Landscape paving tips

The possibilities in this line are only bound by our imagination and available material. We can look at these paving in terms of space function. The most common spaces for a home landscape for example include, driveway, front yard and backyard. In some homes, you may find patios, gazebos and barbecue corners. All these may use different paving material. Common hardscape surface choices include;

• Gravel
• Building stone
• Pre-cast concrete cabro blocks
• Brick blocks and ceramic tiles

Gravel paving

Gravel is loved a lot  in landscape paving because of its cheapness and ready availability. The loose finish allows crunch sounds as you walk or drive along this surface. Its however best for short driveways with good drainage, otherwise you’ll end up needing to refill the place up if it keeps sinking. Though usually used for less traffic spaces, a hardy base can allow heavier traffic. A gravel driveway and path Though not common currently in Kenya, there’s combination of technologies that use cell like membranes to increase porousness of this surface and traffic tolerance. A similar technology is used in turf surface design where grass is grown on a membrane.

Stone paving

Building stone is a wonderful landscape paving material for driveways and small walkways. Where done with uniform sized stone, different patterns can be achieved with this  landscape paving. Owing to its vast availability, anyone can use it and is fairly affordable. Common method people go for include placing the stones on the tire paths of vehicles only. For more advance motifs, different shapes and colour of stones may be used. It’s however best to go for the harder stone types. This will ensure durability of your driveway or walkway Pre-cast concrete blocks  

Cobble and cabro landscape  paving blocks are some of the most commonly used precast paving in urban areas. They come in different shapes and colours and usually sold in terms of square meter coverage. Owing to their uniform shape, they can easily be replaced if damaged. Their use varies from simple walkways to whole streets and driveways. Concrete slabs also fall in this category. There are ideal for walkways. They may be permanently set in cement or laid on sand base. In some cases, mixing the slabs with brick may be used for achieving different shapes and colours. They are most ideal for heavy traffic areas, are fairly durable and weather tolerant. You may see a lot of this in urban streets. In some places, these pavers have been used for patios and barbecue areas outdoors.

Brick paving blocks

Brick is one of the oldest material used in building construction. The long use of this material has resulted in even landscape paving solutions using the same. Brick may be used for edging, surface and even seat wall and retaining walls. Due to the reddish colour, it’s a bit earthy and sits well in any landscape. Landscape paving with this material may involve placing option or setting with cement. Though very longlasting when made into tiny pieces, the larger pieces are prone to cracking and breakage on intense use.

By simple definition, graywater is as any domestic wastewater produced, excluding sewage. One main difference between graywater and sewage (or blackwater) is the organic concentration. Sewage has a much larger organic loading compared to graywater. Kitchen water, though classified as black water because of its content of grease, oils and other organic matter can be treated for reuse if pre separated from sewage.With depletion of fresh water reserves, rethinking your water re-use should be appropriate.

Benefits of Graywater Re-use

Re-use doesn’t diminish our quality of life, however it can provide big benefits.

• Reducing the need for fresh water. This can significantly reduce household water bills, but also has a broader community benefit in reducing demands on public water supply.
  
• Reducing the amount of wastewater entering sewers or on-site treatment systems. Again, this can benefit the individual household, but also the broader community.
  
• Gray water is rich in phophorous and nitrogen from soaps beneficial to soil and plants
  

Where to use Graywater

Treated greywater can be used to irrigate both food and non food producing plants. The nutrients in the greywater (such as phosphorus and nitrogen) provide an excellent food source for these plants. Its however not to be applied on leaves and fruit of edible plants.

Where properly filtered, it can be applied through normal irrigation systems. Its best to apply slightly below or on the soil surface. Leach fields from gray water distribution may also be applied.

More tips

• Use when natural precipitation and normal irrigation water are not available
  
• Control gray-water application and infiltration to prevent standing puddles and surface runoff.
  
• Apply gray water to soil. Don’t spray on foliage, twigs or stems.Also don’t soak bark or root-collar area.
  
• Don’t use on root or leaf crops consumed by people or domestic livestock.
  
• Don’t use on new transplants
  
• Don’t use on indoor trees or other plants with limited rooting space, in small containers, or plants normally under saturated conditions
  
• Avoid using micro or regular sprinkler heads that can blow gray-water aerosols downwind
  
• Always apply gray water at or slightly below the soil surface. Apply over or under mulch, if present