So here in the south of Atlanta, GA area, we have been inundated with rain and I need to put down stone in a couple of mucky areas that have eroded as a result. I need something that packs and won’t erode. Should that be just stone, or something like crush & run which is basically sand and largish stones? Stone/gravel will be fine at the corner of the barn, probably 1 inch. But on the driveway area, I don’t think just gravel will pack enough to hold by itself. Thoughts/suggestions?
It will all erode if the water is too persistent. I would suggest using larger material first and then topping with crush & run. Usually I would suggest a 3" bedding stone, this would be an angular crushed stone, not a river rock. Ideally you would dig down a foot or more, lay in the 3", then another layer of an 1 1/2" bedding stone, then your crush & run. I would also suggest doing more of that as French drains where the water is hitting the hardest.
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We use 1" stone in our unpaved driveway, the corral, and gate openings. It packs down and it’s not hard to walk on for both people and animals. We used 2" stone to create French drains by the horse barn.
The best size stone depends on how deep the mud is and whether the land slopes or is flat. Deeper mud and steeper slopes need larger stone, maybe topped by smaller stone, pea gravel, or crush & run.
Can you plant vegetation to keep the area from eroding? We seeded native grasses, flowers, and shrubs on a steep slope by our barn. We put down erosion control blankets to stabilize the ground while the plants were getting established, and now I have a nice bank of wildflowers and no erosion.
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If you want to be one and done and you do right? A pad that will hold up forever - at least the base will…
You want to remove all topsoil down to the clay, lay nonwoven geotextile fabric, then 3" of larger stones and then top with 3" of limestone screenings or whatever is used in your area. Then ideally get a roller on it. That thing will last for a long time.
If you just dump stone odds are it will disappear down into mud hell and you’ll just keep doing it.
That’s my 2 cents having a dry lot built right coming up on 5 years ago that still looks pretty much new and is worth every single penny - well…dollar. 
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First make sure that the drive and surrounding areas are pitched correctly for drainage. You may need to create swales, ditches, or install culverts or drains to have long term success.
BTW, does everyone know the French in French drain is the name of a person, Henry French, and not a reference to the European country?
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We have asphalt millings which work very well. They do produce somewhat toxic run off so not to be used near streams and I personally couldn’t use them near a well or leach field.
Ditto this!
Be sure to use heavy nonwoven geotextile fabric - I think we used 6 oz. It’s often called boulder cloth, and you might need to special order it from a landscape supply place.
Because our paddock is sloped and has good drainage we skipped using two different size of aggregate and just went with 6 inches of 1" minus con-bit, which is recycled concrete and asphalt that packs well. We then watered and compacted it with a plate compactor a few times.
It’s AMAZING and every spring I thank my husband for doing it - I used to cry over what a mucky/slippery mess the paddock used to be. We have clay and it was like trying to walk in/on peanut butter.
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I will raise my glass of wine tonight to Henry French! Look at his life and I had no idea. We all know how incredibly important drainage is on our every day life and the health of our horses.
Here’s a piece of his writing. Nothing comes up but super cool way back he was doing earthwork.
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I would second laying geotextile fabric with the stone over. Cleaning out the mud will make a better base to lay stone on. I would suggest crushed concrete, up to 3" size pieces. The angular edges will bind together, getting more solid with use.
We raised the driveway along the side of paddock, which has a runoff ditch fed by the road ditch on two sides of the paddock. Sometimes the runoff is 4ft deep! That much water WAS overwhelming the culvert under the driveway in paddock corner at times, so water flowed over the driveway into my backyard!
The concrete stone we put down, smoothed with the tractor loader, then drove over to pack down. With a second load of concrete stones later after first load settled, to raise the driveway more, has turned driveway into a dike. No erosion even with moving water slapping against the driveway side during heavy rainwater runoff. Concrete rocks are solid. Seldom get overflow now. Water stays in the paddock unless we get heavy runoff, 6 inches of rain in a day. We are the neighborhood low spot. All field water runoff comes here, so that can be a lot in the ditch/paddock at times. No more driveway potholes, just wet dirt (off wheels of truck, tractors) that has migrated to cover the concrete stones.
I would not use asphalt millings because it CAN affect water around it. Asphalt is a petroleum product, a few oily drops will contaminate LOTS of water and soil.
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Thanks for the replies. Very helpful.
