[Yorkie]

RE carpets

And some sites ban its use anyway. Ours certainly does. So you would need to check your allotment site rules.

thank goodness I have my veggie plots in my own garden - couldn't stand all the rules and regs of an allotment site  

I can use any old odds and S*ds on my plot and can keep up with it at my pace 

You seem to have a bee in your bonnet about rules on allotment sites.  They are usually imposed to enable present and future gardeners to garden effectively and safely.

Carpets are banned for good reason:
- weeds grow through them, causing injury to individuals if the carpet is too heavy or weed-ridden to lift.
- they are a nightmare to dispose of once wet and/or muddy, even if still in one piece.
- they disintegrate into lots of small bits which are impossible to tidy away.
- they contain chemicals in their dyes and glues, which are then leached into the soil that you grow your veggies in.
- they may well have toxins on them from peoples' shoes, which are then leached into the soil ...

[surbie100]

I hate carpet with a passion. The person before me laid carpet everywhere, often 2 layers with a spit or so of soil inbetween. It's rotting, slimy, smelly, can't be dug through, disintegrates in clumps when I try to pull it out and has weeds growing strongly through it. It also needs to be carted off to the tip, which is annoying, but given what might be in it, I don't fancy burning it.

It's not banned on our site, but I really wish it were.

I'm slowly digging it up and putting woodchip down - fortunately we have a seemingly limitless free supply.

[Kirpi]

I nearly scalped by grass areas off to replace with wood chippings but realised it would take more work keeping those areas weeded than the regular mowing I have to do. At least my grass paths give me regular nitrogen rich compost.

[cadalot]

I'm using the carpet that was already on the site to cover the areas that I have not dug - but at the end of the day it will have to be cut up and taken away. I have put it on the main access path to my plot as I don't want to keep on cutting grass. eventually I will have a mixture of woodchip and concrete slabs everywhere.

I have sourced so many slabs off freecycle what a great resource.

[chillimummy]

I agree carpets are awful. My plot when took it over last year had lots of grassy paths amongst weeds. Wondered why spade wouldnt go through grass and once I dug deeper, found carpet that  is even wider than paths    Have struggled to dig most of it up as so much soil and grass on top. Still some left and have given up now til next year!  Too heavy now soil wet   

[superpete]

Hi super Pete . Looks like a great plot. So neat! What is the plant in the middle of the bed?

    Cleome or 'spider flower' - it's an annual - I've grown it a few times and once got some to six foot tall  – which happened to be at a place I visited early most evenings after work so they were watered regularly and each one was planted with a half bag of Levingtons -  if you want them big, they need growing on without a check until planting out. - Pete.

[ptarmigan]

Cleome - of course - thought they looked familiar - beautiful.

[wbmkk]

I dismantle pallets, chop into pieces and staple onto strips of plastic to make a log roll type path.  I put it on top of weed control fabric.  My girls then paint them bright colours which gives me a bit of piece to weed. 

A great idea .. I might try that too.

That should give a path width of about 21 inches

I've used old builders tonne bags as membrane with free woodchips on top.

Another great idea.

I've already filled 4 dumpy bags with leaves for leafmould, but suppose I could try and find a few more, if I decide to try this method.

My allotment, which I only got a few weeks ago has a central path, which I might keep, but might not. I think the timber idea would be good here. Between the raised beds (when I build them) the chips on the bags may be better.

[barley]

RE carpets

And some sites ban its use anyway. Ours certainly does. So you would need to check your allotment site rules.

thank goodness I have my veggie plots in my own garden - couldn't stand all the rules and regs of an allotment site  

I can use any old odds and S*ds on my plot and can keep up with it at my pace 

You seem to have a bee in your bonnet about rules on allotment sites.  They are usually imposed to enable present and future gardeners to garden effectively and safely.

well with that sort of remark yorkie  thank goodness I don't have a communal allotment - was only giving some friendly advice you can take it or leave it but there is no need to be rude !!!!!

I actually cut carpet into strips - they make a very affective temporary  paths during the growing season and take them up to dry and store in the garage during the winter so they do not go rotten and decay into the soil

there are chemicals in all modern products and plastics on equipment used on allotments so unless all products including them are avoided being used there is always a chance of some sort of contamination

no doubt there are chemicals from rotted products included in shop brought bags of compost but we all buy those without a thought of what went into them 

[gavinjconway]

Yorkie you are spot on with your advice above..

I'm our site lettings and maintenance committee member and recently we opened up a few derelict plots to some new members for a years free rent .... the carpets that were used 10-20 years ago are an absolute pain to remove as they are all intertwined with growth of brambles, grass and weeds.. What a job to remove them!! I'm actually looking at getting support to have them banned on the site!! 

[Headgardener22]

I use weed suppressant fabric and bark chippings.

I used to have grass paths but spent too much time keeping them cut and they encouraged slugs under the edge.

I suppose it depends a bit on whether you are going to have wooden edged raised beds or not. I didn't and the grass just kept growing into the beds.

[Growster...]

Carpets and some woven membranes have an irritating habit of breaking down, and leaving little nylon strips in the ground, and they seem to last forever.

Every time I mow, strim or rotovate, there are still those confounded and irritating pieces of plastic wound round the tines or the blades, and we cleared the plots properly over two years ago! These bits of plastic can even stall the machines if I hit a bad patch. It originally took us both about a day to clear old rotten carpet and weed-suppressant from a half plot and the soil still looked dead and couch-grassy when we'd finished. Never again!

To answer the post though, it is grass paths every time for us, but level with the edge of the bed, so that mowing is a cinch, and there are no edges which need clipping!

[diospyros]

There is plot just down the row which has wood edged beds and paths which appear to be just bark chips on soil with no membrane.  There are a few weeds, but I guess they would be easy enough to pull out.  I was going to go for nice neat weed membrane, dug in round the edges so it doesn't start coming up, maybe with bark on top, but was balking at the work and cost of this to get it looking proper.  I hate it when membrane starts to ruckle up. So when offered a huge pile of bark chippings for free have gone for the "what can go wrong and it hasn't cost me anything if it does" option of just bark! 

[GreyScales]

Question on grass paths.

A lady at my local allotment tells me it's important to eliminate any grass, because wireworm breeds in it and attacks your potatoes. Wireworm I'm told is a nuisance at the allotment I'm on the waiting list for...

Surely if you have grass paths, you're creating a breeding ground for wireworm surrounding your beds?

[Madame Cholet]

All I know is it creeps on to the beds unless you have edges, that's why mine went.