One suggestion that I wish I'd known before we did our paths: make it wide enough for your garden carts, etc. to pass easily.

Make the effort and do it right the first time even though it's a lot of work. Digging out is necessary; maybe renting a small scooper, like a Bobcat, would be back and time saving. As to what you put into the path you dig... I can only give you our experience:

We first tried mulch.... disappeared;
then pea gravel.... very hard to walk on;
finally crushed cement as an alternate to DG..... works great.

Forget the underlaying groundcloth... waste of time and money. You'll need to spray with RoundUp and a pre-emergant anyway..... because the seeds land and take hold on the top of what ever you put in.

You could possibly have a drainage problem. Depends on if it drains well now. If you don't put your stones in a layer of sand or DG or some other suitable material, they will move.

I just (single handedly!) put in a flagstone walkway in the front of my house. Only had to dig out a few inches. It took me about a day and 1/2 of solid, intense labor.

A really easy way to do it would be to just lay some decomposed granite and tamp it really well.

I put in a path of decomposed granite (DC) over some base rock -- I did have to excavate a littie. I did use a weed cloth not because it would impact weeds at all -- wanda is right that it won't help there -- but to have a solid layer between the soil and the pathway in case we so something else. I doubt we would but you never know! It was cheaper than concrete, was done by a complete amateur (me!) but looks quite nice.

Oh, and and FOUR FEET WIDE. You will be so much happier. That was one piece of advice I got in many places and I'm so glad I put in the extra work and money to make the pathways 4' wide.

CJ

I have a path and another area outside my shed where I put down pea gravel. It is very hard to push the lawn mower through like West said. As far as the weed block my experience tells me it is more trouble than its worth. The weeds do seed and grow on top of the weed barrier but on the plus side they are generally easier to pull out since they don't always root below the barrier if you get to them frequently.

I remember looking this topic up in the landscaping forum. Someone mentioned "compactable aggregate", which is crushed rock that tamps down and stays put, unlike pea gravel, which doesn't. Try looking it up in the search below.

Thanks everyone. I'm a little disappointed that this is going to take some work if we want to do it right.

Another thought is small bark mulch which we've been putting on this area as a makeshift path for a few years, just to keep the dust down. Now that I think about it, that hasn't been a problem, and it hasn't washed away even in the heavy rains we had in winter of '06. I'd like to border the edges with large stones for a natural appearance.

Since the bark mulch we've used there has pretty much stayed in place, does that indicate that we may not need to excavate a path after all?

Jen

Thanks everyone. I'm a little disappointed that this is going to take some work if we want to do it right.

Another thought is small bark mulch which we've been putting on this area as a makeshift path for a few years, just to keep the dust down. Now that I think about it, that hasn't been a problem, and it hasn't washed away even in the heavy rains we had in winter of '06. I'd like to border the edges with large stones for a natural appearance.

Since the bark mulch we've used there has pretty much stayed in place, does that indicate that we may not need to excavate a path after all?

Jen

I saw an easy path on TV made by sprinkling dry concrete on DG, then watering in & letting dry. They said it makes a durable path & doesn't track. Has anyone tried this method?

I'm working on this project as we speak.

My plan was to leave my landscaping fabric/weed barrier, put a layer of decomposed granite (DG) and then rest flagstones on top of it.

Do you guys think I should use the flexible black plastic edgers or is that a waste of time/money?

Wood chips will abut this DG/flagstone path....

I think eventually though, I will replace all the mulch with decomposed granite...the mulch requires too much upkeep and the weeds (as has already been said) grow on the mulch anyway....I'm assuming DG isn't as consumable as mulch.

Anyone have any more info on the technique of using crushed cement?

----lucia in CA

I recently built a path for the local museum in Calistoga. I used plastic bender board because sharp bends were required in narrow spaces. My first time using this four inch wide plastic, about a half inch thick. It is staked down with plastic stakes from the same maker. Landscape fabric was laid down with DG covering about two inches deep. It takes a few months for the DG to pack and you should plan on adding more as needed till it does pack. Roots have not been a problem coming through the fabric even though lots of aggressive roots are in the ground. An edge was definitely required for this job. Al

You can get a good price on black edging and landscape fabric at Big Lot stores during the summer season.

Our paths are all crushed concrete; it was the cheapest at the time. It works quite well... except that the occasional Salvia, or Rosemary will decide that this is the best spot to live; and the gophers are quite capable of coming up thru' it. But then, these problems would also exist with the other methods given above.

You might like the path I made a couple of years ago. I posted pictures on another forum, here's the link.

Here is a link that might be useful: leafy path

That path is gorgeous! How did you get them in those shapes?