Crusher dust instead of landscaping fabric

I'm creating edging around my house with railroad ties. I want to put pea rock down under my deck since it's hard to reach and keep it maintained.

The ties will create a nice edge and it makes mowing/trimming the grass an easy job. They will also keep the pea rock out of the grass and grass out of the pea rock.

As for under the gravel, I'm considering either landscaping fabric (weed barrier) or a 2-3" layer of crusher dust that I can compact with my compacter.

Landscaping fabric is getting pretty expensive when you get the good stuff. I'm also afraid that the pea rock will start sliding over time, because my house is built on a slope (see picture).

I'm leaning towards compacted crusher dust because I feeling that everything will stay in place regarding the slope.

See attached picture of what it looked like when I bought the house 18 months ago. I already put the ties in and now need to make a decision about what's going under the pea rock.

Any thoughts, ideas, suggestions? Thank you!

You have a beautiful home Daniel. If your only goal is a no low maintenance area I would go with the crusher dust. That stuff is serious. The only way it gives way is a large amount of rain in a short period. Since it’s under your deck that scenario seems unlikely. I would also recommend looking into crushed concrete. It also packs like nobody’s business and may be even cheaper than crusher dust.

Personally, I'm trying to move away from using railway ties. Coal tar creosote is nasty in every way. My 2c.

As for the liner, I think grass will laugh at your crusher dust and punch right through. Neat idea though. A thin layer on top of fabric might stabilize your gravel.

@Douglas: I forgot to add that I will remove all the grass before I put anything down. So it would be crusher dust and/or weed barrier on top of just black soil and pea stone on top of that.

@Scott: Thank you, yes I'm very happy with it. Heavy rain has crossed my mind as well, I don't want it to get mushy or muddy although I wouldn't use the pea stone to walk on. Most of it will be under the deck indeed. The ties are about sticking 1-2 foot out from under the deck, so right now quite some water comes down from the roof when it's raining. Next year I want to add gutters all around the house, right now there are only gutters on 2 of 4 sides. I'll take it into consideration and the crushed concrete as well.