DIY Rock Landscaping Idea | River Rock | No Fabric | Hide Trash Cans

It is time to start renovating my landscaping areas around the house. This is a simple DIY project really anyone could do.
So I decided to try using river rock landscaping (without landscping fabric) instead of mulch to help create an easier to maintain option. While completing this project I also found a way to hide my trash cans in order to please the HOA and so they are not an eye sore.
The river rock I installed in the video is called “Mini Cobble” and it is comprised of stone from 1” to 4”. This size difference offers a great level of variation that makes for a very cool look. I did not use a weed barrier or landscaping fabric because I believe that is actually easier for me to maintain.
If you have any questions please let me know in the comments
Instagram (imthattechteacher) / imthattechteacher
Music:
Epidemic Sound

[@DianeLee-je7jm]

Next time you Dad is ‘bored on vacation’ please send him my way 👋🏽 Your project looks great!

[@robertangell981]

Exactly what I needed to see. I have hostas to move and garbage cans to hide, amongst other things. Love how you did it with no fancy presentation or trying too hard. You got right to the point and didn't waste anybody's time. Thanks so much for sharing!

[@ninjawarriorassassin9871]

I am a rockhound. I love decorating with rocks. You can place them in planters to keep moisture in. Also keeps the base cool only the top of the rocks get hot.

[@Sunnygal75]

Thanks!,, I really appreciate this! I've been hearing lately of ppl NOT putting material down and it makes sense,, plus it saves more work and aggravation. I remember pulling weeds out with material,,this yr I'm putting rock down without the material. Thanks again! 👍

[@LordMogatron]

The way that sand pours out looks unreal. Excellent job on everything!

[@davidv7275]

What caught my eye here was the no fabric in the title. Bought a house 15 years ago with large yard areas and that had a stone/rock covered area with fabric underneath. Did not find the fabric barriers really did much, over time dirt settles in the rocks and weeds grow and the fabric inhibited the spread of the various plantings which you want to spread. Over time I have actually pulled up much of the fabric because it was easier to deal with the weeds and for greater spread of wanted plantings. Intuitively I would expect putting fabric underneath but my experience is again is do not bother. Also found fabric was not a water saver.

[@lisab.1595]

After a number of months of drought and triple degree temps here in Texas, I finally started gradually turning to Xeriscaping. I took my struggling ivy out that ran the length of my house and put down Canadian Large rocks which are in beautiful earth tones. Now, looking at it, I wish I had done it years ago. The ivy was nice, but, I have tons of trees and you can't get leaves out of ivy. If you use a blower, it sends the leaves deeper into the ivy, if I use a rake, I'm tearing off the leaves of the ivy. Now I have the stone down, I put two giant terracotta planters on top one with a palm in it the other I planted about 15 jumbo Caladiums in Florida Elise, and it looks just stunning. Little by little I'm adding areas of stones/rocks simply because I believe in conserving water, and you can always add decorative planters, or garden concrete statuary. You did a great job, it looks nice and neat with just enough color in the stones to make it interesting. About landscaper fabric, a landscaper told me it doesn't stop weeds because airborne weeds germinate on top of the fabric. I never thought about that.

[@diamond6256]

I agree with Dad, this fence makes it looks nicer. Love this video, great job.

[@loiswood3363]

Nice! I like how the trash cans are accessible but hidden, very functional and thoughtful design! Love those rocks, the colors are amazing!

[@jasonb.9953]

Attention to detail makes all the difference!! I just subscribed after seeing how clean and crisp everything looks. You gave me a couple ideas for my trash cans! Thanks for sharing with us.

[@TonyC-pq7bp]

Came out awesome. Love people that take care of their property’s. Great job.

[@jewel8077]

Beautiful! I love the gravel and hostas! Low maintenance, yet still beautiful and clean looking!

[@ThatTechTeacher427]

Thank you!

[@larrybruce4856]

Looks nice. I like the look, texture and different colors and sizes of rock used. I have a thin strip about 15 inches by 20 feet between my garage, sidewalk, and Townhouse where I used riverrock and I spaced evenly, succulents and Malibu lights. It looks great and illuminates the sidewalk area.

[@mrsemeraldgem506]

Beautiful! I mulched the side of my house yesterday. After viewing your video, I will use rocks when I’m tired of the mulch.

[@tonisave4368]

I didn't just enjoyed this, I'm encouraged. Thank you. God bless you and family.

[@marniemonfort7719]

You make it look so easy. Looks really clean and organized

[@crod3167]

Awesome finish! I love it! Tell your father, way to go on the side fence! He can build one for me, when he's bored again! LOL! I love hostas ❤️

[@vttest8793]

This is just what I was looking for. First time home owner and have some mulch areas that are just blah and wanted something a little easier and love the rock look. Very nice job! It all looks great!

[@emiliaescobar7652]

Great Video, Just what I'm looking for,!

[@krisbiscuit305]

Me too that's why I'm here.

[@amlmhmd]

Pleasure to watch and gentle on the ears 🙂 thank you !

[@ThatTechTeacher427]

Thank you!

[@mariamercy7317]

I'm seeing this video a year later. I love the layout of the gravel and hidden trash can... I couldn't agree with you more, this is completely "Gentle on the ears!" His calm voice and no loud crazy music. It's great! 👍

[@RustyCar]

I’m replenishing the front landscaping on my house with new river rock. The previous owners used river rock some 35 years ago, and they also used a plastic barrier. I’m replacing & repeating their original idea as shrubbery has become way too big & overgrown, have worn and the rock has settled well into the dirt surface. They, as well as me for the past 6 years, never bothered to remove fall leaves from the rock, so now the river rocks have settled into 35 years of muck, so to speak. I’m investing in a leaf blower and intend to use it several times throughout the fall and early winter seasons. Nice video, too, btw!

[@RafaelPernia]

Everything in your house looks amazing.

[@Pallidus_Rider]

I enjoy watching your projects. Each are very sensible and are well thought out. 👍

[@ThatTechTeacher427]

Thank you very much!

[@tonybells131]

River rocks are a nice look. I just used them to finish a drain alongside my deck and soh. Nice job spacing your plants also.

[@Starswake]

Great job and a beautiful result, love the rock.

[@KhmerH20]

not sure why but i always love the look of rocks and stones. thank you for sharing. can't wait to do something similar to my new home.

[@Hidden_Horror]

Great job. I love the use of the rocks in the backyard also.

[@royaltyb1837]

Wow, I’m Impressed! Your lawn is impressive too! It looks like a beautiful lush green carpet! You’re Hired!

[@laurellwomack6846]

Well done young man.... you did a fantastic job! Really looks neat and well maintained. Love your dad's fence too! Great job you guys.

[@ThatTechTeacher427]

Thanks I really appreciate it

[@alexanderwhite298]

@@ThatTechTeacher427 how's the liquid faction without the fabric.

[@chrisaustin23]

I did something similar with our garbage cans. Old owners had a bunch of skinny pavers for a mulch barrier that I pulled out. Laid those down under where the cans go to give them a platform. Then I had 2 scrap 2x6s for the posts and old 6' deck boards that I screwed on horizontally. Very clever idea!

[@ThatTechTeacher427]

Good idea

[@tokyodrifttt]

Great video style. Great voice and talking speed. Thank you for the great quality and effort you put in!

[@ThatTechTeacher427]

Much appreciated! I'm no pro and still new at this so that means a lot!!!

[@starkissed3878]

Thank you for the idea of the fence to hide your trash bin. We keep ours in the garage and sometimes we don't have room for it. Thanks for this.

[@irenew9095]

Love it! I'm planning on doing a rock gravel landscape with my backyard, and also, i like the idea for the trash bins as well. Thanks for sharing the video.

[@45gajpm]

Really like the clean look of the stones and fence. Great job, and love the dog face in the window...lol

[@jackiejohnson4965]

Really great job. Looks tidy and interesting. Love the fence.

[@andymaggie7137]

You had me at “hide my trash cans”. If your dad is till bored, I could use some of that fencing lol. Well done and good call on the fence height.

[@ThatTechTeacher427]

😂 Thanks!

[@rachellara3093]

Me too!

[@patriciarusso1148]

I like the different sizes and colors of the gravel that look good in your border of hostas. The fence was a fantastic idea for trash barrels. Well done projects!

[@ronaldprice8008]

Looks beautiful we also have river rock around our house and pool. Love how you hit your trash can

[@frances6827]

Great neat job done all by yourself & I love the paver work in that trash can space (and your father's fence work)! Will have my husband consider the pavers as our trash can rolls over rocks.

[@rethamoore4282]

Love the river rock !! Your beautiful plants are great looking there!

[@ThatTechTeacher427]

Thanks!

[@melodymulhall7860]

The other nice thing about landscaping with stone is you can use your garden torch and burn those weeds too. It’s so quick and easy

[@Lady3541]

Beautiful. Well done. My entire front yard is covered with different sized rocks no grass

[@MapleLeaf98115]

Looks great! I'd rather not use herbicides since they're terrible for the environment. Weeds always grow back so you have to continually apply herbicides. I think I'd prefer using a weed barrier or commit to hand weeding. Unlike mulch, rocks are more difficult to weed so that's the drawback to using them. But rocks look a lot better!

[@jccatalan1945]

I’m on the process of redoing my garden… just got an idea on how I’d go about fixing my garden then. Thank you for sharing…. Hope to see more related videos in the future.

[@VioletJoy]

I'm so impressed! I love rock and I also love hiding ugly things like garbage cans. Lol. Very nicely done. I wish I could shovel rock like that. I'd only be good at driving that little tractor around. Lol. Super handy!

[@TralynnBerry]

This is lovely!

[@Charlotte-dd6lr]

Love your pup in the widow at 4:31

[@julianpoh]

Very practical and maintainable approach. Love it !

[@ThatTechTeacher427]

Thanks 👍 so far that is how it's working

[@chosen1one930]

Use a preemergent, you wont have to deal with any weeds, either granular or a liquid. I have a rock garden in sun and shade about 3,500 sq ft, I switch up the preemergent from one brand to the next sometimes using using two in late winter to early spring, than one application first week in September. This works really well, just make sure whatever you use is meant for landscaping and not turf only. The cheap route is Preen all the time

[@marilynhudson5805]

Magnificent. You did a excellent job what a difference that you made to the yard 👍

[@ireneladd4812]

I like the idea of using the level to spread the sand...and being able to see if the sand is leveled. That's a great idea👍And the hostas look great with the river rock good job👍

[@danielg648]

Thank you bro! I have a smaller area to work with but now I know I can make it look really good.

[@glyndaroe9453]

Really nice looking. And instructions are very clear. Also fun to see your fur baby watching you at the window.

[@ThatTechTeacher427]

Thanks, love to get help from the dogs.

[@josiehernandez1431]

You make it look so easy. I'm about to send this to my husband to show him how easy it is. He's going to hate me - or you hahahaha I really like the rock combo of small to larger rock. The concrete look like you really laid cement. Good job. Look forward to more videos!

[@scottmoore5839]

The fence is not anchored to the ground?

[@lucaslegz]

Thank you for not adding music! You did a great job!

[@JulieRainyPDX]

I agree - added background music is so irritating!

[@MagnumVideos]

Nicely done! I love the rock you used. I did something similar in our front and back, but I need to add a few more inches of rock. I just get tired of carrying all those bags. LOL.

[@licygabriel6873]

Absolutely beautiful. Your video inspired me to finally get my area done. Love it. Well done👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾

[@KB-hs7vh]

Love it! Thank you for sharing! 🤗

[@TryThisDIYFix]

Great job! It looks so good! Thanks for the video!

[@tahoeblondie]

Looks great! I like the concrete pavers. You made that look really easy.

[@craiga9]

That face in the window when you were were filming the finished rock placement is pricesless!!!!! 😂😂😂

[@scooter2473]

Awesome!! I love my rock gardens, I use Preen too, weeds are rare but I just pick them up if I see them.

[@DaveCurrieDesigns]

I'm doing a similar project with old river rock for landscaping and pea gravel for a trash can area. You can use cardboard boxes or even newspaper as a weed barrier. Just cut it to the shapes you need and lay it down, dump the gravel on top and no more weeds. Works great and it's completely maintenance free so far!

[@bugwar5545]

How long is 'so far'? A day? A week? A month? A year?

[@chris-qq4nr]

I like watering my rocks also, I used river rock and flat stones to landscape and got rid of mulch, and used a weed barrier. I didn't think about Preen, but I will now. I use round-Up and also pull weeds. Here in DFW, it's the weed capital it seems!

[@pagingnurserose2215]

Absolutely Beautiful💕

[@northeasthardytropicals541]

Love the rock look, very clean.

[@ThatTechTeacher427]

Thanks!

[@joanne4120]

Looks awesome .nice neat and clean .thanks for sharing!👍💙

[@ThatTechTeacher427]

Thanks for watching!

[@blacksheep9772]

Thanks so much for doing this video. Ive wanted to do something similar but was unsure about the weed situation (considering I wanted it to look nice and neat with minimal maintenance). Im definitley going ahead with this now. Im going to check out your other videos too. Appreciate you sharing your knowledge. 🌴🌴🌴

[@ThatTechTeacher427]

Thank you. A year later the only thing that I may think about is using a fabric to separate the stones from the dirt so they dont sink into the dirt over time but right now it still looks the same as when it was installed.

[@blacksheep9772]

@@ThatTechTeacher427 I had same thought, I will add fabric for thus reason. Thanks for the update & advice. 😊

[@CatsBestFinds59]

Great job! You're voice is easy to listen to. 👍

[@0912Jojo]

Great idea, looks beautiful,I need helping have to get mine done .

[@claudiacanales2662]

The hostas were beautiful!

[@breewallace9814]

I love those plants.

[@cherylwingate4431]

Everything looks great 👍🏾!

[@graceemanz]

Gorgeous!

[@charcoalanderson8010]

your dad's fence is dope! would love to know how he built it as I aim to do the same thing (after the million other projects I need to complete around the house first ) You did a fantastic job on the stones and hostas.

[@Star2ice]

Fantastic job. I wish I could do the same in my yard. Subscribed💚

[@likewtf514]

All about practicality 👌

[@noradedios7639]

Looks nice! Thanks for sharing.

[@HairExperience]

Looks fantastic !!!!

[@danisabetances788]

Love it! fav Job.

[@audnbob1]

We did the same with river rock last year for an entire patio and love it!!!

[@ThatTechTeacher427]

Awesome!

[@Schmair87]

Did you had to hassle with weeds 🌿

[@audnbob1]

@@Schmair87 No problem with weed's! We haven't had any issue's at all! We used a commercial grade landscape fabric we purchased through a local garden center we have in our town. It's the type they use in their own Greenhouse. When fall came last year, we had a ton of leave's, and pine needle's blow in the area from surrounding tree's and it didn't affect anything. We gently raked up what we could into a snow shovel and had to leave the rest. By spring, they just dried out, shrunk up and were gone with the wind! Once in a great while, we may have one 'sprout' pop up but you can easily pull it out root and all like butter. In fact, we just pulled out another very lush garden on the opposite side of our house. A 7'x12' bed and replaced it with the same thing! It looks better, neater, cleaner and again is zero maintenance! I wish we'd done this long ago when I think back to the big expense and hard work of all the garden's I'd put in over the year's! I'd suggest it to anyone!

[@leigarden5890]

Hi Audrey, Can you please let me know where you bought the river stones? and usually how much river stones do you need for covering 1m2? Many thanks

[@audnbob1]

@@leigarden5890 Hi Alex :) We bought our river rock right up the street, from a local landscape company who has a bunch of different stone and what not. I gave him the dimension's of the area we wanted to cover and told him we wanted it 2 inch's deep or so. (I'd read that if you go deeper than that, it doesn't pack well, and is hard to walk on because it'll shift a lot.) So, once I told him that information, he agreed right away and did the math for us and knew how much we'd need. So, I'd go to a landscape or gravel type company if I were you. Our guy was spot on too with his math! Worked out perfect! If you'd be willing to give me your e-mail address, I'll send you picture's because I don't know how to do that on You Tube unfortunately :( Just thought I'd throw it out there so you can see for yourself. We still love it and did another area this past fall!

[@fireroadie6654]

Great video. I like that you don’t put down A weed barrier I never put a weed barrier and I love it.

[@Diane56ful]

Looks great! I’m about to do this in one of my long flower beds that borders the driveway! Wish me luck!

[@normavillanuevamendoza2801]

I did the rock around my house last yr and I love it ❤️ also did it alone and yep I agree with the shoveling lol 🥵💪🏼 love what you did, it’s so nice and neat ❤️

[@ThatTechTeacher427]

Awesome good to hear and Thank you!

[@southbridgeforestHOA]

@@tracyannbielhy9794 rock looks good for a few years, but only stays that way if there are no leaves or debris that can get into ti, after 3-4 years, it looks dirty and nasty, better to mulch imho.

[@L2HH2C412]

​​@@southbridgeforestHOA unless you're in an area susceptible to termites🙄. One size doesn't fit all. To each, his/her own.

[@southbridgeforestHOA]

@@L2HH2C412 lol I am in NC, we have termites and guess what, no issues. wood mulch does not attract termites, old wives tailes do not make truth

[@gettngrittywithgreg7728]

Nice job. I built a 40ft × 3ft sidewalk using this style rock going from my deck to the bridge out back. Put some stepping stones in and total cost was around $250

[@bluesdawg8014]

Perfect brother, thumbs up. You hooked it up man Los Angeles

[@sheilamontoya5546]

Really nice n neat. Love the rock. I'm going to invest in that real soon. Trash fence cute. Thank you

[@ThatTechTeacher427]

Awesome! Thank you!

[@dominicpolicarpo9787]

I should try watering rocks in the future it looks like a lot of fun and is very satisfying😄

[@ThatTechTeacher427]

😂

[@phelanowens]

Outstanding Job!!! Nice

[@barnardl1]

A lot of great information and new ideas. New favorite channel!

[@ThatTechTeacher427]

Awesome, thank you!

[@bubblesmckenzie4125]

Very nice fence. Your dad is a superstar. I can see where you get your building talent from. 🙂❤️👍

[@charleschapman2428]

Thanks for the video, Preen also makes a garden/vegetable pre emergent that's made from corn if you are worried about chemicals. Any Pre emergent will work in your flower beds as long as you don't try to grow from seeds.

[@myk1200s]

Kudos to you 👍my experience with rock and landscape fabric was just the opposite.... Nothing but weeds 😡 so I'm tearing it out for mulch. I know weeds will grow up through the mulch but it seems more manageable to deal with versus rock 🤷

[@charlottec6587]

👍 Nice and clean!!

[@jeffloucks2120]

Agree on the "watering rocks".

[@vids247]

I need to do the same for shrubs along my front walkway, and to get the trash cans away from my front door. You made it look so easy! Might be going with smaller gravel, tho. Thank you for this video!

[@ThatTechTeacher427]

Thanks!

[@FranciscoSanchez-cx9iz]

Very satisfying!! Great job!!

[@ThatTechTeacher427]

Thank you! 😊

[@ReflectiveMetal]

I like what you did to hide your trash cans I think that’s brilliant and simple.

[@ThatTechTeacher427]

Thanks I have to give my dad the credit on that one.

[@NaturallyGifted77]

Everything looks so nice! You did a great job!

[@ThatTechTeacher427]

Thanks!

[@chanelprincess6061]

IT looks Amazing!. I have a mess in my backyard. I have Gravel down and so many weeds grow through it. I have to push back the stone and add the fabric. But kudos to you for keeping the weeds down You just have o make sure you apply the Preen