A lot of the good qualities of a gravel path depend on the type of gravel you use. I don't know all the ins and outs of this. I've seen some great gravel paths that were long lasting and some awful ones. I've worked a lot with mulched paths. Need to be topped off every year. Limbs for borders is a great natural look, but they will gradually decompose and have to be replaced from time to time, depending on the size and type of wood. I imagine bark mulch paths will speed the decomposition process of wood borders, comparitively more than gravel, but the wood itself is prone to that if not treated with nasty poisons. The paths I worked with for years at various parks and camps were wood mulch with log borders. Very easy maintenance but not maintenance free. Also occasionally suffer from outbreaks of bugs, but a lot of that depends on weather, and the state of the environment around them. Things can get out of balance . . . or not. I like mulch, but if I knew how to do it right I'd go for gravel paths if you want a contrasting look between the paths and surrounding beds. I have had pavers in a gravel path and pavers sunk in grass, and hated both. I do like pavers though, and have never used them mixed with bark mulch paths. I imagine them shifting, but that would depend on the design and maintenance I guess. My pavers shifted in my old gravel path, but that's because I unknowingly put the darn thing over a dry stream bed in a drought cycle. I sure learned the hard way when the rainy year came.

Sorry can't answer your two questions. Maybe, someone with more experience will. Dead and diseased wood can be trimmed out anytime. I guess "the surrounding scrub brush" is the suckers at the base of your apple tree? I'd get rid of them, too. In late winter, you can see the whole tree clearly and can trim your tree more to shape up your tree then (some prune in the dead of the winter, no problem). Get rid of crossed branches and water sprouts (straight up shoots from branches). Lots of people prune in the winter and in the summer. Google "bagging apples" on this forum. You may want to try doing that to your apples on reachable lower branches. You'll be amazed how you can have unblemished apples with no spray. It's time consuming but is worth it. You need to do it when apples are as small (a dime size, for me) and before insects start attacking young apples.

Both of these are in Florida; http://tropicalplantparadise.4t.com/ Gingersrus.com Sells on ebay sometimes I also have bought from Gingerwood. All 3 of these have nice large plants. Do you trade or do you have anything left to trade? I have a few gingers to trade and EE's.

All those yummy peppers! Try this, it couldn't be easier or tastier. It's very similar to the Thai Garlic Chili Paste you can buy. CHILI GARLIC SAUCE 6 ounces hot chiles (e.g., cayenne, Fresnos, habanero, jalapeno, long, serrano, Thai, or a combination of them), stemmed and chopped 4 cloves garlic ½ teaspoon salt 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar 1 1/2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar Put all the ingredients in an electric mini-chopper or food processor. Process to a coarse texture. Take a whiff and it should make you sweat a bit. Taste and adjust the flavor with add extra salt or sugar. Transfer to a small saucepan, bring to a vigorous simmer over medium heat, lower the heat to gently simmer for about 5 minutes, or until it no longer smells raw. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool. Transfer to a jar and store in the refrigerator. Makes a scant 2/3 cup. Steve