By Joel Berlin | SDUN Columnist

Ever wondered what to do with your cracked, worn-out concrete or blacktop driveway? Well, instead of re-pouring concrete, why not look at turning that gray driveway into a living, green driveway. In the past, only honeycomb cement blocks and other cement-like materials were available, but today we can use recycled PVC cell pavers. Recently I designed a green driveway using Grass-Cel Pavers. Some of the other brand names are PermaTurf, EcoGrid, Golpla, Flo Cell, GeoTurf BodPave 85, and many others. Your contractor can find these systems at a local irrigation wholesaler. Grass-Cel Pavers are an exciting product that lends itself to many new techniques in landscape design.

In my Xeriscape landscape design as seen above, I looked outside of the box, foregoing grass as the planting medium. Instead I used Dymondia margareitae, Carex comans ‘Frosted Curls’, Carex praegracilis California Meadow Sedge. To make the drive more interesting, I highlighted the edges with taller plant material, and used more of the sedges in the center of the drive, keeping the wheel wear area only in dymondia. Should you decide to use plantings other than grass for these paver cells, make sure your plants have shallow roots, and/or use rhizomes to proliferate. Also use plants that can take medium traffic. Another important note is that these driveways are not parking lots. Keeping a car parked over living material will prevent photosynthesis and the plants will perish.

There are many different products out there to help support your vehicle and allow turf to grow. Grass-Cel Pavers are an exciting product that lends itself to many new techniques in landscape design. The honeycomb structure makes each piece strong and durable. Each honeycomb cell has a round opening at the base. Air, water and nutrients move through these holes to the soil below. Grass roots extend through these holes, binding the Grass-Cel Paving Blocks to the surface. The slot provided in the walls of each cell allows roots, stolons, and rhizomes to move freely from cell to cell. The longer time that this paving is down, the stronger the surface becomes. The vertical walls of the honeycomb cells are engineered to support all traffic, preventing the soil within the cell from compacting.

Each paver system may vary in price, but usually a pallet of 340 pieces costs about $1,000. With road-grade gravel, sand, soil and labor you are looking at $9 to $12 a square foot installed. We found the Grass-Cel Pavers at a local irrigation wholesaler. It is very important to follow installation instructions, which involve removing soil about 6 inches deep in your new green driveway area, then laying out about 2 to 3 inches of compacted road-grade gravel, followed by 2 inches of sand, before laying out the pavers. Creating a stable and well-drained surface is key to the longevity of the green driveway. Again your contractor will make sure no steps are missed.

The Urban Garden will bring you the newest technologies to green, urban gardening and landscaping. It is my hope that through this series of articles, you will be inspired to look to new directions in sustainable gardening and landscaping practices. The face of San Diego is changing as water diminishes and urban sprawl continues to grow. Be inspired and make a change.