What type of paths do you have on your plots and in between your beds?
I was planning to have paving stones down the middle with wood chip paths running off and between the raised beds.
Just wondering what everyone else has?
Compacted soil so i can easily change my layout as its our 1st year.
Same, I just walk on the earth where I need a path. It means i can be flexible and dig up a piece of path if I want to squeeze in yet more plants.
The main path up the middle of my large plot is a mixture of slabs and pallets. The rest of my plot is just soil paths so it gets dug over and reused as required. Less paths means more land to grow stuff on.
Concrete round the edges, far too close to the hedges. I'm building a brick path down the middle, which gets a bit further each year.
I agree with Emma and Curry I used wood chippings and it looks good for a short while and while your back is turned the weeds take over, similar to Curry I now use slabs down the main path and churn up the side paths each year just for the shear satisfaction of splattering those pesky weeds. >:( ;D
I used woodchip for pathways the only problem was I had honey fungus from the chips :'(
Main path is used heavy duty carpet tiles (non slippy, very durable, weed suppressant, surprisingly decorative and easily replaced ;) :D) side paths are wood chip.
old conveyor belts.
I rolled one out last year and it was longer than I thought and it smashed through a pane in my greenhouse :P
Main paths woodchip over 1m wide woven membrane, side paths straw over thick newspaper. No problem with weeds :)
Quote from: glow777 on October 10, 2006, 08:07:23
old conveyor belts.
I rolled one out last year and it was longer than I thought and it smashed through a pane in my greenhouse :P
wherever did you get them, glow? and what a great idea 8) shame about the pane of glass tho :( ;D
Quote from: Alishka_Maxwell on October 10, 2006, 08:57:43
wherever did you get them, glow? and what a great idea 8) shame about the pane of glass tho :( ;D
From work where everything comes from.
Although I work in IT the company I work for manufactures glass kilns and processes minerals.
We have lots of machinery, a joiners, fitters, electricians and engineering departments.
We get charged £8 a ton to tip on our own tip so anything that is getting thrown can be taken.
This comes down to endless supplies of wood bits, shrink bags, water butts, conveyor belts etc etc etc.
Its just a case of thinking what can I use that for
makes up for the bad pay I get for working in IT
;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;)
Honey fungus from wood chips? I very much doubt it. No more so than the funghi growing in my peat-free growbags.
Yes - wood cchips for me - easily raked up if needed. But we do have one, more permanent area, which is quartered with slabs.
I have raised beds with cement paths around them. Waited five years before I cemented the paths, wanted to be certain they were in the right place. ;D ;D
Quote from: glow777 on October 10, 2006, 13:10:20
Quote from: Alishka_Maxwell on October 10, 2006, 08:57:43
wherever did you get them, glow? and what a great idea 8) shame about the pane of glass tho :( ;D
From work where everything comes from.
Although I work in IT the company I work for manufactures glass kilns and processes minerals.
We have lots of machinery, a joiners, fitters, electricians and engineering departments.
We get charged £8 a ton to tip on our own tip so anything that is getting thrown can be taken.
This comes down to endless supplies of wood bits, shrink bags, water butts, conveyor belts etc etc etc.
Its just a case of thinking what can I use that for
makes up for the bad pay I get for working in IT
;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;)
maybe we should ask dan for a for sale section and you can make up some of the poor salary :-)
We've got wood chips on top of membrane, but the wood chips seem to be rotting quite fast bearing in mind they've only been down 7 months.
They're pine, so could I use them as mulch if they get much worse and try and find a better brand for next year?
Supersprout: you have woodchips on a membrane for your paths - why did you put the membrane down?
I have a dilemma here - the newspaper and cardboard I have been putting down, some of which will be path area, has smothered the grass and weeds of the field my allotment is in very well. But it is extremely slippery, and I am on a slope. I have access to unlimited willow chippings, but cannot decide if I should put down a membrane first (expensive) or just put the chips on top of the cardboard and find that it is still slippery.
Any advice?
Hi artichoke, membrane stops perennial weeds pushing through the woodchips. The membrane came in a big roll 1m wide, a handy width for wheelbarrow and sprout ;D
I have two plots, with four long paths - one between me and weedy neighbour >:( and three more, each running up the 20m length of the plot. That would be 80m2 of potential weed problem if not for the membrane :P
(http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e220/supersprout/Path4.jpg)
IMO putting the chips on top of the cardboard should be fine, so long as you put 3 or more inches down, and replenish if you see it's wearing thin ::)
Puts us to shame, Sarah!
that's kind of you to say tim - but remember it was his hard work - not mine :-[ ::)
12-14 barrowloads per path :o
(http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e220/supersprout/IMG_0111.jpg)
That looks wonderful, Supersprout!
But my question was not so much about weeds poking through (newspaper and cardboard seems to have smothered them, and I am happy about slaughtering selfsown weeds), as about slipperiness on a slope. Have you tried putting woodchips down on cardboard, and NOT slithering about? Or maybe your site doesn't slope?
I would put membrane down if I thought it was essential to prevent slipperiness, but not otherwise.
oops :-[ sorry to get the wrong end of the stick chokey ;)
Ours is a pretty flat site with a slight slope - the previous long term tenant used to dig in one direction, and gradually made a dip near the path and a hillock at the other end!
One more method: Having laid perforated black plastic over the new plot, I laid straw over it to make a few paths. I didn't mention it because you'd think it would slip and slide all over the place, but it doesn't - probably because the straw is VERY thickly applied (wads!). Thick application of woodchips/straw might work on slopes to give a good grip, I'd certainly try it - fluffy woody/strawy stuff shouldn't behave like gravel, shale or scree, so it might be worth a go?
I'm very jealous of all your well-organised paths! We've just got grass in between, which then of course creeps into the beds. In an ideal world I'd do something about it, but doubt I'll find the time!
In my recent item I made a remark that using wood chips can bring about honey fungus, I know what I had and I resent remarks sent to me privately by people who blatantly called me a lier, To those people will you look at the Royal Horticultural Society web site and read the item on honey fungus. Honey fungus CAN be spread by infected wood chips, I know because I had the mushrooms investigated as I lost a lot of fruit trees due to the infestation
I was about to order some wood chippings and now I'm worried about this Fungus, I have several yuong trees on my plot and I don't want to lose them. Is there a way around?
Be careful where you get your chippings from. If they've chipped trees with the fungus, then the result is likely to be carrying it.
The RHS article distinguishes between wood and bark chippings - the latter being less of a problem. If I've read the article correctly, it seems best to put them out thinly (possibly on membrane) in the summer when the chips will dry out, killing off any fungus (which by coincidence is exactly what we did! :)
http://www.rhs.org.uk/conservation/projects/Armillaria.asp (http://www.rhs.org.uk/conservation/projects/Armillaria.asp)