How much river rock do you need?
Enter the size of your flower bed or dry creek bed. You get tons, cubic yards and truck loads of river rock.
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How this was worked out
Assumes river rock at 1.4 tons per cubic yard. Yard stone runs bigger or smaller from one pile to the next, so ask your supplier for their number.
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About river rock
River rock is smooth, rounded stone worn down by moving water, sold washed and screened by size. It is mostly a landscape stone: beds, dry creek beds, around downspouts and along foundations. The common 1 to 2 inch size looks right about 2 to 3 inches deep.
More about river rock
River rock is screened into sizes after it is dug, so you will see it sold as 3/4 to 1 inch, 1 to 3 inch, 2 to 4 inch and larger cobble. Colors run from tan and rust to gray and white, depending on where it came from. It is not on the crushed stone number chart because nobody crushes it.
In a bed, put down landscape fabric, edge the bed, and spread the rock with a shovel and a hard rake. The bigger the stone, the deeper it needs to be to hide the fabric, roughly twice the size of the largest pieces. For a dry creek bed, set larger cobbles along the sides and fill the channel with the smaller size.
Rounded stones roll under weight, so river rock makes a poor driveway and a tiring path to walk. Because it is washed and smooth it dries fast, and a wet load weighs barely more than a dry one. Hosing off a dusty load after spreading brings the color out.