Outdoor fire pits are fun. They can also be dangerous. There are many different ways for building a fire pit, and I will explore some of them in the next few weeks.
This week we were cleaning up and planting winter pansies for a long-time client who asked if she could add something on. I walked with her to the back yard and she showed me one of those charcoal grill looking things that are most useful for enjoying outdoor fires. She told me that they had gotten something for the patio and had moved this apparatus out into the yard but when they built a fire they became afraid that something in the surrounding area would catch on fire. She wanted to know if I could put some gravel down so things would be safer.
I explained that the gravel would be no problem but that we should also install a border to keep the gravel from spreading out all over the yard. I also observed that the area should be leveled before proceeding with the project.
We raked away the leaves and other organic materials and used a mattock to level the area. While that was going on, I drove down to Willow Creek Nursery and got some “river rounds.” Here is the flat place and some of the rocks.
We used the larger river rocks to build a border that would hold in the “pea gravel” that we would use for the “floor” of the project. Pea gravel is a nice, small, smooth rock that is found in a lot of river beds. There are other stone materials, I’m sure, that would serve the same purpose. My favorite nursery has pea gravel in bulk or you may spend more and get them from a Box store in bags.
Your border could be just about anything related to what we used. Bricks, laid neatly, form an excellent border for the gravel base. Then you have all sorts of manufactured concrete products, but the more you get into manufactured, the more you pay.
Of course, depending on how far you have to drive, you may usually find free rocks somewhere. You can probably find someone you know who may want some old bricks hauled off. It is probably not a good idea to use cross-ties or landscape timbers for this project.
There are lots of pre-fab fire places on the market. You may also want to use a rock border inside the area and build the fire right there on the ground .
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johntheplantman--Gardening 