Yeah, thyme is great- but you mow it down once and it will take weeks to a season to start growing in nicely again. Mowed thyme also is kind of pokey when freshly cut, so you would want to wear foot protection while out in the yard. Also, you would want to stop mowing 4-6 weeks before your first frost- thyme puts out new growth and the plant can be damaged if it's pruned too close to frosts. You can try a test- cut down a whole plant to 2-3" and see what it leaves behind visually, how long it takes to grow back to a pleasing foliage.

Not all clovers are alike. It's usually white clover or more recently microclover that is used in lawns. Clover works better when mixed with grasses rather than on it's own. I don't know how supportive mowed golden thyme would be.

That's great information. Saves me some trial and error. I guess I was imagining a softer carpet after mowing. I am pretty sure I've mowed around an edge of the patch I have around my raised beds a few times but I wasn't paying attention to the results.

Yes, It is white dutch clover. Maybe I need to consider adding some kind of grass with the clover and I could edge it on both sides with the golden thyme? I'm definitely wanting to avoid grass spreading into my beds but if I add it to the clover and edge with thyme it will spread into the thyme. So.. it may be I should avoid the grass and the clover and stick to the thyme. Maybe I could even find another variety of thyme that would also be happy in clay soil and have a mix of thyme?

I think it could be a fun project and experiment. I could try little patches of it next year with and wilthout grass. Just thyme alone. The reason I want to use this taller thyme is because I have clay soil and I've not found the carpeting types of thyme to be too happy with that. I think they prefer sandy soil. This golden thyme has been very happy and spread. It has spread into the pathways between my vegetable beds and is walked on all the time without ill effect. And...it has stood up to drought very well. And to tell you the truth, I don't think I've been in my bare feet in the yard unless we had the kids in kiddie pools. [g]

I've seen public gardens that have grass between beds that they mow shorter but perhaps that is a lot of work keeping it out of the beds. They might have a staff of volunteers to keep after it but I wouldn't. [g]

I have some big patches of thymes in the herb bed. It gets trimmed up as it creeps out, just like the oregano and mint. Oregano is just as unlovely as thyme when it's cut short.

Woolly thyme - Thymus pseudolanuginosus is perhaps the best for pathways since it never needs to be mowed, is soft and beautiful. Is that one you tried? I don't know how personally it would do in clay soil. I googled and got mixed results.

Have you considered using stone dust (I have granite dust walkways) pea stone etc. or mulch? It could probably be a good solution for you.

Peren.all - I have tried Woolly Thyme and it survives for me but it doesn't spread well and winter in the clay soil always leaves it diminished the next season. I think I considered doing the golden thyme because I have so much of it, it could probably cover quite an area and it has to be moved any way.

We have been doing mulched pathways but the path I am replacing has weed fabric under it that I'm going to be pulling up. Otherwise, I think it ends up being more work then we want to be doing. We have used cardboard under mulch but that really only keeps the weeds back a couple of seasons.

I love granite stone pathways but they're not common here. I have no experience with them and would have to locate a supplier and someone who had experience installing it. And I again worry about ending up weeding it. How much weeding do you have to do?

I have every kind of path I think. I have a yellow thyme that is much lower than yours, so keep looking. If you want to use what you have, can you raise the stepping stones so theyre flush with the thyme? I have gravel and was getting discouraged by the eventual weeds until I tried corn gluten. The result was great! My wood chip paths are a pain because my chip pile isnt so close but if you have a free source and an esdy way to spread it once a year it’s not so bad. I have grass paths abutting borders that I maintain with sharp trenches. I also overseed the lawns with Dutch white clover and find that pops up in the borders far more than grass. The best thing about clover is that it occupies the bunnies who now bother with little else!

If you want to pursue crushed stone, go to a stone yard and ask about Item 4. It’s a mixture of gravel and fines which packs tightly.

In my former garden I had several types of very low thymes surrounding my vegetable garden, though not in the rows. They were so lovely in bloom but edging was required at least once a season around the entire garden.

Kitasei - You do have a lot of different paths, which is your favorite? [g] You didn’t do the crushed stone?

The pea gravel path…did you install yourself? What is it edged with? Does the gravel end up everywhere? Do you just sprinkle corn gluten all over the path? Where do you get corn gluten?

We have done bark mulch but not the chips. Is there any concern about attracting termites to the wood chips breaking down? I have a small property and wouldn’t have a place away from the house to put a pile of those that I’d feel comfortable about, but in a path near the house, maybe there isn’t concern? I agree that if you can just replenish the bark mulch once a year, you are usually okay. Here is the bark mulch path when it was first installed….

OH….maybe I wasn’t clear. I wasn’t going to use the thyme around flagstones, I was going to plant a solid mass of the golden thyme like a lawn, instead of grass. And I think to purchase the amount of thyme I’d have to buy would be expensive. Using the one I have would cut way down on cost, but also the attractiveness of the choice is that out of many thymes I’ve tried over the years, this is the only one that thrived, so I know what I will get.

I was just remembering how much Snow in Summer spread for me in the past and wondering if I could edge a thyme lawn with that. I forget what it looked like out of bloom though.

Is there some technique you use to overseed your lawn with white clover? I suppose it is too late to do that this Fall.

Laceyvail - Yes, the edging is what worries me. [g] I always pledge to keep up with the edging but life happens and if you don't keep up with it, what a mess.

My woodchip paths are in woodsy areas. Arborist chips don’t break down as quickly as shredded bark. If the photo shows the extent of your path you would want to find someone with a small truck to dump it on a tarp at that gate. If there is excess, do you a pkace tobuse it as mukch? In my case the main weeds are perennials creeping underneath so the smothering on cardboard isnt sufficient. I have resorted to scalping with a trimmer, which is a look that is fine in those areas. In any case redist the urge to pull weeds from any kind of path! You just create more.

My gravel was installed on landsxape fabric which came up the sides and was wdged with stones like yours. I bought a gallon of gluten at home depot and just shook probably 1/3 on a oath the size of yours. It's easy but needd repeating probablynseveral times a season. No more difficult than salting your food.

I suggested elevating some stones or pavers so that you don't have to trim the thyme.

Kitasei - That photo of my path, is not the pathway I am working on. That is just an example of my use of bark mulch paths. The path I’m working on is much larger running east to west. Longer and wider and would be up against rock edge on it’s north side and lawn on the south side. And when we do bark mulch, at the beginning of that path out of the photo frame is our driveway and we buy mulch in bags because it is much easier for us to use and store that way. I have tons of places to use mulch and probably wood chips too at the back of my small 1/4 acre property in a shrub/tree border along a fence line. I would have to cart if from the driveway back there which would be a lot of work for us.

Resist the urge to weed the pathways?! That is a tough one unless I’m unable to garden at all..lol. I understand what you are saying, you are disturbing the soil and churning up more weed seed. Yup.

Your gravel paths…sounds like a good way to install. Corn gluten sounds like a perfect solution. Did you install? Does the pea gravel end up getting kicked up from the pathway onto lawn or into beds?

Thinking about your pavers idea. I’m rethinking my idea of a solid lawn effect with the thyme. I actually could lay some pavers and use the thyme all around them. That would make it spread further too. That’s a good alternate idea too.

So…which pathway is your favorite? [g]

If you were able to get the stone dust it is super easy to work with because the pieces are so small. A wheel barrow, shovel and rake is all you need. This is the one case I would say landscape fabric is applicable. Have it tight so there is no movement.(I just laid mine over grass but put down a thick layer, a good 3-4 inches,) No grass came up through it.

You would make it say 2" thick then rent one of these. Once you roll it the stone dust is packed so tightly no weeds will start. The reason I suggest this option is because it is a one and done.

The thyme is appealing for you since you have it but you will have to cut it at least a couple of times a season. It is always nice to have options.

Peren.all - So you installed it yourself? It sounds easy to do really and how can you argue with one and done. And actually, I love the look of it. So what borders your path and did you edge it with something or just dig a trench put the fabric in and fill it up and settle it in? I'm going to be curving mine and one side will border the lawn. I'm just trying to figure out how to keep lawn out of any of these path solutions.

Gardening! It's so much fun!! :-)

Yes I installed it myself. I did this when I started the gardens so my DH would bring a load from the large pile in our Bobcat dump it and by the time he was back I would have spread it with a rake. These were large pathways. You would be on a smaller scale so a wheel barrow is perfect. I used a 5 1/2" deep rolled edging that was 20' long. My pathways are curved in many placed and it is very easy to make the curves with the plastic edging, I used an edger to make the cut and then just laid the edging in. I find a garden fork (or two) is very helpful for holding it in place while working. I used the plastic edging because it was economical and easy to work with for the amount I needed.

Agree with kitasei that after the edging is installed you could add a brick mowing strip abutted to the edging and sunk to the height of your lawn. That way there is no grass trimming to do.

Peren.all - I love the look of a brick edge. I did this to my raised veggie beds on this one edge and today when I was looking for another photo I came across this and had completely forgot there were bricks there....lol. They have disappeared under the lawn long ago.

The plastic edging sounds important and I love your technique with the pitch forks...genius!