garden path materials

My new (2-3 years old) full afternoon sun, morning shade- perennial garden is approx. 25 X 30. Its nothing formal- just plants that we saw and liked, got from friends and relatives, etc. I want to put in a path, but not sure what to use. First of all it has to be barefoot friendly- easy and relatively inexpensive (free is always good), and I'd like to get it down this next few weeks. I use some cyprus mulch around some of the plants, and for now I am just keep weeding and raking it off. The bare earth is great for barefeet- but not very attractive. I know as the garden matures the path will narrow, but... would like something to look nice, and be able to walk on even in wet weather. Thought about grass, but I don't want to have to mow. Thought about hardwood mulch, but don't think it will be barefoot friendly. Any suggestions?
Thanks,

Hardwood mulch is good just use the shredded kind not nuggets, you need to replace it because it does degrade after a while.

Some of the pavers at Lowe's are pretty cheap

and it doesn't look like you would need many.

Any new brick houses going up in your area? Many times they have quite a few bricks left over and the new owners or builder might be happy for you to cart them off. We had leftover pavers from our front porch that has made some real nice walkways in my gardens. The pavers are smoother than regular bricks.

The rubber mulch is not cheap but for a small area it may be cost effective since it doesn't degrade. Easy on the feet. I would put landscape fabric down first so that it doesn't sink.

We have a small pea gravel that we call Chapel Hill Gravel that is easy to walk on. Again, I'd put the fabric down.

You could get a mold from home depot or lowes and pour your own stepping stones. (You could build your own forms too if you want.) Consider renting a small concrete mixer to keep the concrete flowing without interruption, eliminate the physical work of mixing it up and finish it in a day.

Thanks for the advice. I have decided to go with the shredded hardwood mulch- I can get a pickup load for about $40.00. Now the question is: landscape fabric or not? I was really hoping I didn't have to mess with it, but..... I don't want to be weeding my path either.
And, should I mulch the entire area with the hardwood mulch- or just the path? Should I use a different mulch (cyprus?) in the various beds?

Another question: There is an area 2.5'-3' deep X the width of the garden plot that has Rose of Sharons and Irises. I have had the area in grass, but its getting to be a pain mowing and trimning without hitting something. Just today I have removed the sod from that entire area and an thinking of putting down Cocoa Shell mulch. We have used it before and think it keeps the weeds down very nicely! This area is basically the south end of my garden plot and immediately adjacent to the perennial garden. Will it look poor to have 2 different mulches used in that area?

Finally- I am also planning on making my own stepping stones as suggested- think that will be really neat.
Thanks for all the advice! I love this site!

When its all done I will post a pic.

I haven't had success with that landscape cloth here. It seems the weeds grow on top of it. I now use layers of newpaper, works good so far.

I realize that different mulches have different attributes - but I am a fan of all the same type to make the landscape more cohesive. Are you sure you want to use mulch for a walkway? I guess it would be barefoot friendly --sort of --sometimes the mulch has poison ivy mulched up too.

Landscape fabric: I generally don't use it but I am talking about planting beds and mulching. I put the mulch down thick enough to take care of most weeds, etc., (as thick as I can safely with the plantings). I don't have too many weeds popping up. I move things around a lot and add new plants and I don't like to have to plant through the fabric. For the walkways, I would consider the fabric since no planting will be done there.

So, how thick is enough for mulch to keep down weeds?
Eventually, I think I will have made enough stepping stones to line the path- but for now- I want to get something down that is more attractive than the bare ground- and make it possible to get into it during wet weather.

2 - 3 inches for trees and shrubs works for me and 1-2 inches for veggies and plants. We go to the landfill and purchase the mulch --we got 20 yards for $180.00. Pickup truckload (~ 1 yard is 22 dollars.) We like the quality of the mulch because it is screened twice and all pieces are less than 4 inches - it is really quality - not a lot of trash. The landfill offers the red mulch and the dark hardwood. Not sure it has cyprus. You ought to check out your landfill to see what they offer. The prices amaze me and the quality is fine. I have mentioned this before but we got 2000 pounds of glass mulch for 20 dollars.
All nice and tumbled: greens, blues, white, brown, yellows. Looks great and sparkles up a storm.