sorting the grass between the beds

[allotmentbaileys]

Hi,

Early days on our new allotment in Wakefield Yorkshire (270m). Got one cheeky bed in and working on beds 2 and 3 (yay!).

Can anyone please advise on how to deal with the grass between the beds? I know nothing about lawns! Ideally would love to eventually tame it into flat, mowable areas, but at the moment the surface of the moon is smoother.

Advice on how to flatten out the surfaces and eventually get flat mowable between bed space would be much appreciated.

Links to tried and tested 'how to' guides and/or advice highly valued.

thanks in advance for all helpful replies.

Happy growing :-)

[Alison]

Good luck with that! Seriously though it won't be easy as you'll have to cut and fill to make it flat and then sort out the weeds etc if you want nice grassy paths. I didn't bother and put down cardboard, membrane and bark.

[greenishfing]

Are the paths established paths? Or just basically weeds?

If it's weed type grass make sure it's not couch grass or you'll need a lion tamer as the roots will spread into your beds.

[Two_Sheds]

please advise on how to deal with the grass between the beds?

If it's bentgrass or couch grass it needs to be dug out, because they both will keep invading your beds, for ever & ever

[Fleurisa]

We aren't allowed grass paths on our allotment site

[Alison]

We aren't allowed grass paths on our allotment site

What do you have instead?


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[Martin H]

We aren't allowed grass paths on our allotment site

Good. Over the next few months I'll be getting rid of the grass paths on my allotment, although I'll probably have to leave the ones around the outside. I hate grass, it invades the beds and smothers the crops.

[Fleurisa]

We have old paving stones, some are halved to make narrow paths

[andy_j]

Got rid of my grass paths. I sprayed them off with roundup then dug them over. They were then levelled and paving slabs put down (old ones from free cycle)

I planted a row of marigolds along one side and will eventually plant either camomile or creeping thyme between the slabs

[snakeshack]

sorting the grass between the beds

Used mypex weed control fabric for paths initially intending to cover it with wood chip, 5 years on only about half has wood chip but no weeds on any of the paths


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[allotmentbaileys]

thanks for all the ideas, got distracted by the sheer amount on awful bindweed on the site, in addition to the brambles, turns out 3/4 of the site is infested with bind weed.

Yes it does look like couch grass.

Think the approach is going to be to work up the space a third at a time. Got lots of old carpet from freecycle, so will use that for paths in addition to beds.

the bindweed is making it really slow progress. Have also dug out 30+ brambles, with at least as many more to go!

[Martin H]

Do keep after the brambles and bindweed, it might take a season or three to get rid of them completely but they do slow down a lot if you keep pulling them out whenever they re-appear

[RaptorUK]

Think the approach is going to be to work up the space a third at a time. Got lots of old carpet from freecycle, so will use that for paths in addition to beds.

Check your association rules, many no longer allow carpet to be used, there can be nasty chemicals in the "underlay" of cheap carpet.