The many paths in the garden

[vfem]

After many new attempts at paths in our permanent garden area I'm frustrated! We've done a good several inches of pea gravel after clearing the paths, and it became an over grown mess. Then we pulled up all the pea gravel, rinses it with bleach water put down a layer of sand and row cover and put the pea gravel back... more weeds. Ripped it all out again last year, put down TARPS and then covered in layers of straw for the time being. OVER GROWN MESS again!

So I'm thinking of renting a bobcat, digging it all out a 5-6 inches and then filling back with crushed granite. That's a hefty price though for all the paths in 3 garden spaces. I'll probably needing about 4-5 yards if not more.

Does anyone have a better suggestion?

 

[thistlebloom]

I don't know V, weeds can germinate in just about anything.
Was your problem the weed growing through the barrier under the gravel, or just in it?
I take care of one property that has fist sized basalt rocks on either side of the driveway with a weed "block" fabric underneath, and I have to remove germinating weeds all the time from it.

I don't think I could justify the expense of going to all that trouble for pathways.
How about just spraying weekly with a horticultural vinegar?

 

[vfem]

That's what I did last year, regular vinegar sprays. Problem is the space doesn't allow me to get equipment in there, and I'm trying to do less labor on my body if possible.

With this path it was more like germinated seeds, and the EVIL centipede grass the grows under, over and THROUGH everything. What were these southern people thinking planting this monster for a lawn?

 

[Collector]

What about growing grass between the rows and just mowing it?

 

[Smart Red]

When weather permits, I mow between my raised garden beds, but I want to have more carefree paths. I would never (again) put down good quality landscape cloth and expect it to remain weed free because weed seeds grow down into the material. What I envision is laying the cloth down, covering the whole with straw and then lifting the cloth each spring to clean it and start over.

Thinking about it now, what has worked for me in the tomato beds is laying paper grocery bags down and covering them with straw. I can go all summer and never need to pull a weed. Of course, I don't walk on my beds so I don't know how well it would work where wheelbarrows and feet disrupt the distribution of straw. Also, I have several rows of heavy brown paper made for weed supression. That might work easier and faster than the grocery bags, rot down during the season, and be easier to replace the following year. Onliest problem is I'm gonna have the richest, best-est unused soil on my garden paths in time.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I feel that way about the Bermuda grass here. Good for hay and pasture but not for anything around a garden. I’ve put down stuff 5’ wide and that sneaky Bermuda sends runners under that to get to the other side. Evil stuff.


I have not come up with any way that works without maintenance unless you consider concrete. Even then you may need to trim the edges. If you put a barrier down it looks ugly so you cover it with something, gravel, wood chips, some kind of mulch. That stuff grows in that on top of the barrier, either from runners or seeds. Just mowing next to it will send bits of grass in there that will root. Let’s just say I sympathize with you.


What I’ve done in landscaping areas is spread some landscaping cloth and cover that with wood chips. Wood chips rot and create a nice medium for Bermuda to grow in. So once a year I pull it up, sort of rolling it from one end and collect those half-rotted wood chips and the black compost in there. That goes to the compost pile or for mulch after picking out what Bermuda roots and runners I can, then back the cloth goes with new wood chips. It does take a fair amount of labor. Maybe more than just a fair amount but I haven’t been able to come up with anything better.


If you consider wood chips for your pathways, make sure they are small enough so you don’t twist an ankle walking on them.

 

[catjac1975]

I was going to say the same as Collector. I have daylily selling beds with grass growing in-between them. It looks beautiful.The one negative is there is weed infiltration from the edges into the beds but I think that beats what you are going through.

 

[journey11]

What about a groundcover you can walk on like creeping thyme or some kind of moss? Once it got going thick enough, it would help to prevent weeds from taking hold.

Weeds can take hold about anywhere, even gravel or cracks in the sidewalk. I'm a big fan of bark mulch over cardboard or newspaper. At least the few that do get in there are easier to pull out. If you don't have any annoying running grasses that spread by rhizomes, you'd do pretty well too. Like Ridge says, they love to run through mulch. My mulched landscaping around front is working out great, but around back in my blueberry patch, I've got quackgrass coming up in it despite laying down landscape fabric and 8 or so inches of mulch!

 

[vfem]

I mulched and lined my front beds just fine. But I edged that garden deep with some of that plastic edging that is 6" deep.

Problem with the back gardens is they are fenced and the mower doesn't fit so I can't leave grass, plus this centipede grass does grow under, over and through everything. The grass forms little underground chains that can go pretty deep. It got so out of control in my strawberry bed, I just pulled up the wood trim and fencing yesterday. I starting ripping out the grass with these elaborate root systems that all the strawberries starting coming up with it.

I'm thinking maybe cement, but I think that will cause more drainage issues and I have plenty of issues with that as it. I gotta find a way to at least reduce the weed issues a little.

 

[catjac1975]

I got rid of my strawberries because I could not keep them weeded. DID EVERYTHING! A heavy grass had infiltrated them and all the weeding and mulching could not get rid if them. We tilled them under and will cover the area thins spring with a black plastic and just leave them to rot for a year or so. 6 Months of weeding for 2 weeks of berries were too much with everything else that I need to do.