[donald.cape]

After looking around for something not too permanant to make paths on my allotment I hit on an idea, I was helping a mate to put a new roof on his bungalow and decided to use the old roof tiles he was going to "skip". They are concrete tiles made by Marley not slates, each tile covers about 12" X 18" and they interlock together so that hopefully weeds won't be able to grow between them. I've just laid them on well raked soil with the stones removed as much as possible. even if the odd one cracks the fact that the ends interlock together prevents the from moving apart. It's just an experiment , I'm intending to change from rows to beds next season, as I'm taking up this years crops I'm laying the paths a couple of tiles at a time where I want them. They were just going to be thrown out so there's nothing lost if they turn out to be no good. Evidently slates can be reused by roofers but tiles can't.

[Bobby T]

Only problem I can see is being hollow backed might be des-res for our slimey friends.A few pellets under each or lifting occasionally on a search and destroy mission may be called for.Nice thinking though.  Bob

[David.]

Sounds like a dangerous trip hazard at every overlap. Several overlaping layers of roofing slates can be used for making compost bin bases.

[donald.cape]

They don't overlap, they interlock and the top of the path is flush all the way along. They aren't laid like on a roof where they do overlap. the bottom rebate of one tile fits into the top rebate of the next one. The result is a perfectly flat non slip surface. have a look at a couple of tiles next time you're in a merchants and you will see what I mean.

[Bobby T]

DC you say you are going over to beds next year. Have you considered using them partially buried vertically for edging ? Neat and rotproof.

Some on our plots use old slates or tiles buried on edge to prevent couch buttercups ect. coming in from overgrown gardens next door.Just a couple of ideas for a free resorce.   Bob

[shaun]

surely they would break up when you walk on them

[donald.cape]

They haven't up to now, they are bedded on raked soil, I wouldn't run a barrowload of sand over them but walking on them is OK.

[Trillium]

For free, I'd say go for it. Obviously you know how much weight the tiles will support, so just allow some paths that can handle barrow-load weight. Once you set up beds, you'll need barrow access.