Posted on 6th February 2025
Before the onset of spring, now is a great time to be thinking about how to get the best from your garden. A new look can be achieved with the use of our British slate chippings for ground cover over soils or to bring extra colour and life to planting beds. Our garden slate chippings also improve the time spent on maintenance by using them along with a weed membrane.
Natural slate is one of the best choices you can make. It is a colourful, hard-wearing material that is common in the UK and is a very popular way to help with garden transformations due to the range of sizes and colours available. Browse our range of British slate chippings here.
Slate is ideal for gardens, pathways and pond areas as it is a low maintenance solution to surface coverings. It is inert and will therefore not affect the PH balance of soils or water areas. Our range of decorative slate chippings offers a choice of colours to complement any garden style, whether it be traditional or contemporary.
Our British slate chippings are available in a blue/grey colour, as well as green, charcoal and plum, with a range of size options that typically include 10mm, 20mm and 40mm. Our garden slate chippings will help to offset the colour of planting and foliage and add a different dimension to your garden style and look.
Using British slate is also environmentally friendly as it is processed from recycled rock that has been extracted for use in the production of roofing slate and architectural tiles, whereas as other decorative aggregate is usually quarried directly for its use or imported from overseas.
Colour and size are key components, as well as the geological origins of the material you choose. Our blue slate chippings from the South Lakes in Cumbria is regarded as one of the finest because of its consistency of colour. This slate emanates from the Silurian period and is over 450 million years old.
Similarly, our green slate chippings originate from the English Lake District, as well as some small deposits in North Wales. The Lakeland green slate chippings we offer are known for being sourced from one of the world's hardest, most durable slates as it is processed from metamorphic volcanic stone from the Ordovician period that was formed 450-500 million years ago. The geology of the rock means it is also ideal for domestic driveways, paths, and parking spaces, as well as planting areas.
Understanding the origins of the material used in your garden means is always important and can also give great association to areas synonymous with holiday destinations and the memories associated.
Our plum and charcoal slates emanate from the natural slate deposits around North Wales. The Welsh plum slate chippings we offer are still popular because of their vivid colour and date back to the Cambrian geological era and are 480 to 550 million years old.
Ultimately, the choose of material is based on colour and how you want to complement the planting as well as the size of the planting beds. Our most popular size of garden slate chippings is 40mm, but around smaller plant specimens the 10mm or 20mm sizes can often be better to ensure they are placed easily around the base of plants and shrubs.
British slate chippings are also a great choice because they will not rot or degrade like bark chippings or be displaced easily by birds and animals, which means they do not need to be topped up as frequently and will therefore last much longer. If price is a key factor in the choice of covering for planting beds, slate chippings are a more cost effective investment in the long term.
Natural slate is also used for paths and drives because it is a cost effective and quick way to transform these areas and is very easy to install. When used in all areas it is best to use a weed suppressant membrane, that is placed on the top of soil or hard core and then covered with the slate chipping to a depth of at least 40mm. When in planting beds it is easy to cut out a space in the membrane using a Stanley knife, so that plants can grow through inhibited.
British natural slate is not only popular for use in residential gardens and driveways, it is also often used to cover planting areas around retails parks and superstores, as well commercial offices. This is because it look s great and is easier to maintain than leaving the soil and planting areas uncovered. Similarly, the versatility of natural slate means it is often seen as being ideal to create meandering pathways in many parks across the UK.
In summary, British slate chippings are the choice of many landscape architects and designers because of their beauty and flexibility; designs can be complemented with a full range of slate rockery, boulders and paddlestones to maximise the look and feel of any landscape area, whether in a commercial or residential application.
Slate is a smart choice to enhance any garden space and is a reliable quality solution, particularly if purchased directly from the quarry source to enable clarity of the material's origin. At Stone & Surfaces Direct we are unique, as we have a direct link with many UK slate quarries and issue the material direct from the source in a range of bulk bagged solutions to give customers flexibility in the quantity of material that they may require. We are always available to give technical advice on the material and the full portfolio of products offered if required. Simply get in touch for more information!
© Stone & Surfaces Direct Ltd
Website created by hush.digital
