advice needed--what to do between the beds?

19 years ago

My beds are in, the plants are growing, and I am pleased as can be! A newbie to SFG, I can't help but drag everyone I know out to see my new garden. :)

I have 6 4x8 beds (two horizontal on the north and south ends and two vertical with an 4x4 bed in the middle). The pathways between the beds are four feet wide. SFG was a perfect fit for my designated garden area-- my area sits between my house and barn, gets plenty of sun, and has impossibly hard clay soil covered by a thin layer of gravel and a thick layer of weeds and grass. So here's what I need help with: the pathways.

I've been looking at various options: grass, gravel, shavings, bark, pavers, brick, etc. I love the look of pavers or bricks with creeping thyme or some other "stepable" in between, but setting up my beds has about taken my whole garden budget for this year. I have raked and pulled most of the weeds in between, but I know they will be back! They're probably growing even as I type!! Would you recommend shavings (I've got plenty on hand for the horse stalls), throwing grass seed on the dirt/gravel and wishing it the best (don't want to dig any more! would grass even have a chance out there??), or just trying to keep on top of the weeds and keep the gravel?

I love my garden, but it needs something to pull it all together. Would love to hear your suggestions, or see pictures of your gardens. Thanks guys!

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Comments (2)

Demeter
19 years ago
Gravel and weeds? Ick! The only thing that would make that mess worse would be black plastic under the gravel! (I had to deal with that once. Not fun.)

If it was up to me, I'd pull the weeds and throw them in the compost, then scrape up all the gravel and put it ... I don't know where. Someplace out of the way. Then a thick layer of newspapers or cardboard if you have some, and shavings on top of that to make it look nice. That will give you a fairly soft surface to walk on. You'll still find weed seedlings popping up among the shavings, but you can just tweak them out and stuff them into the mulch in the raised beds.

Who knows, having a layer of organic matter on top might eventually soften up that clay a little bit.
luckybottom
19 years ago
What about incorporating both: put cardboard or several layers of newspaper down and then put your shavings on top of that? I really don't see why you could not do this right on top of the gravel.

Our climate is so different. We can't keep enough moisture to even lay newspaper. My walkways are recycled grass. I removed it from the front lawn when we landscaped and put the pieces in the walkways. They look nice but I do have to keep up with the stuff wanting to spread into my beds. I made them just the width of my lawn mower, so maintenance is simple.
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