Weed-Free Garden Paths: How to Create and Maintain Them
Paths are like the bones of the garden; they give the site structure and balance. Without them, where would you walk? They’re necessary components of a well-thought-out landscape. Learn how to create and maintain weed-free garden paths with longtime landscaper Jerad Bryant.
Contents
Paths are an essential part of any garden design. It’s hard to tend to your plants effectively if you can’t reach them. Beyond accessibility, paths also improve the overall look of your garden. That is, as long as they’re not full of weeds.
Creating a weed-free path is not an easy task. These areas are quite exposed, with plenty of places for weed seeds to settle in, depending on the materials you use. And spending time weeding pathways is not the most exciting use of your gardening time.
If you want weed-free paths, it’s important to start from the beginning. How you prepare the foundation and the materials you choose will go a long way to reducing weeding. From there, all you need is a little maintenance to keep paths weed-free.
Create a Path
Creating weed-free paths begins with the design process. No matter your preferences, start with a notebook and pencil to sketch out your thoughts.
Make a Design
On paper, anything is possible. Use your pencil to draft your vision. Sketch paths around shrubs, between raised beds, and as access routes to your compost piles, trash bins, and doorways.
After designing your garden, you may realise you’d rather have it look another way. Erase, sketch, and erase again! Redesign the site until it resembles the garden you’d like it to be.
Your materials and preparation will have a greater impact on whether your path is weed-free than the design, so you can get as creative as you’d like.
Remove Debris
Start by removing excess debris that lies where your paths will be. There may be weeds, chunks of dirt, or rocks there now. Move large pieces of debris to the side, and pull any weeds growing in the paths. Starting weed-free will lead to easier maintenance.
You may find tree roots and large stones during the cleaning process. Consider moving your paths if you encounter large roots, as severing them can damage your woody perennials. Or, add mulch onto the roots and make a hill over them.
Level Surface
Leveling is important when building weed-free paths. It creates an even surface so you don’t trip when walking along your paths. An uneven path may trip you or your garden visitors!
All you need to even out the earth is a rake with fine teeth. Pull it gently over the area until all holes and pockmarks are at the same height as the surrounding soil.
Formal, straight paths, and those made with concrete require a more detailed leveling process than this. These must be as level as possible. Use strings and posts to measure the ground, then make it even according to your measurements.
Start by hammering in square wooden posts along each corner of the path’s perimeter. Wrap a string from one post to the next, and tie it loosely. Then, adjust the line with a leveling tool until it’s even. You now have level ground and can build up the path to match the string.
Add Edging
Edging is usually optional when creating paths, but if you want weed-free paths, it’s very helpful. Edging prevents any runners from weeds that may like to spread from creeping into your paths.
It’s also beneficial for keeping stones, pavers, and mulch in place. Some are plastic, and others are metal. Often, the edging is combined with placeholders for holding pavers on paths.
Choose an edging that matches the style of your paths. They come in all sorts of colors, from copper to silver to jet-black. Copper blends well with wood chips and other natural materials, while black edging looks best next to hardscape paths.
You must bury the edging halfway into the ground to secure it in place. Ensure it lines up next to the pathways, then pack soil over its lower portions.
Install Weed Barriers
Once your edging is in place, consider adding a weed barrier before laying your path materials. This extra step creates a physical barrier that prevents weeds from growing up through your walkway.
Landscape fabric is the most common option, allowing water and air to pass through while blocking light that weeds need to germinate. For a budget-friendly alternative, cardboard works surprisingly well. While cardboard will eventually decompose, it typically lasts long enough to suppress existing weeds and prevent new ones from establishing.
Both materials have their drawbacks. Landscape fabric can be punctured by sharp stones or tools, creating openings for weeds. Over time, soil and organic matter can accumulate on top of the fabric, providing a growing medium for weed seeds that blow in. Cardboard breaks down quickly and may not completely remove your weed problem.
Skip weed barriers entirely if you’re creating a living path with grass or groundcover plants, as these materials will prevent your desired plants from establishing. For hardscape paths with pavers or stones, weed barriers work best when combined with proper base preparation and joint materials.
Lay Down Path
And finally, lay out the path! Grab your material of choice and place it over the prepared areas. Loose materials can be thrown about at random, while stones, bricks, and concrete require careful placement. Living paths of grass and perennial groundcovers must be sown and cultivated to thrive.
Rake the site after adding the materials to give the walkways an even surface. Avoid low spots and piles of mulch, as these create trip hazards for your garden visitors.
Choose a Material
Which material to use depends on your design preferences and the time you’d like to spend maintaining weed-free paths. Loose soil amendments, like straw and wood chips, are easy to set up and laborious to maintain, while hardscape options are difficult to create but easy to care for.
Mowed Grass
Mowed grass is the best option for areas where lawns already exist. It’s easy to carve out paths in the lawn and keep them weed-free as you do with your regular lawn. Then, you can add garden beds, trees, and shrubs around the walkways.
You’ll need a lawn mower to start. Set the mower’s blade at two inches high, then run it over the walkways. Create curved lines in natural landscapes, and use straight ones in formal sites.
To maintain these paths, you must mow them regularly during the growing season. They’ll require extra irrigation to stay green, though you can let them enter dormancy during summer and winter, depending on the type of grass you planted. Cool-season grasses go dormant in summer, while warm-season ones enter dormancy in winter.
Wood Chips
Wood chips are superb for vegetable gardens and landscapes with a lot of woody perennials. They decompose slowly, enriching the soil over time. They release carbon and other nutrients that plant roots can access.
Wood chips are also super cheap. Find them at landscape and garden supply stores, as well as plant nurseries.
Chip paths stay relatively weed-free as they block the light that weeds need to germinate, making for easy maintenance during the year. Simply add more on top of the old ones to snuff out growing weeds and prevent seeds from sprouting.
Gravel
Gravel works well in commercial and utility areas. It takes a long time to decompose and needs little repurposing. Simply lay down edging, add gravel in between, and rake the site to make it level.
Though gravel lasts for many years, it’s prone to having weeds sprout in between the tiny pebbles without the right preparation. It’s also difficult to weed, as the hard rocks are abrasive to the hands. If your focus is on weed-free pathways, other materials may be more suitable.
Mulch
Mulch is the easiest option to source, as you can use whatever you have available to you. Perhaps you have plenty of fallen leaves in the yard, or there’s a lot of grass clippings from your lawn. Use these materials to build a path, and let them settle over the course of the growing season.
Near the vegetable beds, I like to place clippings, debris, and dead stems in the paths. They sink into the ground over time and enrich the soil while they decompose. This is a low-hassle method, as you don’t have to lug debris around the garden.
You may also use trench composting to make a weed-free path. Dig a trench, then set debris and kitchen scraps in the trench. Add mulch on top and walk over it to help it compact.
Use mulches that you’re comfortable walking on, as some are more walkable than others. Compost is great for feeding plants, but it’s not so great for walking on. Use materials like straw, fallen leaves, and dead plants.
Hardscape Options
Hardscape paths are more permanent than the previous materials, and less permeable for weeds to sprout through, making them the best option for weed-free paths. Choose from concrete, pavers, stones, bricks, and combinations of multiple options. Though difficult to set up, these paths last for years before they require fixing.
It may be better to ask for the help of a landscaping professional than to lay pavers or install concrete yourself. Because these paths are more permanent, they require careful planning and execution to install.
A simple way to set a hardscape path up is to lay down round paving stones. Place them a few inches apart for easy stepping. Then, bury their lower halves with soil and leave their tops exposed.
Maintain Paths
Maintaining the garden paths and keeping them weed-free is easy once they’re set up. You’ll need to top dress them once or twice a year, depending on how often you walk on them. Certain materials are easier to weed than others, though all require upkeep of some sort to stay in tip-top shape.
Pull Weeds
Pull weeds often to keep the paths looking their best. Even with excellent preparation, there is always a chance one or two weeds will pop up, and that’s where problems start. Some weeds, like dandelions, will grow thick taproots that anchor them to the walkways. Others, like spurge, will cover the ground with dense growth and sow hundreds of seedlings.
The best times to weed are fall and spring, when new plants are actively germinating. Young plants are easier to remove than old ones. Their small roots pull easily from the soil. And, when you pull the young plants, you prevent them from spreading seeds in late spring and summer.
Add More Mulch
Adding more mulch over time as the top layer breaks down smothers weeds and prevents new ones from sprouting. It’ll only keep the paths weed-free until it settles and breaks down, so you do need to keep topping up your mulch.
For ideal results, keep the mulch thicker than two to three inches. Weeds won’t sprout in the dense layers, and mature ones will yellow and die underneath the thick coating.
Walk on the Paths
Regular foot traffic helps in unimaginable ways! The more you walk in the garden, the more weed-free paths you’ll have. Stepping compresses the ground, and it prevents many plants from thriving if they sprout.
Walk your garden weekly or daily if you can. See how good or bad your paths are looking, and modify them accordingly. Not only will you catch problems early when they arise, but you’ll also control any unruly weeds by stomping them out.
