Material for woodland path- stones/gravel ok?
Heruga (7a Northern NJ)
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Sigrid
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best surface for steep woodland path
Comments (3)A local state park where I used to spend a lot of time walking used logs laid across the cleared trails to prevent erosion and provide some footing on the sloped sections. The paths were used enough to stay fairly clear of growth, and could be muddy at times. The logs acted almost like steps. Re-routing the paths to cut across the slope instead of directly up it might help, too....See MoreSpaced apart fieldstone path; substrate: gravel vs woodchips??
Comments (4)What, exactly, are you trying to accomplish? It sounds like you are after an alpine garden/path/drainage course, which isn't at all a comfortable mix of uses. If you have the stones, try laying out a few in the pattern you are planning, and *walk* on them. Ask other family members to do so also. Keeping to the stones isn't at all a natural gait, but takes paying attention and care with placing feet. Most people will probably end up walking on the non-stone parts of the path a great deal. And the desired fill material is not gravel. If you insist on calling it gravel, people will assume you are talking about gravel. The stones will move on a gravel base. Either sand or the material known to Agway here as Step 2. It has a lot of other names, crushed stone, stone dust, among others. It packs down to form a solid base. Woodchips do not break down into acidic soil. At least not according to the people who decompose things and them test them. Also moss isn't necessarily an acidophile. However, a soil mix of crushed stone and some of your native soil might work quite well. It just generally sounds like you need to do a lot more research into which plants you are interested in growing and what their needs are, and plan to make them a home where people won't be regularly walking on them. If all the property's drainage is going towards this object, both woodchips and stone chips are going to wash out. If you want a path, I'd plan on at least a hopscotch pattern (2,1,2), with the understanding that the plants are part of the path. If you want the area to be a planting bed, then decide which set of plants for specialized beds you are most interested in, research them, and prepare a bed for them. The current situation is total overkill for either of those plans. I'm not convinced I went deeper than 6" anywhere in my dry laid patio, and that was built with rock I dug up on the property, so they aren't dressed in any way....See Morebuilding a gravel/stone path in the grass
Comments (7)Yah, do a search of this forum for pea gravel. The black stuff is called landscape fabric and I think it should be banned from the face of the earth. It is a tough question, that's why it gets asked so often. The thing is that grass and weeds not only can pop up from under, but also seed into the pebbles and grow in the dirt and composted leaf debris that inevitably collects among them. My question, honestly, is why anyone would want to build a path out of pea gravel, given that stepping stones will slide around on them and they are a nightmare to maintain. It is the last material that I would choose. Why not just put stepping stones into the grass itself? KarinL...See MoreSuggestions for planting by open woodland path
Comments (21)mayland, a lot of people (including myself, till i really got into it) don't realize that gardening is a year-round endeavor, and you can keep planted with seasonal veggies with minimal effort on your part. grocery stores have spoiled me rotten to a degree (year-round everything), but i find it a fun challenge to adapt to a seasonal menu at home - my DW and I love to cook, although admittedly, i do 75% or more of all the cooking in the house. regarding my stackstone beds...i try to keep them planted year-round with (at minimum) salad greens, during warm months (late spring/summer/fall/early winter) they keep us outfitted with tomatoes, green beans, cucumbers, herbs, peppers, etc. the beds are only ~12 ft each (~3.5' x 3.5') personally, i don't like needing to buy from the store, and it always taste better fresh-picked. typical exchange at home for us: "hey honey, you want salad for dinner tonight?" "sure!" "ok, i'm headed outside to cut some!" "grab a tomato and cucumber while you're at it!" i tell ya, it is SUCH an immense pleasure to go into the fridge, realize, "dang, i don't have any X or Y!" and not have to nix your dinner plans entirely or drive to the store in order to salvage them. it's also nice to get those occasional perks, like, for example, the brown turkey figs on the side yard, which go so well with balsamic vinegar and either greek yogurt or goat cheese (btw - fig is another one you could potentially grow in that spot...) we're always improving and improvising to find new ways to grow, and i think this year; i think we're going to look into adding something like this into the mix this winter to continue growing things which are cold-intolerant but don't require pollination. ultimately, the options are limitless. we picked up our fig in feb/march and planted - it had one fig on it from the store (it ripened a few weeks back), and it literally leaped already, doubled in size, and has at least 40 figs on it already :) at this point, i've got the edible landscape bug, whereas previously, i was all about xeriscaping. i can't help myself. the hard part is knowing all your options, there's just too much information out there and not enough time!!!...See Morefloral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
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