Allotments 4 All

Grass paths.  They do take some cutting, but I like how they look.

I have grass paths and have invested in 2 cheap battery strimmers.  Bought from argos when on half price offer.  I do have to allow time to strim but they look good and make it easier to get around the raised beds.  Some of the old hands on my site think it is a waste of space but it works for me.   I just strimmed what grew where I wanted paths and now it looks like lawn.

We use woodchips (delivered free from the council) around most of our raised beds. Don't have too many problems with weeds, but you need to put a really thick layer down. Keep topping it up every couple of months.

You can see them in this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaDbffW0CKk&feature=player_embedded

food conveyor belting turned upsidedown keeps the weeds down and can easily be moved to get rid of the slugs.

Quote from: hippydave on November 28, 2009, 20:35:46
food conveyor belting turned upsidedown keeps the weeds down and can easily be moved to get rid of the slugs.

now that is unusual! But hey if it works then fantastic. I'm presuming you had access to one  ;)

 :) grass for me / shades x

Quote from: chriscross1966 on November 25, 2009, 13:13:10
I'm about halfway done with Freecycled concrete flags.... first 40 feet is 2-foot squares, the next 30-something feet is 18" ones, there are some cross-paths made from 18's too but I think I'll redo them to use half-flags.... I'll get more bed space that way and I'm not fussed about getting a barrow down them....

chrisc

Picked up some more tonight... put out a wanted ad on Freecycle, two responses... one had 10 off 2 foot slabs, the other claimed to be 30 or so 12" ones.... great I thought, they'll do for the cross-paths..... except there were 54 of them and they're 18"..... which means I've probably got enough slabs to finish all the long path down the the plot and if I get the grinder out and cut some of them in half then the cross paths that divide the rotation beds should be achievable too...  thought it was going to take a lot longer to accumulate enough slabs to do this, but it's possible I've got enough to put a little hard-standing near the shed....

If you want slabs then try freecycle, but be prepared to be able to pick up quickly, never fail to turn up (there are no excuses).... the last thing I wanted to do after loading the 54 18" slabs was to drive my van on a 20 mile round-trip to pick up some 2 foot monsters but I did .... I don't think my allotment would have worked without freecycle :D......

chrisc

Grass looks good, but it's fairly high maintenance. Our main paths are mainly grass and so are all the cross-paths between plots; when they're cut they really look neat. But edging takes an age!

Where we've got raised beds we use heavy-duty woven membrane from Wickes covered in wood chips. We get wood chips delivered by a local tree surgeon.

Keep an eye on ebay - sometimes you can get a real bargain on paving slabs. Just know your price and don't get carried away. Got a bunch this way for less than 20p each...

I also have paths with woven membrane and free woodchips from the council...they are less permanant if you want to rearrange beds.

And don't forget Freecycle, I bought two lots of slabs on Ebay, and although I didn't pay much for them, I got 18 from a Freecycler, all it cost was a bottle of wine.

Old Bird is right.
The packed earth paths don't seem to grow weeds,
but I run the hoe down them now and then,
gently rake off the loose soil and add it to the beds.