeatedly refusing permission to drop the kerb and in the meantime it is a weedy eyesore.

If I really can't use it as a drive, and I can't afford to strip the whole lot off and and turf it, would I have any luck in turning it into a Mediterranean gravel garden? I could probably dig out a trench around the walls and thought if I put in some topsoil, maybe lavender would grow? And would creeping thyme or rosemary grow between the stones on the rest? It's north facing but gets quite a few hours of afternoon sun. I don't mind doing a bit of hand weeding if the rest of it is looking a bit more intentional and less like a disaster zone! Any advice welcome, thanks in advance!

You could definitely do that: look up John Little. He specialises in planting into things like rubble! No need to add topsoil at all.

Here is John Little's garden in

Wretched thing didn't accept my link!

Yup. In the meantime if you know anyone with Mexican Fleabane scatter some seeds around; if they are happy they will germinate and you will have pretty flowers forever. Ditto Californian Poppy. And verbena bonarensis probably.

I get hollyhocks self seeding all over my shingle driveway and they don’t seem at all bothered by the lack of good topsoil. They don’t seem to ever need watering either as they literally grow like weeds.

Gravel gardens can be absolutely beautiful and you can certainly plant them up and scatter seeds. Im doing one right now because my garden is too small for grass.
Check these out.

https://www.bethchatto.co.uk/garden-nursery/gallery/gravel-garden.htm

https://www.gardensillustrated.com/garden-advice/how-to/gravel-garden-create-gravel-garden

Thanks everyone, that's really encouraging! I'll start with some lavender and poppy seeds and see how it goes.

I have a drive next to my house made from two strips of paving stones with gravel in the middle.
I don't drive and family who visit park at the road end as it is too narrow to open the car doors further up. All sorts of wild plants and flowers have grown in the gravel where the drive is unused; and I have now started mixing seeds with some top soil and adding it to see what happens.

I have a gravel garden and it looks great. From planting it up I know it's full of rubble and roof tiles. I've been told that if I tried to redo it, underneath I would find an old kitchen and an old bathroom suite, because the bloke who previously owned the house was too tight to pay for a skip.

When I want to plant something I have to scrape back the gravel. I then peel apart the weed proof lining, dig out the rubble until I have a hole and dump compost and plant in it. So far every thing has been pretty happy with it. I've planted grasses and a few shrubs.

My son’s university flat has a gravel front garden which I have selectively weeded. It is now a sea of blue grape hyacinths. Absolutely beautiful and I haven’t planted a thing.

I have a patch of horrible aggregate outside the front of my house. I chucked down pot marigold and verbena boniarensis seed. It looks stunning and self seeds 🙂