Mud need cheap solution for not treading on it

[Digeroo]

Not sure if mud is classified as a pest but it is a nuisance.  Does anyone have any cheap ideas for creating paths through mud please?

I have just got a new extra 1/4 allotment and it is about six inches plus deep in mud.  I thought that the best plan would be to put paths across the middle in both directions thereby creating four areas.  But need something cheap and easy to put on the paths.

[Digeroo]

[elvis2003]

wood chip,free from your local tree surgeon and easily moved when youve changed your mind and dont want them anymore,or want to reposistion them

[Digeroo]

Wood chip is a great idea.  The next county drive round with a huge machine and mangle up anything that is hanging too close to the road, they leave huge piles of woodchips about the place.  Only thing is finding out where the are going next. 

[Robert_Brenchley]

Old bricks. I get mine out of the stream at the bottom of the plot. The thing to watch out for is that a lot of them will fall apart when they get frosted, but by the time they've been in the stream for years, the survivors are all frostproof!

[Flighty]

I use wood chips, which are delivered free to the site  :)

[Digeroo]

I don't think any of our local stream are a source of bricks.  We live in the Cotswolds so there are very few brick houses here at all. 

Woodchips are not readily available free around here they all go to Didcot to be burned to create electricity.

[Vinlander]

I don't want to ever, ever again put anything in a path that I can't dig out with an ordinary spade - so my vote goes to woodchip.

When woodchip gets muddy you just throw more on top. Eventually (two or three years) it will rot enough for the worms to work it - then it stops stealing nitrogen and you can dig it out to use as a mulch - and replace it with new stuff.

If you have enough you can dig out all the topsoil in the path and use it to raise your beds. Then fill the trench with woodchip - win-win on the drainage front... Use the bricks as a single row under the plank that edges your bed - keeps the plank much drier, wood will last twice as long that way.

Cheers.

PS. if you can't get woodchip then just cut all your non-throrny prunings to medium size - less than 50mm long and use them instead. If you can't chop it all smaller than 50-100m long then this large stuff (and thorny stuff) can be used as a 'base coat' . If you can get a bit of woodchip to use over the medium layer then all the better.

Avoid any obviously diseased branches, and best to avoid using soft-fruit wood for fear of encouraging diseases - but on the other hand you've absolutely no idea what went into woodchip - and I've not heard any horror stories from that yet...

[manicscousers]

we used thick cardboard with woodchip on top for our fruit cage paths, kept the weeds down, too  :)

[Digeroo]

Now cardboard as a temporary measure while I get my head round planning the space is brilliant.    I can dig it in or compost it when it gets a bit messy.   I can collect some wood chip later.

[Ian Pearson]

Over the years I've tried all sorts of things, and have settled on woodchip (mostly because I can get it for free) but I've also used:
builders sand (heavy labour to shift),
straw(can blow around or migrate, so not very neat)
duckboard made from pallet wood (lots of effort, and slippery when wet)
cardboard (very short term unless capped by something else - it goes soggy quickly)
old carpet (foam-backed 100% man-made will last years)
old bricks and paving slabs (heavy labour, and a haven for weeds)
strips of turf (landscapers often dump any surplus at the end of a job) use it green side up for paths, and green side down for mulching out weeds. 

[Vinlander]

I'd agree wholeheartedly with all of that except the carpet - once grass (especially couch grass) gets into it it is 10 times harder to get rid of than it usually is.

If you're on sand it's probably no big deal but otherwise it's a life sentence.

If you turn the carpet over really regularly you can keep ordinary weeds out of it, but not couch - if there's couch grass within a metre of it then avoid it.

Any perennial bed nearby probably harbours couch grass even if you haven't noticed yet...

I use carpets (between rows) and perennial beds and I have paths but I keep all 3 well away from each other.

If you must use carpet then put a layer of black plastic under it and make giant 100mm staples (from wire coathangers) to drive through and stop it slipping.

Cheers.

[PurpleHeather]

Old paving slabs and patio tiles can be moved around fairly simply. Try the local free cycle group for your area for these.

[Ishard]

Straw laid very thick is the best as it rots down and you can eventually use the soil. Wood chips change the ph of the soil to acid

[lewic]

I got some cheapo weed membrane from Ebay, and carpeted the area round my shed with it. Cost about a tenner for three rolls.

My mud isnt 6 inches deep though.. so you might need something more absorbent under it like cardboard.