Both are a pia to maintain.

I'd choose decomposed granite and flagstone. Okay, I guess I'm not playing nice. Gravel.

A neighbor did a pea-gravel path--she HATES it. Difficult to sweep/clear and it grows every weed imaginable. AND oak seedlings.

but.

It IS functional, she did it herself, and it was inexpensive. (The latter were why she chose to do peagravel in the first place---it IS DIY friendly.) As soon as she has the money set asside she's going to do dg and stone or pavers...she isn't certain which yet.

Just something to think about!

melanie

Course Sand? I could just picture that stuff sticking to shoes and paws and getting tracked all through the house. I am trying to think if I have ever seen a path made of course sand and none come to mind. Have you walked on such paths?

I have not been able to justify the expense of real path material either. So far the only paths that I have created were of mulch or grass. Neither is idea, but I figure they could easily be upgraded. I added some inexpensive stepping stones to a short mulched path this summer and it really helped to dress up and define the path.

- Brent

Swanoir,
Will this intended path need to be cleared of snow during the winter? If so, forget either method.

Sand or gravel paths require some type of edging (bender board, brick, etc.) to keep the material used in place. Skimping on this aspect is something you will regret later on. Sand will get tracked into the house. Pea gravel is difficult to walk on and encourages weeds. Plus, you want to move away from the gray stone look. Compacted granite stone dust should be considered. If you worked in a few random squares of brick or set several large, interesting stepping stones into the path this would relieve the eye of the 'gray' look.

Is colour your only motivation for getting into this position between a rock and a hard place? (Sorry, couldn't resist). But seriously, why are we (that's presumptuous, but you asked us the question!) limited to these two choices? And what other conditions are there that are relevant to the walkway (eg edging, snow clearing)?

Thank you all for your input and suggestions.

Fortunately, the walkways will not require snow clearing and we have a set of small rocks we intend to edge the pathways with. We have laid down organic pre-emergent weed control and we will have landscaping fabric on the paths as well.

In terms of why I am between a rock and a hard place... *sigh*

Well, after putting my life on hold for two years to build a house and then having to spend hundreds of hours I do not have clumsily doing a job I thought I hired a "professional" to do, I am done. I guess I have finally gotten to the point where I refuse to spend one more hour beating my head against the wall trying to find a material that is ecological-friendly, aesthetically pleasing, low maintenance, and cost effective. I have canvassed every gravel and rock company within 25 miles, and my landscaper has brought me 9 different samples, none of which I would put in my yard even if it were free. Sorry for the rant, but there it is.

The sand wasn't a serious consideration, but it was offered, and it just highlighted for us how ridiculous this has all become. I countered that since we have three cats, maybe we should look into lining the paths with kitty litter. ;)

Anyway, since I had run out of time and options, I thought I would avail myself of your collected wisdom. The idea of pavers or stepping stones is a good one, so I appreciate that. At our previous house, the person who sold us the house had put in river rock on all the paths, which was at total pita as you can imagine. Having round pavers in that mix made it much more tolerable.

"ecological-friendly, aesthetically pleasing, low maintenance, and cost effective "

Why not wood chips? They don't stick to shoes like gravel or sand, it's very cheap and low maintenance. I have lots of wood chip paths, and every 3 years or so, I put a top-dressing on. If you want to redo in the future with another material, the chips can easily be moved and will break down eventually.

Wood chips does sound like a problem-solver, but I seem to recall you mentioning fire risk on another thread, Swanoir.

At the risk of bringing on an apoplectic fit, given that it sounds like you have high aesthetic standards, have you ruled out concrete pavers? I don't know if the stuff you've rejected has been only natural stone, but with pavers, colour matching becomes a snap.

Other options (I'm sure you've considered all this) might be those roll-out rubber walkways (don't shoot me!) or otherwise I think stepping stones are your best bet until you recover from present exertions. Just don't do anything irreversible, and gravel is a bit that way. You'll be picking it out of your garden beds in your dreams.

As for maintenance, I always put a double layer of landscape fabric down underneath any path material, and once I even put several layers of newspaper. Water soaks right through, and the weeds were kept at a minimum.

Jenny

We used landscape fabric and stonedust. Not ideal, by a longshot, but it was affordable. And we were able to do it ourselves.

Downside: you will have to deal with some weeds. But, a yank here and yank there and they're controllable. You need a barrier to contain it on either side of the path. Under prolonged drought conditions the surface loosens and can be tracked indoors on shoes or pet feet.

Upside: good base for other materials, packs down nicely. Drains beautifully, snow blowing is no problem. Comfortable under barefeet.

I tend to regard it as "subflooring". You can paint plywood subfloor and make it look great for the short term, but in reality it will require attention and more maintenance than the final surface will. Nothing in life is free.

Tracking in the rigid powder of stone dust into my house often reminded me of trying to clean up a lavatory after teenage girls that had applied glitter based make up. But I do wholeheartedly agree nothing in life is free. One thing that has yet to be mentioned is the spill over issue into any grassy area and the danger of stones shooting from the mower. I think most LD's will stand firm that the hard scape comes before all else. Perhaps you need to wait until your up to the task and not feeling as burnt out before you make a choice. kt

We did consider wood chips but the beds are all done in bark/compost, so we were concerned that the chips and the bark would kind of blend together visually. And while the bark is kept damp via irrigation, the chips would not, which as karinl pointed out is a concern.

We hadn't heard about stone dust, which sounds interesting. I wonder if it is available here, since it was not one of the things the landscaper offered. Fortunately, none of the paths except one small area borders the lawn, so that is not much of an issue in terms of stones being ejected from the mower.

It would be great if we could put this decision off, but we get a lot of wind at this time of the year, and the dust is problematic for many reasons, one of which is my wife's allergies. Then the rains come...

karinl: lol! Fortunately, I am not that high-strung, so thanks for your suggestions. Actually, we were not adverse to pavers, we just thought that the rock mulch would be a bit more Mediterranean. I'm not really into rubber, but maybe if they had something in latex... :D

Again, thank you all for your thoughts.