We found gravel to be quick and easy, and has been functional and low maintenance - we just pull out the odd weed:
That's ideal for a small area and sympatheticly laid.
However, whenever a surface for a patio is chosen, consideration should be given for not just maintenance, but how to keep it clean.
If it's decking, all sorts of stuff can fall between the planks and if it's used for BBQs, bits of food could fall between the planks and then you've a rodent problem.
No matter what garden vac you have, it ain't gonna pull all the debris out.
As I say "each to their own." We have two thirty plus year old crazy York stone patios and a long path I laid and one of flags.
For me, decking would be a nightmare.
My biggest problem with a decent sized patio, is always fallen wisteria blossom (we've five in our garden) and later the leaves. Though I do strip a lot of them as they "turn," done it for thirty years.
My best tool for this, is my new Grizzly garden blower/vac which replaced a rubbish Flymo Scirrocco, which I bought in April to replace a "cheapo" I'd had for many years and failed after four months.
It has a wide detachable scoop on the front and I can just "hoover them up." I can even hoover the lawn with it. It has a variable speed control to regulate how much "suck and blow."
Good quality decking in the right site is fine. Cheap stuff in the wrong site is useless at best, and dangerous at worst. I loved my deck in the house I had near this one - and I see it's still there in the back garden of that house - 20 years down the line. It was very, very good quality timber. In the last house, there was decking in a north facing location. Hellish in our climate. Gravel is the best option if the site isn't sunny. It's also cheap to do, and easy.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Posts
I loved my deck in the house I had near this one - and I see it's still there in the back garden of that house - 20 years down the line. It was very, very good quality timber. In the last house, there was decking in a north facing location. Hellish in our climate.
Gravel is the best option if the site isn't sunny. It's also cheap to do, and easy.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...