Growing a Herb Path - another daft idea!

[veggiechicken]

Search for Herb paths and you'll find dainty thymes planted in cracks in paving stones, perhaps edged with lavender. I'm thinking of summat much more robust

Now I love the smell of mint, lemon balm, oregano etc - and they're all perennial herbs that spread - some would say spread too well. They're also easy to propagate from cuttings - root or stem.

My daft idea is to plant these herbs into the path itself - and walk on them
Imagine the scent of mints and lemon balm wafting up as you trample them. If they grow too well, strim them down and leave the cuttings to mulch the path. In winter they'll die back anyway.

I have lots of paths to play about with , so it wouldn't be my only route around the garden. It would be one for sunshiny days, mooching and dreaming

Daft idea - or not? Tell me!

[Pirahna]

If you insist on mint I suggest you investigate Corsican mint. It's mat forming and low growing. BUT is described as having an infinite spread.....

Another couple of herbs that might be worth investigating are creeping rosemary and creeping savory.

I'm just trying to establish chamomile and a variety of thyme plants around some steps/flagstones/paths and have a creeping savory as a possible edge path. I looked at the creeping rosemary but decided to try with the thymes and chamomile first.

If it helps I have an oregano 'volunteer' which is attempting to grow between two flagstones in the patio. It occasionally gets trod on and hasn't died..... yet

[burnie]

I've done this with Chamomile and Thyme, also with the lavender I added a curry plant, plenty of holes in the crazy paving, so maybe a mint

[veggiechicken]

I don't have any paving - its just soil - and weeds

Piranha, I have Corsican mint (I think) and several other nameless ones, so they'd all be bunged in. Prostrate rosemary is a bit woody for what I want, I don't think it would stand much walking on without snapping. I'll goggle creeping savory as its a new one on e!
Thanks Both

[mothhawk]

I don't think any herb path will work well if it is walked on regularly. There's a difference between grasses and herbs. Grass grows from the base of the plant, so if you cut the top off the leaf by mowing it or walking on it, the same leaf just keeps on growing upwards. Most herbs grow from the tips, so by breaking, cutting or crushing the tips, you are inhibiting the plant's growth and it has to start again from the nearest bud to the damaged tip, making a new set of leaves.

Occasional traffic would be OK I guess, but then stuff like mint and balm would get leggy really fast in the summer and you'd have to trim it anyway.

But, hey, if you don't give it a go you can never know for sure, can you?

[Jay-ell]

My main gate to my plot has purple creeping thyme, pennyroyal and chamomile as do a couple of my paths. Smells great but a pain to weed.

In the bits that aren't trod on they grow up, but where I walk they are kept low and form a dense mat. I can't actually see the stones they were planted in between.

My second gate just had pennyroyal at the moment. It's not used as much so the pennyroyal is taller there. Nothing a quick strimmer or a little time spent jumping up and down on it won't solve. The more you walk or strimmer it the lower the plants grow.

I got a pot of corsican mint last year to divide and use as a path this year - but I've put my JA buckets and assorted mfbs there at the minute. I'm up to 5 pots at the moment - may have to divide it again soon.

[Snadger]

You just have to include Bergamot (Bee balm) for that lovely orangy smell. It grows similar to mints and would stand an odd trmpling methinks!

[Finley]

This sounds like an excellent idea! I'll be interested to hear how it goes

[Pirahna]

I've come across at least one interesting idea for planting a herb path which will get more than occasional traffic - but it requires forward planning

When building the path make sure the planting holes/spaces/cracks have a soil level which is an inch or so lower than the top of the pavers/flagstones/etc. Erring on the side of caution make sure the planting holes/spaces are smaller than foot sized and not in the centre of the path - where a person is most likely to step. Then use plants which are naturally low growing/creeping - preferably only growing to a few inches.

The suggestion is that building the path in this manner gives the heart of the plant enough protection to establish/thrive/grow and protects it from being directly squashed, whilst the creeping outer parts of the plant roam and get trod on/squashed/abused.

[vixylix]

I've been thinking about this too - you will no doubt get there before me, so let me know please

[Jay-ell]

I've come across at least one interesting idea for planting a herb path which will get more than occasional traffic - but it requires forward planning

When building the path make sure the planting holes/spaces/cracks have a soil level which is an inch or so lower than the top of the pavers/flagstones/etc. Erring on the side of caution make sure the planting holes/spaces are smaller than foot sized and not in the centre of the path - where a person is most likely to step. Then use plants which are naturally low growing/creeping - preferably only growing to a few inches.

The suggestion is that building the path in this manner gives the heart of the plant enough protection to establish/thrive/grow and protects it from being directly squashed, whilst the creeping outer parts of the plant roam and get trod on/squashed/abused.

That's basically what I done with mine. I used up the broken paving slabs, halv brickets, breeze blocks etc to make crazy paving so that nothing could line up square leaving lots of odd shapes planting holes and wide gaps between the stones for the plants to get a hold in and root.

[veggiechicken]

After much umming and aahing, I've decided this path will be the Herby one. It roughly parallels the main paths on the outer edges of the garden but also cuts across from one to the other - its a short cut .
I'm going to clear and plant the bit in the photos to start with, then decide which direction to go - and whether its a good idea or totally daft.

Looking east and looking back to west.



Just a million docks and buttercups to dig out and I can start

[Jay-ell]

Good luck - you best get propagating like mad then

[ecudc]

Not scented but how about mixing it up with some red clover and some low growing Daisy's? Good for bees and can be sown from seed

[Jay-ell]

White clover can stand a bit of foot traffic as well