Pathways on allotments

[Hazel at the Hill]

I've been making raised beds at the Hill. I had thought to lay weed suppressent permeable fabric to form the base for the paths, then covering the paths with (free) chippings from our local park.

In GYO this month (p26), Paul has used wet newspapers instead of the weed suppressant as the basis for paths, and I wondered if this was a good idea or not.

Clearly this will be very cheap, but I don't want to be digging up soggy newspapers/chippings in a couple of years if doesn't work very well!

What do you think?

[Two_Sheds]

I use wet newspaper too. It works really well to suppress weeds, and rots down within a year. Surprisingly, hardly any weeds have come back where I used the newspaper - the bark topping allows a few opportunists to take root, but not many at all.
It works really well

[snuffer]

I'd stick with the weed suppressing membrane idea. Newspaper would exclude light but would soon rot down. Another advantage of the membrane would be to stop any seeds that might germinate in the wood chippings put roots down into the soil.

[bobleponge]

I think I would use the membrane. Its what I use on mine and cover it in gravel which was free from my commune.

[chuffa]

I got some old cardboard and laid them down before winter as they are slippy i am covering them with membrane this year. Then its either bark, which is light and can be blown away or gravel which can be pricey. What do you suggest.

[Two_Sheds]

Bark chippings don't blow away if you wet them. It forms into a solid kind of mat.

[Alison]

Lottie Paths

Has anybody tried doing newspaper paths as described in the March GYO mag? Sounds simple (and more importantly, cheap!) but I've just got visions of paper flying across the plot as it dries out.

[zazen999]

Alison - I've merged yours with yesterday's question.

[spiderpig]

hazel,
if in doubt,why not use both.....?

[Hazel at the Hill]

hazel,
if in doubt,why not use both.....?

Because if I'm going to shell out for weed surpressant I'm not going to @rse about with soggy newspaper. If I'm going to @rse about with soggy newspaper, I want to know if it's going to work, otherwise I'll shell out for weed suppressant...

Not made my mind up yet (verging towards the week suppressant, but then I've not priced it up yet. ) and you've all given me food for thought.

[pigletwillie]

I had weed supressing fabric topped of with bark chipping and newspaper. In both cases the medium rotted down and needed replacing (I just shovelled it into the beds) as it turned into a perfect growing medium. I still use chippings as they take longer to rot (3 years) as the membrane looks stark on its own.

[Snadger]

Never used it before, but I would imagine soggy newspaper would be quite 'greasy' underfoot in wet weather. Guessing that the addition of bark chippings would negate this?

[di]

We've managed to get hold of lots of old lorry footmat things(don't know what they're really called....you have them under your feet when driving?),but they've worked just fine.
We're actually on the lookout for an old conveyor belt....have sourced where to get it,just they're several mikles away & closed weekends.But will be the perfect width,definately weed suppressant qualities & very cheap!

[Sanjo]

My local £1 shops sells weed suppressant and I have just used it under my new pathway. I topped that with home made tree shreddings so that it looks reasonable. I have to have something fairly tidy or her next door will be putting up a 6' fence to hide my garden and that will cut out my light. I have also just bought a much heavier one for my potato bed from Wilkinsons. It was £4.99 but is 5' x I think it was 20'. Pretty strong stuff whereas the £1 is thinner. Although it is good enough for pathways. Wilkinsons did do a much bigger roll for around £20

[Hazel at the Hill]

I've used £1 weed suppressant before - it was basically thin black plastic - as paths at the Hill, and un-topped with chippings it is very very slippery indeed.

I want the rain to drain away, and the weed suppressant I am thinking of using is permeable stuff. I've seen two types - a sort of plasticised black woven hessian (if you're with me) or a sort of stiff felt type material. Sorry - not a great description!

I had weed supressing fabric topped of with bark chipping and newspaper. In both cases the medium rotted down and needed replacing (I just shovelled it into the beds) as it turned into a perfect growing medium. I still use chippings as they take longer to rot (3 years) as the membrane looks stark on its own.

So do you shovel just the bark/newspaper into the beds and re-topped the membrane (which is permanent), PW, or do you replace the membrane too?