How to Spread Pea Gravel

Fill the wheelbarrow with pea gravel. How you do this will depend on how you have purchased the gravel. If you purchased the gravel in plastic bags, open the bags and empty into the wheelbarrow. If you have purchased a truckload of rock, you will need to shovel the pea gravel into the wheelbarrow by hand. Fill the wheelbarrow up about two-thirds full; or fill about half-full if you will be pushing it over rugged ground or if the load is too heavy.

Push the wheelbarrow to the area you want to spread the gravel in by tipping the wheelbarrow toward you onto the back wheels. Stop 2 or 3 feet from the area you will be working in. Take a small amount of gravel on the rounded edge of the shovel. Sprinkle pea gravel around the bases of any shrubbery or plants that might be difficult to get to later. Work in a counterclockwise fashion beginning 2 to 3 inches from the base of the plant. Take care not to let any gravel fall on small plants as you are sprinkling.

Start at the edge of your flower bed or garden area. Shovel the gravel out of the wheelbarrow and place in piles that are about 1 1/2 feet high. Continue the length of your project, leaving piles of rock every 2 feet. If the section you are covering is more than a foot wide, you will need to work back toward the beginning now, leaving more piles of rock that are 1 1/2 feet high every 2 feet.

Rake the piles of gravel back and forth with a metal-tined garden rake. Begin at the center of the pile and push forward and back until the pile has been whittled down. Rake the layer of rocks from side to side to evenly distribute the pea gravel in the flower bed. Continue in this fashion until the pile of gravel is in an even layer in the flower bed.

Inspect the area to see if there are spots that are bare or thin. If this is the case, take two or three shovelfuls of the pea gravel and add to the section. Rake the section again very lightly to evenly cover the section with gravel. A good covering of pea gravel should ideally be 1/2 inch to 1 inch thick.