Inexpensive Garden Path Ideas Needed Please

We want to have a garden path about 225 feet long leading to a gazebo and I need ideas on what would be an inexpensive material to cover the ground with. I was considering sea shells since I could go to the nearby beaches and get them for free. Has anyone here used sea shells before? Eventually I want to line the path with flowers. Will the composition of the shells affect the soil? Thanks for all your advice and ideas in advance.
Carol

It depends on the type of garden you have. Is it woodland? In which case ordinary mulch is nice and natural. Stepping stones cut out of tree trunks. Pea gravel (shingle)! Flagstone pathways are pleasing to look at with shingle or grass. Or a grass path!!

Louisa...Thanks for your speedy post. It's going to be a path going through the woods starting at the end of my backyard. I had considered mulch, but I wanted something that would give some contrast. I love your idea of stepping stones cut from tree trunks and I know just where I could put some...
Carol

We got house bricks instead of paving bricks...2000 for $190. Check you brick supply yards they have deals on discontinued bricks. Mix colors and make different designs. I have cypress and pea stone walks also. I got a wagon load of pea gravel for 25.00 from the stone company here-lots cheaper than by the bagful!
What about just edging it and planting wooly thyme or something like that. Im adding a secret path this year -just a few stones for a outline and leaving the path just dirt.
Good luck,
dori

Carol, I used some pine bark mulch for mine. I had a piece of old carpet that I laid down first, then I covered it with some pinebark/dirt mixture that DH uses for the business. I found some cement chunks someone wanted to get rid of and placed them in no particular order. Looks great! LISA

Have you considered lining both sides of the path with long narrow tree trunks. Something like silver birch with its great bark would show up lovely.

I got all of the brick that I could haul for free when I found an old building being torn down.This was an OLD building and the bricks were those great old solid ones that didn't have holes in them. Most demolition companies just take them to a landfill.

Lisa
Just curious. For what reason did you put a rug down prior to putting down the pine bark? I am planning to make walkways of pine bark.
Janice

Janice
i bet lisa did it to keep the weed out-a weed barrier

You are so right Martha - on the button. Jolly good idea I think - now where can I find some old carpet...:-)

I use the chipped wood that I get free from the tree trimmers as garden paths. Call up a local tree service, and they'll probably be glad to dump some in your yard.

Carol,

Crushed oyster shells have long been used as paths and driveways throughout the tidewater south.

However, two things to consider. First, it takes an incredible tonnage of shells to make a path such as you describe. And second, in the old days they were used primarily as carraige paths. The passage of horses and carraiges is what crushed the shells. If you just lay down shells you gather at the beach, there is danger from sharp edges. Many of them are like knife blades.

You might check out the molds available at home improvement stores for making stepping stones out of cement. I just picked one up at Home Depot, for instance, that casts a random-stone arrangement. The molds are 2' square, and each uses a full bag of cement mix. To make the path you describe, you'd need 113 bags of cement. They're $1.99 here.

Whether or not that's inexpensive by your standards you'll have to decide. But it's a simple way to go.

Wow! So many inexpensive ideas I hadn't considered! I'm sorry that I couldn't get back to you all sooner, but I'm still working out of town and my computer access is limited. Thanks for all of your help.
Dori...How much sunlight does woolly thyme need? I'm also planning a secret moonlight garden. Should I branch off of the main path or just start the path at another section of the yard? If you have any ideas, please let me know.
Lisa...There's a pine mulch factory about 20 miles away and I'm going to check and see what kind of deal they will give me. I would have never thought of using old carpet to control weeds. Thanks for a great tip!
Daisy_Chain...I love the idea of lining the sides of the path with narrow tree trunks. There's several fallen trees on our property that I could use. I'm not good at tree identification, but I'm going to take a look and see what we have.
Melody...I saw bricks really cheap in the trading post. They would be cheaper than the money I'd spend on gas getting the sea shells. Did you have to chip the concrete off of the ones you found?
Sunflower...I had considered buying a wood chipper, but now I'm going to check and see if the local tree service companies around here are as generous as yours are.
Brook...Thanks for the history info. I didn't know oyster shells were previously used for paving roads in the Tidewater area, although it makes logical sense. I think my fiance would draw the line if I put sea shells in a bag and used his truck to crush them. lol I guess I'll just have to find another place for shells in our garden.
Thanks again for all of your great ideas,
Carol

Carol, The carpet works great on weeds. Someone told me that the carpet would stink, but that never happened. It has been down for over a year and we get lots of rain here. No problems and no weeds either! Lisa

I went to local furniture maker. He has a vacuum system that takes all the sawdust out and into a little building. I just go by with my shovel and get what I want, being sure to avoid the Walnut. A light-colored sawdust, such as oak or pine would show up nicely on the path. I also get this sawdust for improving my soil and for mulching, again, avoiding the Walnut.

I used the small burlap bags after we did not need them for sandbagging (flooding) and covered with wood mulch, worked like the carpeting. Maybe for contrast with some of the other suggestions-Cocoa bean mulch--I love to play in it--I do not use it for a large area because of cost and it can mold if layered too deep--but for a little area-it is like being in a Hershey cocoa can! Heaven!

I had a friend who once recycled the cement that was taken up from an old driveway and he constructed a very nice path he called a 'poor man's walk' out of it. It went from the house to the garage. My niece also used recycled cement to build a wall around her pond. It's hard work, but the results are nice and very permanent.

I read recently in Better Homes and Gardens Spring 2001 Perennial Magazine where a woman uses 5 sheets of newspaper under her mulched paths for weed prevention. She also uses one sheet in her garden beds for the same reason. It is also biodegradable. debi

louisa,
You can probably find carpet samples that you could use at a place that sells carpeting...check and see if they have discontinued samples... sometimes they will just give them to you or sell them really cheap....Just a thought
singleyellowrose36

Here the carpet company installer told me that they take the OLD carpets out and merely put them in the dumpsters in back of the shop! If you are good at "dumpster-diving" you can get rolls of carpeting and then cut it up (in your driveway or yard) to the width you want for you walk-ways - it does make a good weed barrier! Great idea from Lisa for sure!
Rita

Carpet works great for making paths; long sections you can even cut in curves to "meander" around areas of interest. I read about a lady doing just that - looked beautiful, too! :o)