Bulk Landscape Materials for Drives, Drains, Banks and Beds

Most people arrive here knowing the job and not the product name. Somebody said crusher run, or the plan sheet gave a VDOT number, or a bank came away in the last storm. The listings below are grouped by what the material has to do once it is on the ground, which is the order the decision is actually made in.

Building a drive or pad that has to hold up over clay

A layer that carries wheels needs fines in it so the pieces lock together under compaction. 21A is the usual choice: 1 inch minus, graded with binding fines, and tight enough to spread the load where slow-draining Piedmont clay gives the base no help. 21B is 3/4 inch minus and carries fewer fines, worth choosing where a little more drainage through the layer matters. A VDOT number is the vocabulary a plan sheet uses, and the listing answers it with a size and a grading rather than an approval. On top, Driveway Gravel is the wearing course. For a construction entrance or a trench bottom, #4 Crushed Stone and Railroad Ballast stay open under heavy equipment.

Moving water off a flat Tidewater lot or out from behind a wall

Washed sizes carry no fines, so they keep their voids and let water through. #57 Stone is the standard French drain and wall backfill size, with #67 Stone a shade smaller. 3/4" Crushed Stone is the same nominal size sold by the inch rather than the number, and 3/8" Crushed Stone steps down for pipe bedding and finer drainage. #8 Crushed Stone and #89 Crushed Stone suit pipe bedding and tighter work, and Drain Rock is washed specifically for drywells and downspout runs. On flat ground near the Bay, where water has nowhere to run, this group matters more than base depth does.

Bedding pavers and flagstone so the joints stay shut

Screenings are 1/4 inch minus with the dust left in, which is what lets a setting bed be screeded flat and stay flat. Mason Sand is the fine washed sand for mortar, joints and play areas. Washed Sand is coarser and suits leveling and bedding under slabs.

Armoring a Bay shoreline or a scoured ditch after a storm

Waves, storm tide and rising water work at shorelines along the Chesapeake and the tidal rivers, and stream banks scour after heavy rain anywhere in the state. RipRap runs from 4 inches upward and is heavy enough to stay put under moving water. Large River Rock is the rounded alternative for a dry creek bed doing lighter duty.

Raising the grade first, then growing something on top of it

Fill Dirt is the compactable material for building a pad up or filling a low corner, screened of roots and large rock. Top Soil goes on last, in the upper few inches where seed and sod root. Garden Soil is the compost-enriched blend for raised beds. Shredded Mulch holds moisture through a humid summer.

Paths, play areas and beds that only have to look right

Pea Gravel is rounded and about 3/8 inch, comfortable underfoot. Walkway Gravel is crushed and finer than drive stone, so it stays put on a garden path. River Rock runs 1 to 3 inches in tans, grays and browns for borders and beds.

Turning a named job into a tonnage of bulk landscape materials

Each listing carries its size, grading and type, and every material has its own weight per cubic yard, which is why the calculators are split by product rather than pooled. Measure, size the layer, then set the quantity and a delivery date on the product page.

Which listing is the base and which is the wearing course on a drive?

The pad site stays soft into April. Does that change the listing I pick?

The wrong product went through at checkout. What now?

After the material and tonnage are settled, what does checkout still ask for?