I'm not sure what the answer is for you, but stepping stones are something I dread to be expected to walk on! I have a significant balance problem and stepping stones usually have hazardous gaps between them and/or are rough or uneven. I can't imagine that they'd be a good quality path for someone with a vision problem either.

Loose, round gravel is definitely awful too. But the hard-packed fine/sharp gravel that is often used on paths in public parks around here is easy to walk on and stays relative weed-free as long as it stays firm and hard and gets a reasonable amount of foot traffic. I'd be inclined to look into that as an option. You'd probably have to remove some of the loose gravel to lower the level so that the final path is not raised up. But perhaps some could remain as a drainage base - you'd have to ask someone who knows about such things... A hard-packed gravel path with plantings on both sides always looks nice.

use a roundup type killer ON THE PATH ... and be done with it..

i know of no one who can pull weeds.. successfully ... out of stone.. and that is why you are failing ..

properly applied..it should end you weed issue ...

i agree that stones are more decorative.. rather than usable.. unless you are willing to dig down 4 to 6 inches.. and stamp in a hard base .. making it almost brick work ...

ken

Woody- Guess I'm wanting to try to use something I have. The stepping stone pile in our garage is kind of an odd, stubby totem pole that we don't know what to do with. I don't want them to go to the landfill. Just seems like there ought to be some use I could put them to.

Ken- Round up? I'm not permitted to play with chemicals. Can't read the lables. Although, actually, it's my husband who once mixed up root stimulant and Round Up. Killed 2 dozen baby plants.

He did apply Round Up last year. Just like the year before. Once only. Usually when the weeds are already taking off.

I say, "Sweetie, love of my life, I don't think all these big, bad weeds are dying. Could you please put an itsy bitsy more of that nasty chemical on them?"

"NO, love, those weeds are dying. Their weak. Give them a couple of weeks and they'll be gone."

Weeks pass. Weeds grow. Wife pulls out every little weed along about half of the path. Husband wonders why Round Up worked on half a path.

Does he put Round Up on the other half? Nope. Does wife continue fighting weeds up to her eyeballs? You got it!

So, I am interested in digging out the area down however deep you have to dig. I'd put in the base layers. Then try to lay stones in a sort of thick double ribbon. Curve it a bit. Leave some places for thyme (sunny end), chives, hosta along the way.

I have a few hundred dollars I can throw at this, just not thousands. I'm thinking I'd hire some muscle and eyeballs for the really backbreaking part.

Maybe I'm just crazy enough to try this!

Can you use the stepping stones to build a wall somewhere or use them to edge a bed? I really don't think they'd be good/safe for you on the path and won't do a lot to solve the weed problem. Weeds growing up between cracks in stones or bricks are a serious PITA to remove! All my paths here - and I have a lot of paths... - are a mix of 2/3 pine bark mulch and 1/3 sharp sand, packed down with a water-filled roller. Weeds rarely appear in the paths and, if they do, they are easy to remove by pulling or by using a J-shaped crack-weeder turned so the blade is flat to the ground and then running it just below the surface of the path. Very easy to do.

Do you know what the weeds are? Are they blown in from somewhere or are they seedlings from the bed nearby? If they're coming from the garden bed, perhaps you should change the plantings there....? What is on the other side of the path? Is it an open area so east side = sunny? If so, could you plant something on that side to shade the path? There are fewer weeds in shady conditions!

Hi Wellspring and Woody. Paths are something that I've struggled with too. I have not wanted to invest a lot of money into installing exactly what I would love because it would be too expensive and there has been some question about whether we were going to move. So, I've used a similar approach to Woody.

On the North side of my garage I have a path from the driveway to the backyard gate that is probably 15ft long and about 4ft wide. It is in the shadiest part of the yard and only gets late afternoon sun, which I think helps with weed growth. I actually decided to go with bark mulch because it fit the casual look of the area, it was inexpensive and easy to install. We laid down landscape fabric under the pathway and added bark mulch to the top. The first year after it was laid, I did still get a few weeds, but since then there is rarely a weed. And it gets a fair amount of foot traffic that helps. It also is easy to renew it with fresh bark mulch. Of course, if it was a pathway to my backdoor, I would not find tracking the bark mulch into the house acceptable.

When I reached the gate however, I wanted more on the backyard side of the gate and added 2ft square pavers in a 4 square pattern with 2 inches of space between them, filled in with pure sand and planted Irish and Scotch Moss between and Thyme around the edges. It has worked out very well. The Mosses have done well there and the thymes too. and there is rarely a weed. That part of the path was an experiment to determine whether I would end up with a weed problem, and since I have not for the past 3 years, I plan to now extend that pathway further into the yard to the vegetable plot. Because the pavers are large 2ft squares, I find it quite level and easy to walk on.

Your situation with the gravel sounds pretty labor intensive because if you choose to remove the gravel, which I completely understand, that is a big job. And not sure what you would do with the stepping stones underneath. I have seen gravel in many a photo of English gardens and it seems to be so different then what I see here. It is usually very fine textured and installed in such a way that it appears very level and weed free. I don't know how they do it.

That's just my experience, if I think of any more ideas, I'll come back. Good luck!

Woody- Great questions.
I like the bark mulch paths I've created elsewhere in the garden. The texture is sufficiently different from grass so that if I'm walking across the back lawn toward the path, my feet can "identify" when I've stepped onto a path. I, too, find them a pretty good weed barrier with annual to bi-annual addition of wood chips.
My possible roadblock to using this method on the east side of the garage is my husband. (Poor guy, I keep ragging on him.) He doesn't like bark mulch up against the house. I have put in paths up against the house in two beds, but there the material at ground level is brick. On the side of the garage it's siding down to the ground and at the north corner is where there is termite damage from the time of a previous owner. So my husband worries about putting lunch out for termites, nevermind that they come in underground and they'd be more interested in chomping on the house were they to return.
Another note on termites -- when the guy was out this summer about the time we got back from 3-weeks away -- he recommended that we reduce the weeds to deter termites. So, there is actually a serious reason to do a better job than my dear one and I have been managing.

There seem to be four basic weeds here: violets, some sort of grass, bindweed, and something low growing and fleshy that loves to break off at the crown.
The narrow bed has very little in it at present -- a patch of lemon thyme, chives, and several too-large-for-the-space Emperor of China mums.
One of you asked what my neighbor has going on in this side yard. They've removed everything. Got lawn people to seed and then overseeded again. They want "simple". Just grass.

PrairieMoon- Sounds like we are both path dreamers. Also sounds like you like the answer you came up with for your path. I particularly like what you described beyond the gate in your situation. In mine, there is also a gravel patch bordered on 2 sides by gate and fence, and by patio and a flower bed on the other two sides. it's a small, awkward gravel patch with the same weed issues as the path.
I am leaning now toward digging the gravel out to a depth of 4 to 6 inches, put down landscape fabric or newspaper, and then the path material, probably cedar wood chips or try a blend like Woody's. I seem to have friendly light conditions with most shade at the mid section, so I'll have to make up my mind about whether and how to use plant material. . I do think I'd rather have plants away from the house rather than up against it. Or maybe -- no fun -- no plant material at all. I may have to figure out a way to define the edge between neighbor's grass and my path / border.
I did really think I'd be asking more questions about perennials along this path. Maybe that's my question ... How have others incorporated paths and perennials? Not talking here, of course, about access into beds, but using perennials with a path that needs to be functional. This is the only access, for instance, for the lawn mower to come from front yard to back.

I have paths through both side yards - a 50' stretch on one side and 25' or the other. Both paths are lined with perennials and shrubs. In the south alley there is the neighbours' 6' wooden fence at the back of the bed on the south side. The 50' north alley has a 4' chainlink fence on the north side, which is used to grow honeysuckle and clematis. Both alleys are 8' wide. The path is about 3' wide, running through the middle. The beds on the house side of both alleys are slightly wider than the ones on the fence side. It's surprising what you can pack into narrow beds! The plants need to be pretty tough ones as the soil conditions under the roof overhang are pretty tough. I used soaker hoses to water until things were established.

I added sharp sand to the fine mulch to add weight so the light mulch doesn't blow or wash off as easily, and also to help it pack down. I would have used just the sharp sand or something else that would pack down hard (even simple road base material....) but the mulch color looks more natural in my basically woodland-themed backyard.

I've never had to deal with termites! But they'd probably lead me to consider just the hard packed sand/gravel or concrete and leave out mulch.

I use an aluminium edging called Curv-rite to keep grass from invading my brick edging. Something like that set low to the ground would probably keep your neighbour's lawn at bay. If the area was shady enough for some of the big, heavy-leafed hostas like my favorite 'Elegans', planting a row of them along the edge would smother the grass by shading it densely!

Violets can be eradicated if you pull/dig them very early in the spring before the fertile flowers under the leaves have a chance to flower and set seed. Then you need to be diligent about removing seedlings as soon as they appear in order to exhaust the seedbank that is already in the soil. Ditto the other weeds - the key thing is to never let them flower and never let seedlings get established, so the soil gets exhausted of seeds. Similarly, you need to exhaust the food stores in the roots of the one that breaks off at the crown by never letting it develop enough leaves to feed the roots. A season of very dedicated weeding (and maybe some chemical help) would get you ahead of the problem.

Yes, Wellspring, I have definitely been a path dreamer for awhile now. And I still have a good portion of the garden that needs a new pathway, but it's on the back burner for now.

I did find a photo of our pathway when we finished it. It's pretty simple and we used rocks to create a little bed there that simply has ferns and other shade perennials in it for now. I have thoughts of adding something vertical there, but who knows when. Another thing I like about the path is that it is under a high canopy of a large Maple tree and near some full grown spruce in the neighbor's yard, so we get a nice layer of needles and that layer of pollen that falls off the tree in the late spring, and it then makes the bark mulch look very natural and part of the landscape. You can see it is easy to navigate with a four foot wide gate that allows for the wheelbarrel etc. I couldn't find a photo of the pavers on the other side of the gate yet, but I'll look again. I need to catch up with my photo labeling.

My question is, does this path get enough traffic to rule out grass? Or is the situation too shady to rule out grass? I have some grass paths, with garden beds on either side. It takes about 15 seconds with the lawn mower to maintain them.