My garden as a similar layout (though not 20' wide) and I have some side-paths, and also some stepping stones in key places so I can get in and work.

Also a woodland garden won't need very intense cultivation if mulched and densely planted. Stepping onto the beds occasionally isn’t a disaster. After all you’d happily wander through woodland without keeping to specific paths. Btw I don’t quite get how the beds being 20ft long means you need to reach 20ft. How far you reach us determined by their width, not their length. What are you envisaging? Are you saying the beds are 20 feet wide?

i dont quite know what you mean by your given definition ...

but i think of paths as the roadways ... wheelbarrows.. hoses... etc ... places of repeated use.. perhaps heavy use ...

but otherwise.. i dont understand how a woodland setting is so jam packed with plants.. that you cant just wander around in it ... do what needs to be done.. and move on ...

and im not even sure you need a path to be 5 feet wide .. unless there is some variable that is escaping me ....

so.. what do you mean when you say woodland garden .. if you peruse the images at the link below.. you will see.. there really isnt any common definition ...

i too.. like flora ... picture walking thru a woodland ... there really isnt a path there ... or what i called a roadway above ...

ken

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffcm&q=Woodland+garden&iax=images&ia=images

I think stepping stones can help

I had a shadowy border a while ago, and the stepping stones kept the spring bulbs in good condition ( I tended to step on their emerging flower heads)

it really depends how fanyncy the planting is. If you have large patches of tough "ground cover" perennials they will be okay with walking through them.

and if you use the leaves of some trees as mulch in fall you hardly have to weed anyway

have you chosen some plants already (just curious)

Earlier post made a good point and I have found the same to be true. Once the plants filled in and with the leaf mulch from the tree canopy I get very few weeds. It seems like mostly the bird poop ones: Mulberry, Buckthorn and Hackberry. Being those won't generate any seeds no hurry to pull them so I wait until the end of the season so if I step on or break a plant no big deal. Having some areas of a resilient ground cover you can step on is a good idea.

Floral, I meant 20 feet out.

I guess I won't have to pack the beds so densely, except where my groundcovers such as my pachysandras will be. That'll also save me time and money on propagating/buying more plants. For the path width I think I'll do 3-4ft instead. What groundcovers can take foot traffic?

Linaria, yes I have my full list already. About 45 different perennial, shrubs, and tree species. But NO hostas!

Three feet is too narrow for a garden pathway that gets used frequently or needs to accommodate wheelbarrows or other large equipment. And five feet is overly generous :-) Four feet is just about perfect!

I had a largish woodland garden at my old house.......40' along one side and 25' along the other (forming an "L" shape) and with an average depth of 15' (but deeper where the two legs met). There was a singe stepping stone path at this junction. Plantings were mostly trees and shrubs but with a few woodland perennials and a couple of groundcovers. When it was necessary to access the beds for weeding or pruning, I just carefully stepped in between any small plantings.

Not really necessary to overthink this :-) I have pretty deep planting beds everywhere in my current garden - most at least 10-12' and some even greater - and I also step into those beds when any plant maintenance is required. But I do tend to do the majority of any significant maintenance in the off season when plants are not in active growth.

I think if your woodland plants are spaced away from each other enough to look better, you should have enough room to get in there to weed, or whatever. I'm sure you'd want enough space around plants like the Japanese Woodland Poppy, so they stand out. It's refreshing to see you not using Hostas. Hopefully it will catch on. When it's winter here in the east it can be hard to do maintenance because many plants dissappear completely. I would still try to space plants to create a natural look, and not an artificial, assembled look.

Wow impressive! I really admire your garden. I wonder how many years it’ll take for me to at least get this garden going and looking presentable. But yes, one thing I really was concerned about was ticks and mosquitoes, especially because we have a new puppy and my wife is kind of allergic to mosquito bites. So I don’t intend on using any leaf material for my woodland garden. I’ll just stick with mulch but I’m not sure if the plants will deprive of nutrients.. our soil is kinda clayish so I’m hoping it’ll have enough natural nutrients in the soil. Also the only trees that gives leaf litter are the 2 giant silver maple beyond our property line. The outer edge of its canopy is just slightly over our property so not a lot of leaf litter. The trees I want to grow are some conifers and smaller trees so there shouldn’t be much leaf litter even in the far future.

Slug is also an issue here.. they already destroyed my lycoris radiatas. I bought some of those pellets called garden safe slug and snail bait and I’m hoping that works. And also since I tend to use a lot of space whenever I work in my garden, I will go with a 4 ft path. I also have a tendency to not look where I step behind and accidentally step on my plants..

I also have a tendency to not look where I step behind and accidentally step on my plants

Go with the strategically placed setting stones (or flat rocks) suggestion.

no leaf litter?..I love leave litter..it's nature's way..nobody wants ticks but I've been here with a HUGE quantity of leaves for 16 years (in March) and we haven't had ticks..pics#1,2 are recent ones of my backyard..#3 is the front..the leaf litter is comfortable underfoot, attractive (better than mud and weeds) , beneficial to the soil, plants and pollinators..what we collect from the roof, driveway etc we spread around the lot..it's amazing how it decomposes..in my opinion your garden won't feel like a woodland without leaf litter..

I have half an acre so maybe I have more space than some..but I love wide paths..in my opinion 5 feet is not too wide..

woodyoak..I glanced at your link..it's great!..later I'm going to read it thoroughly when my husband's out of the way and I can concentrate 😂..

summer shots..the leaf litter is broken down and waiting for fall's leaves..pic#3,4 the paths aren't as wide but I wish they were..sometimes the trees determine the path..(as in the front - previous comment)..I did cut the groundcover back in pic#3..the path in pic#4 has pavers..my neighbor gave them to us..the concrete circles in front came with the house..originally in back we created a path in front and moved them..

Thanks for the positive comments :-)

It only took a couple of years for the garden to start looking ‘presentable’ but the garden did change with time as we developed stronger opinions on what we thought looked best and what needed to change in the structure. Plantings changed over time as some plants died out and others thrived.... The underlying soil here is heavy clay. I used mycorrhizal fungus supplement in the early years, which helped improve the soil but leaf litter is definitely the basic soil improver! Mosquitoes are definitely a pest, largely dealt with by wearing a bug net hat and concentrating gardening activities at particular seasons and times of day. We have only had two tick incidents in the past few years - one on DH’s left foot when he foolishly walked around the garden with no socks on! The other tick was found on our dog by the groomer this Fall! Both ticks were identified as Dog Ticks that don’t Normally carry Lyme Disease, but we remain cautious. What breed is your puppy? Our current dog is a black miniature poodle and it would not be easy to see a tick on him!

nicholsworth - I always like your woodland pictures :-). You have twice our space so have room for wider paths, but even if we had more space, I probably wouldn’t opt for wider paths.... Paths are one of the places where the most weeds appear! ‘No bare ground’ is one of my basic operating mantras as weed seeds often need light to germinate so germinate most readily on bare ground. Paths, even mulched ones, are the most common bare spaces here! Mulch easily washes or blows off, exposing the bare dirt underneath or the seeds germinate on top of the mulch. Also, wider than strictly necessary paths means smaller garden beds! Plus, the paths in the woods I grew up with were narrow except those that were ‘tractor paths’ for heavy equipment (or horse and wagon in Grandpa’s younger years...) or were used to move the dairy herd from place to place. So, to me, narrow paths are what feels natural. Likewise dirt or leaf litter/evergreen needles/moss on the paths feels more natural than stones or paving material of any sort, simply because that is what I grew up with.

woodyoak..thank you!..I like your pictures too..I realize that not everyone has as much ground as I do..we have space for plants and paths...you walk more in a larger garden..it takes longer to get from point A to B..a neighbor behind me with a smaller lot (we back up to 4 homes) said she saw me go from one end to the other and thought "that yard is too big for me"..a wider path takes less effort to "stay on the path"..as far as weeds the less traveled paths have more leaf litter and not many weeds..the paths closest to the house have less litter with some mud and weeds..so this fall we left the leaves that fell and dumped more..

I might just invest in those tiki torches for the woodland garden and dump loads of mosquito bits in my pond nearby. Wouldn’t that help? Unfortunately leaf litter will not be an option for us as both my already anti-outdoor wife and my grandma will not allow that. I always disliked the look of leaf litter at my previous garden at my dads house as well. I know it’s the classic woodland look but to me it just looks messy and I don’t feel safe walking on it even if I have 10 cans of repeltick sprays lined up in my room.

He is a hybrid between a golden retriever and jindo. I guess it’s easier to spot a tick on him than yours since he’s a lot lighter in color. He’s on the tick prevention pills prescribed from our vet so he should be safe but you never know...

Heruga..I hope your garden turns out the way you want..we're not anti-outdoor and not bothered by natural settings..most of my neighbors hire people to blow everything to the street and haul it off..that would be much easier than raking and redistributing like we do..but I can't do it..it's not the money..I want my organic matter to stay..those same neighbors have mulch heavy landscapes..you dislike leaf litter..in this setting I dislike their mulch..to each his own 🙂

Leaf litter can look messy if the leaves are whole. We have a mulching leaf blower/vacuum that we use to suck up, chop, and then dump back on the ground large leaves - e.g. the oak leaves - that reduces the space they take up and makes them faster to breakdown further. Leaves that fall on the lawn get chopped, ppicked and bagged by the lawnmower before being spread back into the beds, so they disappea when the plants grow in the spring. Our garden is small enough that it is not much work to have both the advantage of the organic matter without the negatives that some people might find visually unappealing from a high volume of unchopped leaf litter.

woodyoak..we have the same routine and the same tool..and a chipper and mulching mower..we don't chop every leaf but quite a few..some people may not like the look of our woodland but we love it..the fresh air..the shade..the birds..the plants..anyone ever coming here made positive comments about it..a contractor told me "I wish I could work here everyday"..he wasn't turned off by the leaf litter..

in a "clean" garden with fewer trees the leaf litter stands out..and someone might think "they should clean up those leaves"..in my woods you don't notice the leaves..leaves or bare dirt?..I choose leaves..

nicholsworth - my comment above was actually directed at the OP - to say you can ‘have your cake and eat it too’ re adding/keeping leafy organic matter but also have a neat and tidy look if you do the maintenance in a particular way :-). Personally I think it takes more effort (and certainly more $!) to bring in mulch rather than just use the available leaf litter in a tidy way....

No leaf litter means no insects means no birds. Is that what you want? You can not call what you are making a woodland garden. Sorry.

Can you please let me know which mulching leaf blower/vacuum you use?

Rory, that was my question! ha. My former MIL had a wonderful small one (gas powered, I guess) that she moved around her yard as she cleaned up the leaves. She could adjust the part that shot out the chopped leaves so they went exactly where she wanted them. So wonderful. That was 40 or so years ago and I can't find anything similar now. She is 103 years old now. Maybe I can casually mention it to my son, so when the time comes, his uncle would let him have it. Sigh.

Woody and Nicholsworth, your gardens have been my inspiration for years! This is the year I have decided is my year to really get the lowest part of our yard cleaned up and planted. Need to get rid of invasives first. The bamboo is coming back from the neighbor's property and the woods. Ugh.

cyn427..what a nice thing to say!..thank you..my husband purchases all of the "big" tools..I don't use any of them! Lol..we work together but he operates the power tools..I do hand pruning..raking..pulling weeds..picking up debris etc..the manual labor!! Lol..
I think we have a similar tool that you're describing..it's at least 20 years old..made by Black and Decker..

I've used stepping stone paths to access smaller areas. About the only weed problem I had was thistles and garlic mustard. If I accidentally smooshed some of the ground covers, it wasn't the end of the world. The thistles and GM usually came out relatively easily . . .Don't be fooled by Dame's Rocket. It looks like a wildflower but it is an invasive weed that will quickly spread and out compete the natives . . . these are all edgy type weeds. Deep shade is a great tool against weeds. It's a double edged sword with paths. They provide access, but along paths is where your weeds will get started . . .

I just purchased this and it works very well.

Worx

It's a very dirty job but it is very powerful and even picks up and shreds wet leaves. I blow the leaves into an area then plug this in and suks them up. I have been dumping and spreading the mulched leaves all around my property.

I am going to order this also so I can just suck them right into a larger collection container.

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