[vegikev]

hi all
im trying to decide what would be the best material for making paths. im thinking mabe bark but will this harbour nasties.
what have you got for paths on your plot

[Steve.P]

Grass for me. Not finished yet but will be this year. Bark chippings should be fine, although you may want to put some weed suppressing membrane down first.

[mumofstig]

There was a lot of loose-laid (luckily) paving in my garden, which i lifted for the paths in my veg patch

[upert]

what kind of grass? something hard wearing and cheap is what i want, where do i look?

[Janeymiddlewife]

The chap next to  me doesn't have any paths at all, just a very long bed which he marks out carefully so he knows where to tread. The plots are surrounded by edged grass, so everyone else on our row sems to have followed suit!

[Steve.P]

I just went for the cheapest grass seed i could get, something with plenty of rye in would do. I've split my part of the plot down the middle, with a grass path wide enough to walk down, (about 24") so now i can just about reach the middle of each half with the hoe or rake to save standing on the soil. I think it was about £5 a kilo at the time, from a local shop. If you shop around you should get it cheaper than that. Best to try ebay

[Nogger]

there's loads off people on our site use old carpet ,and they have had it down for years its a suprising how long it lasts.

[richyrich7]

Mainly mud  

[Brambles]

I first used wood bark.. found that it attracted LOTS of woodys that attacked my seedlings too

Then I tried straw on one path to see how it went.. the pigeons LOVED that and scattered it all over the place :cry:

Finally I laid down carpet (I know that is not the favourite environmentally), but old carpet has to go somewhere! and it was not foam backed.. the carpet supresses weeds and quite quickly it gets covered in mud and looks ok, any weed seeds are easy to pull out

Grass needs mowing.. that is just another job and in the height of the summer, there is so much else to do!

Think if I had lots of money I would go for paving slabs, easy to clean and any warmth from the sun during the day would help to keep the soil warm at night.

[Bombers]

Slabs... Grass... weeds... underlay... bark... anything really...!

But seriously, I really like slabs. No maintenance, great for kneeling on when it's wet. No mowing, and don't blow about. plus, I think the slabs retain the suns warmth ( If we get any this year!  :roll: )

[peterjf]

we used builders rubble . it took a year to get enough for the length of

 our plot(25yds) , we used 2 builders who where all too happy to get rid

 of their rubble, it cost us £30 to hire a vibrating plate for the day .

we are now trying to beg and borrow slabs now,

[BestBreast]

Hi we currently have some slabs a lot of mud and a few pallets and posts and scaffold boards to wonder across. However we will have all paths in place shortly. We have not yet had to buy any slabs, so many people are ripping slabs up to replace with newer nicer stone options but reusing a concrete slab can be free. So far this month we have 19 large slabs.

[Steve.P]

That's the beauty of allotments, just like your home, it's your little piece of England. It's great that they all look different. You can take a walk around your site and get ideas. If we all had to have the same standard sheds, paths and set up it would look quite boring.

[Yorkie]

Finally I laid down carpet (I know that is not the favourite environmentally), but old carpet has to go somewhere! and it was not foam backed.. the carpet supresses weeds and quite quickly it gets covered in mud and looks ok, any weed seeds are easy to pull out

You're right about the environmental impact - it contains chemicals which are likely to leach into the soil, many of which would be categorised as toxins.  Couch grass will grow up through the carpet, making it impossible to remove - either yourself or some poor so-and-so who takes over the plot if for any unforseen reason you have to give it up.  And it will still disintegrate into the soil, leaving bits all over the place.

There are very good reasons why many allotment sites now ban the use of carpet.

[scabs]

*. I was going to go for bark, but now I'm not so sure... I may 'go green' and go for grass.