lazygardens: What drained out is mostly silt and sand -- like the thick muck you might scrape up from the bottom of a river. It looks like it would harden into an impermeable layer on the landscape fabric. Perhaps it would soften again when wet. There are some smaller pieces that we hope to sift out of the fine silt, and use that as fines. We finished about 1/2 of the path yesterday before quitting for the day due to fatigue. We'll finish next weekend.

Hello - I'm trying to layout a curved front path -- aproximately 3.5 feet wide and 30 feet long that curves like a J to the front door, over our existing lawn. We have plenty of sandstone from a side patio. The sandstone is square and rectangular -- averaging about 2-3 square foot each. My question is how best to use this existing sandstone to achieve an attractive curved dry set path. I have seen some paths in our neighborhood that use square stone but they seem to curve over a longer distance than hours -- and I assume the gaps between stones over a longer distance can allow for a sweeping bend w/out being too large. I'm not sure I can achieve this on a shorter path. Are there any Web references, photos, guides you can suggest? Rules of thumb for laying out an attractive flagstone path? Should I consider breaking up the stones into irregular shapes to better accomodate a curved path? Can I combine the square stones and some broken stones and still achieve a polished/professional look? Can I have larger and irregular gaps in a dry set path, using square stones, so I can achieve the bend in a shorter distance -- and just fill those gaps with sand/crushed-stone? Will it look okay? Thank you for any suggestions.

A petite fern like ebony spleenwort would be attractive and the moss would help it to propagate more easily. Mouse eared coreopsis is a low growing plant as well as the ones that Waplummer mentioned. Alum root (heuchera or coral bells) in addition to the foam flower (tiarella sp.) would be nice.

The paths between your beds should be at least three feet wide. If this seems like a lot of wasted space, imagine kneeling down to work on a 1-2' wide path, or maneuvering your wheelbarrow along skinny paths without damaging your plants. Larger pathways are much more comfortable to work with, and are one of just four improvements that Mel has made on his method since his book was published over 20 years ago. (See his website for the other updates to his method.) Your budget, your aesthetic preferences, and available materials will determine what you use for the paths between your raised beds. Here are a few ideas: Any fancy material typically used for a sidewalk or paved garden path can be used, including flagstone paths, concrete pavers, bricks, etc. set into concrete, sand, gravel, rock screenings, etc. There are multiple sites on the Internet that give detailed descriptions of how to construct these kinds of paths. Grass, edged along the beds with a weedeater or square-bladed shovel. Paths made from broken-up concrete slabs (free if you're willing to scrounge) set into grass, sand, gravel, or rock screenings. Organic materials (hay, wood chips, grass clippings, etc) over dampened cardboard boxes or newspaper. The cardboard/newspaper blocks weeds, and the whole mess gradually breaks down and will need to be replenished every year or so. One GW member rakes up the breaking-down materials and uses it as a fall/winter mulch for her beds, then places fresh materials down to start breaking down over the winter. If you want a super-permanent path between your square foot beds, take a look at some of the nifty concrete molds available at home improvement stores. They come in many different patterns (random stone, slate and herringbone brick, just to name a few) and are quite easy to use. Depending on the design you choose, they can be used for straight or curved paths.