9 Pretty and Practical Uses for Decorative Slate Chippings

Decorative slate chippings are one of our most popular garden products – and for good reason! Not only do they make an attractive feature, but they offer value for money and are highly versatile, so they can be put to good use in a myriad of ways in outdoor spaces of all kinds. Here are nine practical and decorative uses for slate chippings that you might want to try out in your own garden.

1. Borders Between Lawns and Fences

Coloured gravel is frequently used to create an appealing, contemporary border between lawns and fences – and it has the added benefit of reducing the time spent mowing and strimming the edges of your lawn. Green slate is the ideal choice for a border as it coordinates well with the colour of grass, creating a modern, uniform look to your garden. A top tip is to make the border about eight to twelve inches wide, allowing for the mower to mow right to the edge of the grass. We also suggest that you layer your chippings significantly below the level of the grass, so you can push your mower safely over the edge with ease, without catching the gravel.

2. Quick and Easy Pathway

Garden slate chippings are a quick and easy solution for unsightly walkways; it also softens the look of a garden and adds colour. Use slate to cover broken concrete, tarmac, or a worn, bare earth path across a garden. An eye-catching, modern path will add to the design of your garden and will improve access to key areas such a pond, greenhouse, shed, summer house, garage or workshop. Slate can also be used to create pretty pathways leading from the home to the garden gate.

3. Pot and Planter Cover

Garden chippings can be used to cover bare soil to improve the appearance of pots and planters. They have the added benefit of preventing weed growth and helping the soil to retain moisture in summer. Here at Madingley Mulch, Cambridgeshire, we sell various colours including blue, green or plum slate chippings in 20mm or 40mm sizes.

4. Flower Beds and Shrub Borders

Chippings be used in a similar way to the above for shrub borders or flower beds. It provides an attractive, low maintenance solution by suppressing weeds and maintaining moisture during the hottest months of the year. If you are the creative type and have time on your hands, you can even use chippings to make flower beds or displays with more elaborate designs (such as the one pictured above).

5. Cat and Fox Deterrent

A lesser known use for garden chippings is to provide a solution for gardeners who want to deter cats or other animals from using their garden as a toilet and to prevent general, unwanted digging. If you are buying from us for this purpose, we suggest using larger (40mm) chippings as these are heavier and more difficult for animals to dig up compared to smaller slates.

6. Temporary Landscaping

If you don’t have the budget for permanent hard landscaping but want to get creative, chippings offer a variety of ways to do this. It allows you to experiment with form as you can use stones, slate or gravel to create shaped paths or flower beds such as circles, ovals or curves. If necessary, slate chippings can be easily removed or placed elsewhere in the garden in the future when you’re ready for something more permanent or if you just want a change of look.

7. Creative Features

Decorative chippings can be used in a variety of ways to add beauty to your garden. For instance, it can be used in water features (the water really brings out the colour of the slate), or you can combine it with paving slabs, sleepers, large rocks or other hard features. If you do combine slate with large rocks and stone, this can create a beautiful multicolour effect. The chippings fill the gaps around the larger stones (such as our large 100-150mm cobbles or 50-80mm rainbow cobbles), instead of leaving space in-between.

8. Create Contrast in a Minimalist Scheme

The problem with a minimalist garden is that it can easily look a bit bland. Using contrasting slate around shrubs and other plants helps to create more visual variety. One idea is to surround your ornamental trees or hedges with plum slate to add colour and interest to your garden.

9. Add Texture to Hard Landscaping

Even in a hard landscaping scheme it can be a challenge to stop everything looking a bit too regimented. Adding areas of slate chippings – either at the edges of a garden, or to create a feature in its own right – can break up the look and add a more organic feel; even if there is little or no planting. It may also help bring down the cost of a mainly hard landscaping project.

Decorative Slate Chippings – Click on the link to see the full range of products from Madingley Mulch, Cambridgeshire.

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