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Potager Gardens

Material for pathways?

10 years ago

Hi! I have a new home and am working on my first pottager garden. I'm trying to figure out what material to use for my paths? I am considering 2 things, either gravel or pavers made from cement molds (as this is how I'm doing the rest of my paths and patio in the yard) 2 concerns are weeds and letting in water by an apple tree which does sit at the end of the pottager. If I do pavers water can still get through if i don't fill with cement sand, but I don't want to be weeding the cracks constantly. If I do regular sand will there still be many weeds? If I do gravel will I need to set out a weed cloth first or will the gravel over the dirt do well enough to keep down weeds?

There was already a section for garden with pretty good soil, but I've made raised beds and plan to do the 4 inner beds with Mels mix for square foot gardening and the outside with the soil.

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Comments (8)

mandolls
10 years ago
My experience with pavers is that no matter what you put down under them, eventually windblown soil moves into the cracks and weeds begin to flourish. I did my front walk with pavers on a 2-3" bed of sand. By the 3rd year it was a weed trap - and getting them out is a pain! I have been trying to find something to plant in the cracks that will be more aggressive than the weeds, but haven't found the solution yet.

I would go with the gravel over weed barrier myself, but it probably has its own problems - I just haven't encountered them.
Charlie
9 years ago
All of the methods/material you are considering will have a weed control problem. The weed seeds will land on the sand, gravel, or between the cracks and germinate. I recommend pavers because they will match your other walks. You can control the weeds with boiling water, weed begone, or pulling.
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Would you consider removing the top layers of gravel and making the pathways bark? It would be a one-time expenditure of effort -- much like replacing the edging. Then it would just be a matter of adding a bit more bark than you would when you refresh the mulch around the plants. With some luck, a Craigslist ad might locate someone happy to haul away the gravel. Disclaimer: yes, I'm not fond of gravel. ;-) Or of the round white rocks I inherited from the previous owners.
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If those big roots are lifting the sidewalk next to the house, they are on their way to the house. Most trees can sustain damage to the odd root but some don't take well to it at all and damage to several roots is likely not a good idea - especially for a large tree near a house, since roots function in part to keep trees upright. Learning what kind of tree it is will help you determine not only how it is likely to respond to root cutting but also what its roots (and the rest of it) are likely to do in the future. One thing I have done around tree roots is to use paving stones, laying them around and between the tree roots. But this has only been for a back pathway to the alley; for a front sidewalk used by guests or the mail carrier, this is not good enough. Bottom line is that if a tree is causing trouble around structures, you want to think about the long term viability of this tree in this location before doing contortions to adapt to the tree. You might put thousands into a new sidewalk only to find that the tree is removed within five years for its other incursions as it grows... canopy, other root problems, etc. KarinL
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I made a bunch of stained glass stepping stones and around them I put glass mulch. I made the mulch from broken and tumbled alcohol bottles that I got from the local bars. It saves them from the landfills and it is about as cheap as you can get....FREE! If you choose to do this I would suggest breaking the glass pieces small so that they don't break when walked on and then tumble them for a couple of hours in a cement mixer with a small amount of play sand. The stepping stones are pretty easy to make but not cheap so if you are on a budget you could make plain stones from quick crete. Here is a link that might be useful:
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none of what you want is a cheap undertaking! But what the heck! why not call in a landscape designer? show him/her the pics that celery did. tell him you want something like that w/a pathway and designated front yard. what you need is some professional grading. (the people over in Landscape Design/ Garden dilemmas) could help you a lot better w/ideas. Maybe DigDoug will draw something up for you. he is a genius. over by the sunken in portion (which is fine. is it a cement slab? did you know you can paint and stencil that to look like tile? ) I'd get the yard graded so that it's flat and easy to walk around. I'm sure you could have drainage installed. then redo the deck w/some stairs that lead down to the patio. have a spa area, porch w/a swing, some chairs, a kitchen, tv, whatever you need. look into the grading option and landscape design. this is cement slab, painted and stenciled. tons of DIY's online (Royal Design STudio stencils, or Cutting Edge Stencils all have tutorials) you could even do a 'rug' and paint the surrounding slab a solid color
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Pyewacket
9 years ago
Pavers + creeping thyme. Fragrance as you walk - BONUS!

Weed barriers and/or plastic break down faster than you would think, and gravel gives uncertain footing. It's a pain to roll a garden cart or wheelbarrow over it. And its ugly.

I've never had that much trouble with weeds where I've placed pavers or stepping stones - just set it up so there's enough room to run the mower through there if nothing else. (I personally have never mastered the Art of Weed Whacking, so the mower is my favorite weeding tool).

Here is a link that might be useful: Some design ideas

This post was edited by zensojourner on Sat, Oct 11, 14 at 3:45
riverfarm
9 years ago
After years of having woodchips on my potager paths and having to replenish them yearly we finally went with pavers. This was the first season for them so I don't know how they'll hold up over time, but the woodchips quickly became bedding for weeds and the yearly refurbishing got time-consuming and expensive. Another nice thing about pavers is that I suspect they also provide a damp area for desirable plant roots to flourish.
nancyjane_gardener
7 years ago
Pavers+creeping thyme......There is a site called steppables.com that has all sorts of groundcovers you can walk on! Nancy
Cathy Kaufell
7 years ago
Have both crushed stone and slate pathways. This article might help.

https://theherbladyblog.wordpress.com/2017/04/01/how-i-control-weeds-in-my-stone-pathways/
User
4 years ago
I use pine straw in mine.
alameda/zone 8/East Texas
4 years ago
I have river rock around my garden cottage - it is fantastic! I put packing sand under it then black plastic over that then the river rock. If a few weeds come up, its so easy to just pull them out or spritz them with roundup. Its great! I have pavers in my potting shed/chicken yard. These also work great - no areas in cracks for weeds to get into, no trouble with these at all. I use pea gravel in walkways with huge round stones to step on. Pea gravel, to me, is hard to walk on. River rock is much better.

Judith

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