Last year, we covered a large and wide flower bed with lapillo. These are pebbles of tufo, a very porous lava rock.
It is great for stopping weed growth but my ficus pumilla which grows along the wall and also my rose bushes have dropped masses of very leathery leaves on top.
This looks a mess and raking is no good as the pebbles are light and come away with the dead Leaves. Lapillo is also quite expensive so I do not wish to throw any away.
However, have found a solution which is not heavy work and can be done a little each day while sitting on my upturned kneeler and enjoying the spring sun: I pour water into a large bucket, scoop pebbles and leaves together into the bucket. I give this a stir and then, with an old metal kitchen seive I skim off all the leaves from the surface straight into a large bin liner. The lapillo goes straight to the bottom and as it mounts up I tip it all out with the water back onto the flowerbed.
You probably all think I'm mad and it is certainly a Covid19-inspired activity but it gets me out of the house and the end result is very satisfying!
Gransnet forums
Gardening
No I don't think your mad gilia as I've been doing something along those lines myself!
I have white pebbles and different sized white granite with silica bits in it.
It is all covered with winter leaves etc., It has to have a wash to get the silica clean to reflect the sunshine.
Then they sparkle, and are so lovely.
But like you, I've taken to washing them 
in a bucket.
I feel such a noodle and do a bucket full then dash off to another job, hoping no one has seen me!
Really, there was I thinking these stones would prevent too much work, when I bought them!!
Same here NotSpaghetti re mushy soft leaves. Plus our stones are graded in around 3 to 4 sizes and the small ones would be blown out of place.
Nice answer for you though kittylester 
Join the conversation
Registering is free, easy, and means you can join the discussion, watch threads and lots more.
Register now »Already registered? Log in with:
Gransnet »