I'd dig up the path, and try to place the stones as close together as possible. There will still be adequate spaces in between for plants, but you won't have nearly the weed problems. Thyme will handle a fair amount of foot traffic. Chamomile will to, but the long flower stalks can look weedy. Mazus, IME, can't handle any foot traffic. It just gets smashed.

Gardengal, thank you for that list - I will research your suggestions! To give you a better idea of the sun situation in the area, we have a couple of euonymus shrubs next to the house (in addition to the path, there's a bed about 2.5' deep next to the house) that seem to be doing fine - they are full and not leggy, but they don't grow quickly at all - I don't think we've even trimmed them since we moved in two years ago. There were also some hostas in the bed, but they did TOO well - they were a variety that was much too large for the space so I had to rip them out. The neighbor has a row of boxwoods on their side of the chain link fence, but these are very scraggly and don't look happy at all. Weeds thrive, though! Given that info, would you consider this area bright shade? If so perhaps we'll get lucky with one of your suggestions. I've also read about Corsican mint doing well in shade, so that might be a possibility? Kitasei, luckily the path is large stepping stones with just small cracks between, so I'm not too worried about the slippery aspect. I really just want something that will not require any mowing/trimming and keep the weeds out. If there is a moss that will do that I'm all ears!

Hi Sweetbrat, All the clovers I know of spread, some of them invasively, so be really careful if you decide to go that way. Being a vegetable garden, I assume this is a very sunny spot!!? You might want to try one of the creeping thymes, Thymus praecox. They only get a couple inches high, have tiny, tiny leaves, and have tiny flowers that range from white to light pink to deep pink. The one I like best is T.p. 'Coccineus', Red Mother of Thyme with bright rosy-pink flowers.They can tolerate some foot traffic, but not constantly. The toughest one, the one that will tolerate the most foot traffic, is T.p. 'Pseudolanuginosus', Woolly Thyme. It has lavender-pink flowers and the tiny leaves are kind of fuzzy. The foliage is grayer than the others. If there are places where you walk often, as I suspect you must do when tending the vegetables, I'd suggest you put fairly widely spaced stepping stones in and plant the thymes all around and between them. Creeping thyme is one of the most popular "patio stuffers," used by a lot of people to plant between bricks or stones on patios and walkways. It will start to grow over the stones and you can either leave it go or trim it back if you like the look better. Compared to mowing and trimming grass, it will require very little upkeep. You might want to shear the top off after it's done blooming to keep it neat looking, and possibly another time or two over summer. If you decide to do it, rather than getting a few big plants and spacing them far apart, they will usually grow together faster if you get small plants (2" pots should work well) and space them closer together. Be sure you get all the grass and any weeds out before you plant since it will be much harder to weed out after the thyme is in and spreading. Thyme spreads only on the surface and is very controllable. Happy veggie gardening, Skybird

r u sure its not a persulane? They r sold at nurseries,& called a weed.I call them zombie weeds,cause they just wont die!!!! If you dig them up,roots and all & leave ANY part(leaf,stem,root) on the ground,it will re-root itself & if u dont seal them in a bag get them far,far away asap,they will project their demon seed all over.They r the devil