My garden is very much a work in progress. One of the elements lacking in the landscape are clearly defined pathways. They just seem like so much work to build though, especially for something I won’t actually receive any direct benefit from. Afterall, I know where everything is, where to walk and not walk, etc. But my lovely friends, and sometimes even Jay, are not quite that familiar with everything.
Rather than spend actual money on materials, I have been using broken pieces of concrete to construct pathes. We had to tear up a concrete strip when we put in the large patio, and those broken chunks have come in handy on this project. If I were really doing an organized job, I would dig out the pathes, install some sort of edging barrier, fill with gravel, then place in the concrete slabs. But I feel like that is way too much work, so instead I just dug out the pathes and dropped down some concrete.
The finished product looks great, in my humble opinion. The path winds slightly, so you can’t quite see what’s around the next bend, and it leads to a small circular patio under the birdbath with blue star creeper planted in between the cracks. Unfortunately, I ran out of concrete though and still have more garden paths to build! I let the concrete kind of fade out, so when I extend it the two sets of materials can blur together through the transition.
Whatever I decide on needs to stay relatively in place with the chickens scratching around and I am still determined not to spend a whole lot. So far I can only think of stones as an edging with gravel packed in the middle. I have seen really cool things like empty wine bottles placed upside down into the soil, but I think my liver would give out from drinking enough wine to accumulate enough bottles. Feel free to share your brilliant path ideas!
You could put an ad on Craigslist for broken concrete pieces and offer to haul it away for free. A friend of ours did that when he was building paths and retaining walls.
Looks great BTW!
I’m not sure what your tree situation is like, but something I’ve been doing lately is cutting large tree trunks into 3-4″ slices and laying them down. We have about a solid acre chock full of enormous trees that are, sadly I know, having to be felled to make room for a large garden. It pains me to cut a tree down and my wife says she can hear them moan and cry as they topple over, which of course only makes my reaction worse. I feel I must respect these trees and the only way I could come up with in doing that was to re-use them in every way possible.
If that’s not an option check with local builders and see if you can get access to old parking lot chunks, etc. If your town has a free mulch pile that works as well. One other idea i’ve used recently for a retaining wall are the small 3-4″ solid concrete blocks. They’re about a buck a piece and they’re 18″ long. It’s cheap and attractive, at least I think so. Good luck.
These are great ideas guys! I might try them all in different areas to create a mosaic of sorts through the pathways.
Patrick, the tree moaning was such a sweet description! I feel that way too, but sometimes it’s necessary.
I really appreciate your blog and have been reading for several months now… Encouraging, inspiring and lots of great ideas! We’re in the ‘removal’ stage right now and have plans to put our city lot into mostly edibles.
I’d love to hear if your potato tire stacking worked well ~ the positives and negatives, etc.
Thanks for sharing.
Welcome Joanie! The post about the potato tires should be up in about a week. Just harvesting them now!
Just introduced to to your website by a friend in Oklahoma. I live in cattle raising country and was interested in the typesof cuts and quantity in a half of beef. Keep up your fun projects.
Jim
Jim, you guys are great – thanks for reading the blog. All that beef was actually only from a 1/4 of a cow, so imagine how much a 1/2 is! Say hi to Loretta for me 🙂