Garden gravel is made by the mining of large stone which is processed to make the larger stones into the smaller stones we see used in gardens up and down the country. There are many types and sizes of garden gravel, starting at 5-10mm all the way up to 40mm and sometimes even larger decorative stone for rockeries. The process is a pretty simple one but it can use some explosive ways to get that stone in the first place.
To get to the stone that will be made into a decorative aggregate, firstly the bigger lumps of stone are sometime packed with explosives to make them a more manageable size, these are then dug out of the ground and transported to a crushing facility. At this facility, the larger pieces of stone are put through a crusher, which crushes the stone down to the desired finished size.
Once crushed, it is put through a screening machine. This machine will filter out any unwanted bigger pieces of gravel and debris that has tried to make its way into the smaller gravel. It is then stockpiled into loose piles or put into jumbo bags of gravel for resale.
Gravel dumpy bags are a good way to keep the gravel you want tidy and in one area and can be shovelled out and transported to where you need it. Loose loads can be messy but are a good way to go if you need it in large quantities on a bigger site.
There are many different types of stone gravel that are dug up and processed across the United Kingdom. Granite gravel comes in many different colours such as brown, mixed and grey gravel. The same goes for Limestone which is commonly found in shades of white, pink, blue and black chippings.
All types of garden gravel chippings are quarried and processed in pretty much the same way but in different locations across the country. Different parts of the country have different types and colours of stone. Granite is found mainly in the south west of England, where as limestone is found in and around the Yorkshire areas but flint is found in many spots across the country. Flint can actually be found on many beaches around the Dorset and Norfolk areas.
Another stone that is only found in one place is Blue Elvan chippings. These are found in Cornwall and are only found in the colours blue/grey with white veins running through them.
There are many types of garden stone. If you are wondering what you can get close to you, a google search or a call to your local supplier and they will talk you through what you can get locally. Even trying online suppliers is a good way to go as many places can send their products across the country for relatively good prices these days.
Decorative garden stones come in many colours, so if you are unsure of what you want, a google search will bring up everything there is available across the United Kingdom.