Woo hoo -am I ever glad to see this forum! We spent the last two weekends completely re-landscaping our front and back, and I'm a very novice gardener!
We put a slate path through the front yard. It winds through the lawn, then runs straight up the side to the entrance of the house. The path is currenly sitting in screening, and we are just waiting for it to settle a little. Attached are "during" pictures (nb the beds along the path need fixing up still!) My questions are:
1) What is the best groundcover to put in between the stones, keeping in mind that the path is partially flanked by lawn, and partially flanked by beds? I want something to fill in the gaps, but I'm afraid of getting something that will invade the brand new sod. BTW, it's full sun.
2) How do I add groundcover to the path? Do I just need to sweep some topsoil onto the screening, then plant? Is it that easy?
3) We still have to fix the beds on either side of the path. When it rains, the beds wash away a little. Is there anything I can/should do to them?
THANKS!
Oh, and here's a before picture, too! It was a gravel mess!
| Attachment | Size |
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| path.JPG | 30.27 KB |
| path2.JPG | 33.28 KB |
| path3.JPG | 44.75 KB |
| front1b.JPG | 32.25 KB |
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Thanks for the advice on the path. I think it looks great the way it is, very clean looking. :applaud: Great job!
I think your path looks great the way it is too! :D
i wouldn't even try a groundcover -- it looks great as it is. we put creeping thyme in ours and it isn't invasive and does smell and look pretty. however, it makes it harder to get out the weeds that infiltrate it. it sometimes dies off in a messy brown patch as well. if the contractor ever comes, we are getting it redone, because after many years the path has sunk, and when it's redone, i'm not going to put any groundcover. just my opinion.
two small paths in her yard. She had thyme for the last 2 years and found any and all groundcovers messey and hard to control. Some died completely, some covered all her stones and there were also lots of weeds that came up. She has now put permasand inbetween which is a sand that you wet afterwards and it hardens and sets. I think the path looks cleaner now and quite pretty showing her lawn around it and other flower beds.
I personally like your path as is. Clean and pretty.
Hi there! We used limestone screening, which was suggested and sold to us by the people at the landscaping store where we bought the slate.
We cut the path out of the earth, then we laid down some gravel (not necessary, I don't think, but we had some gravel anyways). We let that settle for a few days, then we put the screening down. We set the stones in the screening, tamped it down, and hosed it with water so it would set. We repeated the process of sweeping in screening and wetting it a couple of times. When the stones were set, we then swept the excess screening away.
Here's what it looks like now.
As you can see, I still haven't settled on a groundcover, or found enough of one to plant in our long path!
Good luck with your path!
:) HELLO< I'm new here! Just admiring your terrific path. We are going to attempt something similar. Can I ask, what it is you used in between the stones in the photos? Thx
Well you have sure been working haven't you? I can't help a lot except to say that when I did a path I was told to put that black edging in to stop the soil from washing over the path. Unless you have a lot of plant material or some sort of barrier (even a little ditch), the soil is going to go with the water.
A good barrier/edge will also help prevent the spread of whatever you plant between the stones. Thyme is nice and has a nice scent when walked on but I don't know how invasive it is.