Paths between raised beds

[donnakebab]

My membrane isn't pegged down. The weight of whatever you pile on top of it will usually keep it down.

Neither is mine. We have bark chippings delivered to our site on a regular basis by a local landscaping company.

Not allowed to use carpet.

[Kaiya]

Mine threatened to blow away even with blobs of soil on top and pegged - we get some lovely breezes here. I expect it will eventually settle down but for now it's pinned to the soil and told to straighten up and not fly, right.

I'm thinking of getting some bark to keep it looking nice and encourage it to stay still while I wait for veg to grow and distract the eye. However I expect most of it will migrate into the beds...

[NotPercyThrower]

Thanks everyone, lots of good replies and advice. I do have quite a lot of weed suppressant material in the shed, plus pegs. I think I'll double up with paper or cardboard as well, based on these suggestions. However my dilemma now is whether to put bark on top or not (it's for a garden, not an allotment).......

I remember in my last house I was forever topping up the bark and a relative told me recently that she replaced her bark with pebbles/stones of some sort and so far finds it better. One response also mentioned this and I wonder what else people have put on top that is practical and also looks nice. I don't want to spend a fortune, but I don't have a shredder/chipper, so would need to obtain bark and am happy to pay for something else if a good option. Or is bark best? Thanks a lot.

[Potstubsdustbins]

My next door neighbour is just completing his pathways. As above he as put down black sheeting but is topping it this weekend with 20mm washed gravel, from Wickes £41-48 for 850kgs.

Colin

[hawthorns]

my main path is weed suppressant but with the frayed edges im thinking of getting recycled green compost instead.

[Two_Sheds]

a relative ... replaced her bark with pebbles/stones

Gravel is recommend as anti-burglar (they can't creep up silently), but I hate the gravel that doesn't stay in people's gardens: the kind that gets kicked all over the pavements and cycle lanes where it's bladdy lethal

[Thelma Sanders]

I'm going to cover the earth paths between the beds with the trimmings from the leylandii hedge. They stay green for a good while and don't rot away for ages and ages

[Potstubsdustbins]

Gravel is recommend as anti-burglar (they can't creep up silently)

Where we live that may just be a very good reason to use it. Liberally sown with anti personal mines.

Colin

[kathyd]

We've used gravel over landscaping fabric as a long term solution - more expensive initially, but hopefully easier to manage in the long term.

Never thought about hemming the edges - good idea for next time! It's certainly fraying in other places where it's been down a couple of years and covered with bark chippings.

And you're right, once things start to grow through it or on top of it, it's really hard to remove.

I think I saw those pegs in either Wilkos or Home Bargains last week when I was back in the UK for a couple of days, but I may be mistaken - worth having a quick look though.

[jackie j]

Fabric then wood chippings / bark. There is a company near us that sells it for £5 a trailer load or by the bag. No carpet allowed on site. We get a few weeds up but if you pull them as soon as you see them they don't get chance to do any harm. The plastic pegs make holes and the weeds come through there, the weight of the chip stops the fabric blowing around.

[Snadger]

I'm beginning to wonder whether a woodchip path is best laid WITHOUT the permeable mebrane underneath? The reason I mentoin this is that if you just keep adding woodchip each year, the old woodchip rots down to make a fabulous growing medium for weeds.
The other thing is that once the weeds get there roots into the permeable membrane they really lock on and are a bitch to get out!
If the woodchip was just on compacted soil or soggy newspaper, weeds that did show there head above ground should be quite easy to pull out I reckon?
I'll have to wait until next year to test my theory though as I've just finished woodchipping all my paths for this year (an arduous task!)

[taff]

I puit membrane down 4 or 5 years ago [can't remember which] and covered it with gravel. 4 years later fast forward to me removing part of the membrane to put a hugelkultur in, and also fast forward to me having to take out a carrier bag of bindweed root that just keeps growing and growing and growing, through the membrane, along the membrane, under the membrane.....also a bag of couch grass root that does the same only less easily taken off....

[veggiechicken]

My paths are membrane covered with stone chippings (?Cotswold stone). The weeds that seed onto it are easily pulled out but some perennial stuff does force its way up around the edges.
When I've used bark and wood chip it seemed to attract all the woodlice in Wales and I didn't want them near my veggies!!

[lottie dolly]

we are replacing the main long path with slabs,all free apart from lugging around for DH,we been extremely lucky to have some used plastic grass given,and are using it as pathes next to fruit beds ext,so as not to walk on so much soil,they can be lifted up when wanted,also moved to another location,and rain will penetrate,previously the pathes were wood chipped,direct onto the bare earth,so can verify what snadger said,got more to do as and when,tis heavy hard work,but worth it,

[kathyd]

Thanks everyone, lots of good replies and advice. my dilemma now is whether to put bark on top or not (it's for a garden, not an allotment).......
I don't want to spend a fortune, but I don't have a shredder/chipper, so would need to obtain bark and am happy to pay for something else if a good option. Or is bark best? Thanks a lot.

I think it's just a matter of personal taste NPT - landscaping fabric will help prevent the weeds coming through, and covering it with 'something' a) makes it look nicer and b) helps it last longer. I don't think one way is 'better' than another, just different.. If it's for your garden, and you want to reduce ongoing maintenance a bit, and if you like gravel (not everyone does) and you can afford to pay for it, then gravel is probably your better option. But if you want something that looks a bit softer and less formal, and you don't mind topping it up every couple of years, then bark is better. I suspect you'll get weeds coming through whichever you choose to be honest - I got soil all over our new gravel paths the day they were laid while I was weeding the raised beds on either side! I raked it in to hide it from He Who Built the Paths, but where there's soil there's weeds so..