Best Way to Build Out Sidewalls of Garden Path?
westes Zone 9b California SF Bay
9 months ago
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Comments (21)
westes Zone 9b California SF Bay
9 months agoRelated Discussions
Remedy for Garden Paths/Ways
Comments (25)I have always tilled, but this year I am going to try a garden without tilling. However, it has taken me several years to get to this point and I still don't know if my ground is ready for this, but it has been covered with leaves all winter. I don't mean a few, and although it has packed down some, they went on at least 6-8 inches thick. Some were mulched very fine and some not so much. I also plan to add compost to the surface. I had some areas near the fence that had lots of roots and not very good soil. I grew cherry tomatoes there this year and had cardboard mulch around them. I put bricks on the cardboard as I was placing it, then put on tomato cages and anchored them down. I ran out of mulch before I got some of the cardboard covered and since my neighbors would have to be standing at the fence to see it, I didn't worry too much about it. Once the cardboard got wet it stayed on the ground and wasn't slick, but it still lasted through the season and stopped the weeds and grass from coming through. The year before, I used cardboard with hay over it and all of my squash got vine borers. It worked fine for the tomatoes and peppers, but not the squash, so I know I can't do that again. Of course, I live in a wet climate unlike many of you. I think last year by the first of June I had already gotten about 26 inches of rain. If it looks like that is going to happen this year, then I will be setting out a lot more transplants rather than planting seeds. Some years I get things planted later than I would like because it is hard to find time to till and plant because the ground is too wet. Not having to till should help with that. I noticed with my broccoli last year, the size of the heads was directly proportional to the amount of sunlight it got. I planted it in a new place and it got sun from noon until sunset, but one end got a little more. In the Summer that would have been lots of sun, but in the Spring it wasn't enough. The end of the bed that got sunshine first did much better. Cardboard is almost a miracle for the garden. It not only works as mulch to hold moisture, it suppresses weeds and more importantly shades out grass, and the worms love it. It must create perfect conditions for them. On the other hand, it is ugly and needs to be covered. I hate to use dangerous chemicals in the garden and most years I don't even think about them. Last year my DH burned out a few things with a torch, but if I didn't have such a wet spring, I might not feel that was safe to do. We have been trying to remove some growth from the chain link fence and that just seemed to be something else to try. I try to be very careful what I use in the garden, but as I was enlarging the garden, I did use Round-up to kill the grass. Then after I planted in it I used cardboard. I have grown Spring crops with and without mulch and I am just as happy without it. I plant them pretty close and they shade the ground around them. I usually start mulching when the tomatoes and peppers go into the ground. I have to do it when I plant them because very soon they are so crowded that I can barely walk through to harvest and I wouldn't have room to mulch then. I have bought several types of landscape fabric and none were worth bring home. LOL I guess there are some good ones out there, but I never find them. I eventual use the mistakes tho, because I usually just stretch some out on top of the grass and put the containers on top of it to keep the grass from coming up through the holes. Most years (not last year) I have about 20 containers in my side yard which is one of the few places I have full sun. That is my garden overflow. I have a walkway through my garden which is made of brick size concrete pavers. It took some time to put down but can be moved if I need to move it. After I fell on my face one winter, I decided it was necessary. The ground had been frozen and the sun came out and thawed about the top half inch. I darted around the end of a cattle panel and went down, and I had mud from my forehead to my toes. That Spring I built a walkway. Chandra, I think your garden is lovely, and you had more weather issues than any of us last year and you still had a harvest. I would not want to fight the grass and in your case, I think I would use a chemical to kill the grass. Then I would try to find the 'good' landscape fabric like Dawn uses and put it between the paths. I would then order a load of sand and put on top of it. That would be a lot better for the kids to be on than gravel. You wouldn't have to worry about getting rocks in your lawn and if you ever had to sell your home, you could just spread it out if your buyer wanted turf again instead of garden beds.....and the rest of us could be there to steal the beds. LOL...See MoreWhat's the best way to fertilize/enrich a large garden plot?
Comments (21)I'm sorry if I'm repeating what others have said but I have a plot in a community garden and have thought about this. My community garden is 30+ years old so I don't know how they prepared the soil way back then but now when a plot is turned over to a new gardener it is up to the new gardener to till and amend the soil. This turns out really very well although sometimes it means dealing with a garden where the soil was amended very little if at all and the weeds grew rampant or if you're lucky the previous plot holder took care of the soil. In your community garden project, if you want to till and amend the soil for your first gardeners you should get as much good quality non-manure compost as you can afford, till that in then let your gardeners add manure or anything else they want later on. I think this will get the soil ready to plant without a lot of cost. If the individual gardeners want to test the soil in their garden plots and add amendments let them do it themselves; this is an important part of being a gardener and very satisfying. Often landscape suppliers will offer discounts to community gardening projects and, at least in my area, the municipal sanitary service makes cheap compost available made from the garden waste they've pick-up from the green bins... Good luck with your garden project......See MoreAdvice for best approach to making garden paths
Comments (27)Bart, I agree that Vinca on a path is an accident waiting to happen. Super stringy, tangly and great murder mystery material. If you want a slightly more expensive but more long term solution, I'd go with crushed rock (NOT pea gravel) and edge the path with some kind of hardscape material--bricks, recycled concrete, etc. The crushed rock will need to be amended over the stretch of time but not completely replaced. The hardscape edging will mostly hold the path material in place. Chunks of broken concrete work well and are cheap and usually free. They can, with safety precautions, be sledge hammered into smaller chunks. Sometimes construction companies will drop a pile of concrete at a homeowner's lot. It saves the company dump and recycling fees. You can combine the crushed rocks and edging with switchbacks and log inserts or other "steps" in the steeper areas. If the grade isn't super dicey and the path is wide enough, a wheel barrow or garden cart can fairly easily traverse this kind of path. I've installed paths like this on pretty steep terrain and maintained the gardens and paths following installation. Prior to the installation of a path, one Portland West Hills slope was so steep that I slid down it on my belly during a particularly saturated winter, fingers digging a trail like cat claws on curtains all the looooong way down to the bottom of the incline! Carol...See MoreAdvice for best approach to making garden paths
Comments (1)The most low-maintenance option would be to set pavers into sand over a geo-filter fabric that prevents weed growth....See Morewestes Zone 9b California SF Bay
9 months agoAllison0704
9 months agolast modified: 9 months agowestes Zone 9b California SF Bay thanked Allison0704westes Zone 9b California SF Bay
9 months agowestes Zone 9b California SF Bay
9 months agolast modified: 9 months agoAllison0704
9 months agolast modified: 9 months agowestes Zone 9b California SF Bay thanked Allison0704westes Zone 9b California SF Bay
9 months agolast modified: 9 months agowestes Zone 9b California SF Bay
9 months agowestes Zone 9b California SF Bay
9 months agolast modified: 9 months agowestes Zone 9b California SF Bay
9 months agolast modified: 9 months ago
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