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A garden walkway is a wonderful idea to guide visitors through your garden, as well as cut down on mud when you are working around you plants in the spring. A walkway is simple to install, and can easily be completed in a weekend.
The first thing that you need to do is decide on what material you plan on using for your walkway. Gravel and wood chips are inexpensive, but will need to be added to frequently. Stone and brick pavers cost more initially, but require less maintenance down the road. The choice is really a matter of personal taste. All of these materials are available at home centers. Once you decide on your material, you are ready to prepare the surface.
Begin by planning your layout. Perhaps you want your walkway to go from your back door to a bench near the back fence. Do not make a straight line, but rather a gradual arc. If the path will be very long, you can even let it bend first in one direction, and then another. These small bends will encourage visitors to slow down and enjoy the view. Mark the path with flour or lime, and then prepare the area. If you are using gravel or wood chips, you simply need to level out any major bumps that may cause someone to trip. If you are putting down pavers or stone, you need to remove the top layer of sod and get that out of your way.
If you are using gravel or wood chips all that is left to do is to dump out your material and smooth it along the path. You generally want the material to be between four and six inches deep. This is deep enough to retard weed growth along your path, but shallow enough to be easy to walk on. You may also want to plant some edging flowers along your path to give it a little more structure. Lavender is a good choice, and as you brush against it, you release the wonderful scent into the air. It is also a perennial, so you do not have to worry with maintaining the edge of your path each year.
If you are using brick or stone, you will get a load of sand and dump it into the area that you are building your walkway in. It should be about an inch deep, this helps to hold the stones in place and cushions them as well. The bricks or stone are then nestled right into the sand. For a formal look, press the pavers as close together as possible, for a more informal look, you want to leave an inch or two between each paver, and not be as uniform in your placement. Once you get your stones in place, you are done, although you may want to plant some small flowers between the pavers for an elegantly charming look. Creeping thyme is a wonderful plant for this. It grows low to the ground and spreads itself by creeping. It is not, however, particularly invasive, and the roots are not harsh enough to uproot your stones, such as would happen with ivy. Creeping thyme also has a wonderful smell, can tolerate being walked on, and has small white flowers for added appeal.
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