new path help - vote now!

[fiveaday]

So we're finally getting around to getting the paths sorted out around our beds.



At present they're just grass paths but we want to change this so it's woodchip all around 1m wide. One of the paths has had the grass killed of as we had carpet down over winter but we don't have the carpet or time to kill it all of first so....

We're interested to know your view of how you would go about this so please feel free to reply with your vote from below:

a) put down a cardboard layer and then apply thick woodchip layer

b) put down weed fabric and then apply thick woodchip layer

c) just put a thick woodchip layer down

d) put down a cardboard layer, then weed control fabric and then apply a thick woodchip layer

e) take up a 2-3 inch layer of grass and roots, put down a weed fabric then a thick woodchip layer

Any experiences would be great to hear about.

TIA

[fiveaday]

p.s. Once we do around the greenhouses aswell, we're talking about 85 metres of 1m wide path

[Jay-ell]

I'd go with either cardboard they wood shavings or dig up turf (for a turf pile) then cardboard then wood chips.

The wood chippings will eventually rot down and if you have weed control fabric it'll end up buried under soil which the weeds would grow in anyway.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YCtafUgoCX0

[Bigmallly]

I've gone the other way, I had woodchip paths but have now gone to grass paths as it looks nicer. I found the chips once rotted turn to mud.

[Jay-ell]

By the way, I've added your options to a poll to make it easier for you to gauge the replies and shuffled the thread across to the "Allotment Advice" section

[fiveaday]

Thanks J, I didn't realise you could create a poll. That's perfect thanks.

[Mr Bones]

I'd go for woodchip on top of cardboard too. If you put chips on top of membrane worms live above the membrane (and squash when you walk on them) and slugs will thrive below the membrane.

[Jay-ell]

I've gone the other way, I had woodchip paths but have now gone to grass paths as it looks nicer. I found the chips once rotted turn to mud.

Or alternatively you then have some extra soil you could shovel into the bed before adding more wood chips (although I don't think that the cardboard would be needed during maintenance)

I'm going with grass/clover on mine. Well, I've got some seed and it's a shame not to use it.

[1Bee]

Since I have very limited time on the plot, I always said that if I just had half an hour every few days, I did not want to spend all that time mowing. I have one main grass path and the side access which isn't technically mine but which I have to maintain. I don't have easy access to woodchip and my beds aren't edged.

I've ended up just using cardboard topped off with weed membrane for my paths. It can get a bit squidgy in very wet weather, but if it's that wet the plot's unworkable anyway, so I'm not there much! Patches that get worn need replacing now and then, but they seem to last at least a year.

I do a lot of my work kneeling, and I find woodchip painful to kneel on, anyway.

I wouldn't say my solution is good for everyone, but it works for me.

[Cadalot]

OK I put down cheap weed membrane and woodchips on my first allotment in 2102 -2014, its now turning to material that supports life in the form of weeds and needs replacing, I was using it as browns in my Daleks and replacing however due to the building works adjacent to the plot we can't arrange another drop of woodchips as there currently isn't the space as we can squeeze two cars in the entrance area.

On my second plot I'm currently using cardboard covered with good quality weed membrane and paving slabs where I can get hold of them. The rest of the paths will have paving slabs as stepping stones and as I remove stones from the beds they will be washed and placed over the weed membrane as a grave path unless I am able to find a source for wood chips again.

[bario1]

I dug the matted 'turf' (weeds) up and composted them, then lined the paths with old fertiliser bags as an impenetrable weed membrane, and added a good 4-6" of woodchip. Works a treat, the chips need replaced every couple of years but by then they've turned into a nice soil conditioner for the beds anyway! I spiked the fertiliser bags with a garden fork here and there to avoid puddles forming under the chips.

[fiveaday]

the chips need replaced every couple of years but by then they've turned into a nice soil conditioner for the beds anyway!

bario that's great to know. I was thinking I would need to replace every year but if it lasts 2 I'd be very happy. And it's good to know our plan of adding to the soil should work.

Nice idea with the old bags as well

[fiveaday]

Since I have very limited time on the plot, I always said that if I just had half an hour every few days, I did not want to spend all that time mowing.

Being at the bottom of our garden means our time isn't as limited as yourself maybe, but the point is still true. We have so much to do the paths just got left all the time. At that point, we then needed to mow, get the strimmer out for around the raised beds and it was another hour or two we could have been doing something else!

Hopefully once completed it will be minimal effort for a consistent look.

I have however discovered what you mean about discomfort for the knees, but an offcut of memory foam and an old compost bag have solved that one for me.

[Cadalot]

Getting down is OK it's getting back up that's a bu99er so I invested I in one a kneeling pad


Doubles up as a seat when I do stop for a coffee