Walk This Way

Design the Perfect Pathway To Your Pool

One of the main reasons gardeners and homeowners choose to implement a path or walkway on their lawn or garden is simply to provide better access to hard to reach places, such as gardens and flowerbeds. A walkway can prevent inadvertent damage to flowers, vegetables and other plants by providing a clear-cut path.

Paths and walkways are also perfect for redirecting your family's feet off your manicured lawn. If the best shortcut to the front door happens be straight through the front yard, you might want to create a path to prevent any damage.

Paths and walkways also add a new dynamic to your landscape. Paths and walkways give a calm, welcoming effect to your yard or garden. You have many different options when it comes to constructing your walkway, both simple and complicated. It all depends on how much time, money and effort you are willing to put into it. Below are just a few of the options you have.

For a variation on this method, consider digging out an area in the ground for each stepping stone. Leave approximately one-half inch of the stone above ground. This will allow you to easily mow over the walkway as well as trim the weeds that will inevitably sprout up in the area.

PEBBLES AND GRAVEL: Another thing you might consider, instead of stepping stones, is constructing your walkway entirely of pebbles or gravel. This will eliminate the need for mowing around the walkway area at all. You may also choose to use pebbles or gravel in addition to your stone slabs. Either way, you should definitely consider first putting down a layer of landscaping fabric before you incorporate the gravel or pebbles. This will aid in both drainage and weed prevention.

MULCH: A walkway consisting entirely of mulch, or a combination of mulch and stepping stones, is another solution to this problem. Just remember that mulch can be rather messy, especially on rainy days. However, it remains a good, inexpensive option for your walkway.

If you do decide on using mulch as your walkway, there are a number of ways to accent your path. For instance, wood or plastic edge pieces will give your walkway a more formal look. These inexpensive accents can be purchased at your local garden store and easily installed along the edge of your walkway with the use of a mallet or hammer.

If your walkway is located on a slight slope, you might consider using pine needle mulch, since the needles cling together much better and are more likely to stay in place during a heavy storm.

Bark nuggets are another great alternative for your walkway. Today bark nuggets come in various stains such as red, black and brown and are resistant to fading due to sunlight exposure.

GROUND COVER: Planting ground cover along your walkway is another great way to make your walkway look its very best. Carpet Bugle is very common plant used for ground cover along walkways. It spreads horizontally above stolons and produces crowns. It has foliage that reaches 4 to 6 inches in height as well as stems that grow up to 8 to 10 inches that, in the springtime, produce beautiful, purple-blue flowers.

Trailing Periwinkle is another great plant to use as ground cover along your walkway. It is a fast-growing evergreen that produces dark green foliage and blue flowers in the spring.