[glogan]

I want to create a patio area with brick pavers laid in a pattern that will leave space for grass to grow between them.

I see the normal paver recommendation is a 4" gravel base and about 1" of sand. I am afraid that just adding soil in the in-between spaces will allow the grass to dry out too fast due to the sand and gravel below it.

Is there any recommended practice for this design?

Thanks,
Gary.

[AZTLANLC]

that is usually the way it's build and also the sand will retain moisture and drain the excess water which is good, but I would suggest using something different than grass, something like moss, cause most jobs I've seen with grass they become crabgrass eventually.

[PSUscaper]

You may want to look into using synthetic grass inside the spaces.

[glogan]

Moss would look great, but this is a high sun area in my yard, within a semi-desert (must be regularly irrigated) region, so I think I probably need a different cover.

I saw thyme in a exhibition garden that looked nice and is supposed to handle sun. Would that keep out the crabgrass?

[glogan]

>> ... using synthetic grass inside the spaces.

Is that because of the watering issue? I want to use real vegetation. Should I try to make a design with more space between the bricks?

[TrickyDick]

I'm not sure I understand your picture. Are those brick size pavers and the little square holes are where you want to plant?

[glogan]

Yes, the grey areas are where I would plant, and the white rectangles are brick pavers.

I wouldn't mind figuring out a pattern that gave me 30-50% grass. My pavers are 3 5/8" x 7 5/8" which gives me 2"x2" holes in this design and provides 13% of the total area vegetation.

[RickG]

Have you looked at Eco-paver concepts which are designed to have grass grow between them, or is that the wrong ration of grass to pavers?

[TrickyDick]

With small planting holes like that, even if you made them quite a bit bigger, you will never grow grass. You will need a plant that you can basically put in the oven for a few hours then take it out and jump up and down on it and have it live. Creeping thyme might work for you. There are some Sedums that would also work.

[TrickyDick]

Also...I haven't tried it but I wouldn't think small pavers like that would be very stable in a pattern like that. Maybe you should think about either a paver made for that purpose or a much larger paver.

[Matt Kulp]

If you are set on the pavers listed above, I would do the pavers in a basket weave pattern and make a larger pattern area and then create larger joints with the vegetation. How big of an area are planning on paving?

The only sure way I know that you could get the proper amount of soil in the joints with the pavers you list above would be to form each section and pour concrete and adhere the pavers to the concrete. But, this will only be feasible if you make your paving sections larger 24"x24", etc....

[Fine Edge]

I agree with Matt on making each section larger and forming / pouring concrete for the base. We just quoted a similiar job and were afraid of an unsecure paver thus the concrete base. Plus, we could backfill between the pavers with enough good soil to plant our groundcover.
The groundcover we were going to use was Pratia pendunculate "Country Park".

[Stonehenge]

I've used turfstaone before with success: http://www.belgard.biz/shapes-turfstone.htm

The way we installed it was to use a relatively thick sand bedding course, then in the soil swept into the voids, we mixed a suberobsorbant like terrasorb or soil moist. Seemed to do the trick.

[Matt Kulp]

Jeff,
Do you pre mix the terrasorb with the soil or just apply after the soil is swept in the joints?

[Paul]

Why not use a engineered soil? We have used this to hold 80,000+ lb MRI trailers.

It would be a mix of 1/3 washed anglaur stone 3/4" , a good concrete sand, and good topsoil. This is placed under the pavers and compacted in two inch lifts.