having created my raised beds within a gated and fenced off area protected
with rabbit wire
I am thinking of loosing the grass paths between the raised beds and either
covering it
with ....shingle or chipped wood.......or scalping type material or any
other ideas?
The grass is ok but high maintenance '

What path material would people favour ?
Would a fibre glass type matting over the grass be ok as a barrier before
applying the chosen path material?
Or
Should I lift the grass before applying this material?


thoughts appreciated


Barry

On 24/7/07 22:44, in article , "Barry"
wrote:

having created my raised beds within a gated and fenced off area protected
with rabbit wire
I am thinking of loosing the grass paths between the raised beds and either
covering it
with ....shingle or chipped wood.......or scalping type material or any
other ideas?
The grass is ok but high maintenance '

I'd keep the grass unless you're prepared to concrete or pave. Weeding
through other materials will be even more time consuming and tedious. And
weeds - and the grass - will grow through gravel or wood chips.
snip
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
(remove weeds from address)
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'

Barry writes
having created my raised beds within a gated and fenced off area protected
with rabbit wire
I am thinking of loosing the grass paths between the raised beds and either
covering it
with ....shingle or chipped wood.......or scalping type material or any
other ideas?
The grass is ok but high maintenance '

What path material would people favour ?
Would a fibre glass type matting over the grass be ok as a barrier before
applying the chosen path material?
Or
Should I lift the grass before applying this material?

Lift the grass, stack it upside down in a heap for a year or so and it
will rot down into good humus rich soil - too good to be wasted under a
path.

I've got gravel between my raised beds. Needs weeding, but that's not as
much work as mowing grass was. And it's an excellent medium for plants
that won't germinate so well elsewhere ;-)

The gravel looks OK in the winter as a contrast to the brown soil of the
beds - bark wouldn't be such a contrast. And it would rot down and need
topping up every few years.
--
Kay

"K" wrote in message
...
Barry writes
having created my raised beds within a gated and fenced off area
protected
with rabbit wire
I am thinking of loosing the grass paths between the raised beds and
either
covering it
with ....shingle or chipped wood.......or scalping type material or any
other ideas?
The grass is ok but high maintenance '

What path material would people favour ?
Would a fibre glass type matting over the grass be ok as a barrier before
applying the chosen path material?
Or
Should I lift the grass before applying this material?

Lift the grass, stack it upside down in a heap for a year or so and it
will rot down into good humus rich soil - too good to be wasted under a
path.

I've got gravel between my raised beds. Needs weeding, but that's not as
much work as mowing grass was. And it's an excellent medium for plants
that won't germinate so well elsewhere ;-)

The gravel looks OK in the winter as a contrast to the brown soil of the
beds - bark wouldn't be such a contrast. And it would rot down and need
topping up every few years.
--
Kay

We go along with Kay.

Lift the grass, put a membrane/plastic sheet/ground cover down and cover it
with 20 mm gravel. Don't use anything smaller like pea gravel otherwise the
neighbourhood vermin cats will use it as their toilet.

Lovely to walk on all the year round. Dries out quickly and quick shuffle
around every so often disturbs the weeds and they die :-))

We have lots of gravel paths and wouldn't have anything else. They are
proving a boon with all this wet weather :-))

Mike


--
The Royal Naval Electrical Branch Association.
'THE' Association if you served in the Electrical Branch of the Royal Navy
Reunion Bournemouth August/September 2007
www.rneba.org.uk
"Navy Days" Portsmouth 25th - 27th July 2008. RN Shipmates will have a Stand

Sacha wrote:
On 24/7/07 22:44, in article ,
"Barry" wrote:

having created my raised beds within a gated and fenced off area
protected with rabbit wire
I am thinking of loosing the grass paths between the raised beds and
either covering it
with ....shingle or chipped wood.......or scalping type material
or any other ideas?
The grass is ok but high maintenance '

I'd keep the grass unless you're prepared to concrete or pave.
Weeding through other materials will be even more time consuming and
tedious. And weeds - and the grass - will grow through gravel or
wood chips. snip

Disagree, landscsping fabric (eg terram) with a self binding gravel (in the
south Breedon gravel is readily available) which sets like a natural
concrete but is much more attractive.

Easy DIY ( tip the stuff out of barrows, rake level, tread down, brush to a
level surface) and much less maintenace than grass.

pk

In article , says...
having created my raised beds within a gated and fenced off area protected
with rabbit wire
I am thinking of loosing the grass paths between the raised beds and either
covering it
with ....shingle or chipped wood.......or scalping type material or any
other ideas?
The grass is ok but high maintenance '

What path material would people favour ?
Would a fibre glass type matting over the grass be ok as a barrier before
applying the chosen path material?
Or
Should I lift the grass before applying this material?


thoughts appreciated


Barry

I put down landcape matting between the beds and covered it originally with bark.
This turned into a sort of linear compost heap eventually and I am slowly
replacing it with stones gathered free from my very stony soil. The few weeds that
grow in the stones are shallow rooted and easy to remove because of the matting.
I have found it much less time consuming than maintining grass paths

GillM

"Barry" wrote in message
...
having created my raised beds within a gated and fenced off area
protected with rabbit wire
I am thinking of loosing the grass paths between the raised beds and
either covering it
with ....shingle or chipped wood.......or scalping type material or any
other ideas?
The grass is ok but high maintenance '

What path material would people favour ?
Would a fibre glass type matting over the grass be ok as a barrier before
applying the chosen path material?
Or
Should I lift the grass before applying this material?


thoughts appreciated


Barry


I wish we could keep the grass paths between our raised beds. The chickens
eat it :-(

We've made it last a little longer by laying turf underneath the plastic
holey stuff used for temporary parking, They can eat some of it but not
scratch. It will get a growing chance while we're away.

Mary

"p.k." wrote in message
...
Sacha wrote:
On 24/7/07 22:44, in article ,
I'd keep the grass unless you're prepared to concrete or pave.
Weeding through other materials will be even more time consuming and
tedious. And weeds - and the grass - will grow through gravel or
wood chips. snip

Disagree, landscsping fabric (eg terram) with a self binding gravel (in
the
south Breedon gravel is readily available) which sets like a natural
concrete but is much more attractive.

Yes I think a heavy weight membrane is the way to go whatever you put on
top. You won't have weeds growing through the membrane. You may get a few
growing in whatever you put on top but it's not hard to deal with them.

Mary Fisher wrote:
"Barry" wrote in message
...
having created my raised beds within a gated and fenced off area
protected with rabbit wire
I am thinking of loosing the grass paths between the raised beds and
either covering it
with ....shingle or chipped wood.......or scalping type material or any
other ideas?
The grass is ok but high maintenance '

What path material would people favour ?
Would a fibre glass type matting over the grass be ok as a barrier before
applying the chosen path material?
Or
Should I lift the grass before applying this material?


thoughts appreciated


Barry


I wish we could keep the grass paths between our raised beds. The chickens
eat it :-(

We've made it last a little longer by laying turf underneath the plastic
holey stuff used for temporary parking, They can eat some of it but not
scratch. It will get a growing chance while we're away.

Mary



Being a tight A** I used gravel from builders merchants, get it by the
"meter" bag, much cheaper, after a drop of rain just as attractive.

p.k. writes
Sacha wrote:
On 24/7/07 22:44, in article ,
"Barry" wrote:

having created my raised beds within a gated and fenced off area
protected with rabbit wire
I am thinking of loosing the grass paths between the raised beds and
either covering it
with ....shingle or chipped wood.......or scalping type material
or any other ideas?
The grass is ok but high maintenance '

I'd keep the grass unless you're prepared to concrete or pave.
Weeding through other materials will be even more time consuming and
tedious. And weeds - and the grass - will grow through gravel or
wood chips. snip

Disagree, landscsping fabric (eg terram) with a self binding gravel (in the
south Breedon gravel is readily available) which sets like a natural
concrete but is much more attractive.

Easy DIY ( tip the stuff out of barrows, rake level, tread down, brush to a
level surface) and much less maintenace than grass.

Grass is OK if you have a large garden and wide paths between your beds.
But if you are in an average sized garden and your paths are not much
more than the width of the lawn mower, the awkwardness of manoeuvring
the lawn mower, and of keeping the edges tidy, makes grass high
maintenance both in the time involved and the necessity to do it every
week to maintain some measure of tidiness.

In addition, the grass will grow into the beds, making maintenance of
the beds harder.

I've had both grass and gravel, and, even with weeding, I find the
gravel is far less maintenance.

(Weeding's more fun than mowing anyway ;-) )
--
Kay

"K" wrote in message
...
p.k. writes
Sacha wrote:
On 24/7/07 22:44, in article ,
"Barry" wrote:

having created my raised beds within a gated and fenced off area
protected with rabbit wire
I am thinking of loosing the grass paths between the raised beds and
either covering it
with ....shingle or chipped wood.......or scalping type material
or any other ideas?
The grass is ok but high maintenance '

I'd keep the grass unless you're prepared to concrete or pave.
Weeding through other materials will be even more time consuming and
tedious. And weeds - and the grass - will grow through gravel or
wood chips. snip

Disagree, landscsping fabric (eg terram) with a self binding gravel (in
the
south Breedon gravel is readily available) which sets like a natural
concrete but is much more attractive.

Easy DIY ( tip the stuff out of barrows, rake level, tread down, brush to
a
level surface) and much less maintenace than grass.

Grass is OK if you have a large garden and wide paths between your beds.
But if you are in an average sized garden and your paths are not much
more than the width of the lawn mower, the awkwardness of manoeuvring
the lawn mower, and of keeping the edges tidy, makes grass high
maintenance both in the time involved and the necessity to do it every
week to maintain some measure of tidiness.

Around here a narrow grass path between raised beds would be a soggy mess
from it being walked on a lot.

There are advantages and disadvantages with both methods.



I had grass paths all around my allotment and found that bindweed and other
such weeds grew among it and down the sides, giving me a lot of hard work.
The sides also needed re-cutting on a regular basis.



In good weather the grass always seemed to need cutting - a little bit off
the top and sides - just like my haircut!



In dry and/or drought conditions the grass, in large areas, virtually
disappeared and these then turned to mud in the sort of weather we are
having now - heavy rain - with the result that walking on it created many
more bare patches (and you needed to walk very carefully) and needed
re-seeding when the weather improved. Some areas grew well and some never
did.



In the end, I got rid of the grass paths and created flint paths, holding
the flint back from the growing areas with boards.



I laid a heavy membrane down between the boards and filled the gap with
flintstones.



I'm not advocating flint stones as a path material (there are much better
materials such as gravel) but where the allotments are (at the bottom of the
Sussex downs) it seems flint grows better and quicker than any other crop!
Part of *allotmenting* here is stone picking, and the stones then have to be
carried some distance to the stone dump. It's easier for me now just to toss
all the stones I come across onto the path and then walk on it.



The advantages are that it's the same in all weathers and never slippery in
the rain, there's somewhere to throw the large stones, and such weeds as do
appear are easily pulled up - and I don't need to cut the grass or tweak out
the weeds!



The disadvantages are that it's a bit uncomfortable to walk on unless you're
wearing heavy boots (which I do) and kneeling on it can be a real pain!
Also, you have to pull a heavy laden wheelbarrow along the path because it's
far too difficult and very hard work to try to push it.



I'd love to have gravel paths but it's so easy to get rid of the stones,
this way!




Regards,



John

"John Vanini" wrote in message
...
There are advantages and disadvantages with both methods.



I had grass paths all around my allotment and found that bindweed and
other such weeds grew among it and down the sides, giving me a lot of hard
work. The sides also needed re-cutting on a regular basis.



In good weather the grass always seemed to need cutting - a little bit off
the top and sides - just like my haircut!



In dry and/or drought conditions the grass, in large areas, virtually
disappeared and these then turned to mud in the sort of weather we are
having now - heavy rain - with the result that walking on it created many
more bare patches (and you needed to walk very carefully) and needed
re-seeding when the weather improved. Some areas grew well and some never
did.



In the end, I got rid of the grass paths and created flint paths, holding
the flint back from the growing areas with boards.



I laid a heavy membrane down between the boards and filled the gap with
flintstones.



I'm not advocating flint stones as a path material (there are much better
materials such as gravel) but where the allotments are (at the bottom of
the Sussex downs) it seems flint grows better and quicker than any other
crop! Part of *allotmenting* here is stone picking, and the stones then
have to be carried some distance to the stone dump. It's easier for me now
just to toss all the stones I come across onto the path and then walk on
it.



The advantages are that it's the same in all weathers and never slippery
in the rain, there's somewhere to throw the large stones, and such weeds
as do appear are easily pulled up - and I don't need to cut the grass or
tweak out the weeds!



The disadvantages are that it's a bit uncomfortable to walk on unless
you're wearing heavy boots (which I do) and kneeling on it can be a real
pain! Also, you have to pull a heavy laden wheelbarrow along the path
because it's far too difficult and very hard work to try to push it.



I'd love to have gravel paths but it's so easy to get rid of the stones,
this way!




Regards,



John



Everything in keeping with what I posted earlier :-))))

Thank you.

Mike


--
The Royal Naval Electrical Branch Association.
'THE' Association if you served in the Electrical Branch of the Royal Navy
Reunion Bournemouth August/September 2007
www.rneba.org.uk
"Navy Days" Portsmouth 25th - 27th July 2008. RN Shipmates will have a Stand