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Considerations for Your Garden’s Paths

By Janice F. Booth

We gardeners are notorious for never being quite satisfied with our gardens. We love to tinker, get our hands into that rich soil, and move or remove our plants. Working in our gardens is fun and frees us, for just a while, from of the complications of daily life.

As you look over your summer garden, you might notice that your dogs have beaten their own path to the gate for their walks leaving a muddy trail through the ferns. Elsewhere, you may notice that the lovely array of petunias and zinnia are hardly noticed, off in their lost corner of the garden. They’re off the beaten path, you might say. So, if you want a fun project that you can work on gradually, why not redo your garden’s paths?

Here are some questions to ask yourself as you plan this garden project:

Where are the natural access points? A gate is an easy pick, but perhaps there’s a lot of traffic from the deck to the garage, or from the tree swing to the patio table.

Based on your answers to the first question, what purpose will the path serve? Is it going to a guided tour of your garden? Or will it simply bow to the exigencies of family and pet traffic? (Why fight it? If that’s where the children head when they are leaving the garden, then that is where a path might avoid the frustration of trampled plants.)

Will there be issues with how your path is used? Might it be difficult for an elderly or disabled person to use an uneven path? Will the path be used by bare feet? How about the width? Is that of importance to its use? Think about rises and hollows in the garden and how the path might maximize these topographical characteristics.

How can your path add a bit of interest in the garden?

Could it add texture? Color? Visual variety—curves, zig-zags? Can it draw the wanderer into areas of the garden that might otherwise be overlooked?

Do you need to budget for this project? If you use a landscape architect or garden designer that you trust, they might suggest a few options with varying prices.

Are there a few warts in your garden that could be

disguised by the design or layout of your new paths? Is there a boggy area that building up the path could overcome? How about that place where the tree root makes it impossible to grow plants; could the path disguise or use that bump as part of the design? Why not get an extra benefit from your project?

Once you’ve considered these critical questions, let the fun begin! There are a variety of materials that make attractive path surfaces. You may already have a path and want this new path to match in style and surface material. But, you may want to redo the old path as you add the new.

Mulch: a familiar and reliable surface. It has the advantages of being easy to refresh, inexpensive, and soft on bare feet. Its disadvantages are that it easily wanders away from the path into flowerbeds and driveways.

Gravel or Pea Rock: another traditional surface. The varieties of textures and colors are advantages. It tends to stay in place, unless a torrential rain floats everything away.

River Stone: Like gravel, river stones add texture and some subtle color to the paths. It has the added advantage of being easier on sandaled or bare feet—no sharp edges.

Pavers: These midsize, flat stones are popular surfaces for paths. Closely placed, they make a firm, smooth surface for wheeled vehicles—a child’s tricycle or a baby carriage. Pavers are also pretty if spread apart with grass or moss planted between the stones, giving the path an aged look.

Wooden slats: Flat, uniform slats of wood placed over an under layer of weed-suppressing mesh or plastic, provides a handsome, natural look to your path. Devising a method of securing the slats can be tricky, and perhaps this is a task for a professional. You can buy slats that are tied together and rolled up; you simply unroll them along your path. They’re pretty and almost effortless to install, but it will be more difficult to use the slats for a curve or bend. Once you’ve decided on a surface material, you may want to add an edging to give the path a finished look and corral the stray pebbles or wood chips. There are lots of edging options in plastic or metal. Wooden dowels can be attractive, but they’re tedious to install—pounding those little dowels into the earth side-by-side. If you’re a wine lover, you can use a glass cutter to remove the wine bottle bottoms. Pound the rough edge into the soil along both sides of the path. The beautiful colors of the glass will add to your garden’s charm. Finally, a few special touches you might want to add along your path:

How about a little bridge over a stream or a rock garden?

Add little surprises along the path: a miniature garden, sculpture, or statue.

Create a living archway over the path with willow bows or a wooden trellis with climbing vines. You can buy willow bows at a garden store. Place them a foot apart along each side of the path, then gently tie together the tops, forming an arch over the path. Before long you’ll see the willow branches sprouting. You may want to trim off most of the lower sprouts, but let the upper portion begin to spread overhead. Eventually, the two sides will grow together, and you’ll have a natural arch under which to wander. Very pretty!

Whatever you decide, have fun entertaining ideas for changes in your garden. Some you may implement, some not, but it will be fun exploring your garden from a new point of view.