SQWIB
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Joined: Tue Feb 16, 2016 9:21 am
Location: Zone 7A - Philadelphia, PA

Need help with walkway

First let me show you what I am up against then I'll post my questions.

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This is one part of the yard that I have never been happy with, the garden path to the playhouse.
This path also has a secondary function. During heavier rains the water runs down this path to the yard drain, so putting down a mulch or wood chips is out. I definitely want to work on this project early spring.

I thought of a crushed stone but don't want it to get all over the yard and fight stuff growing up through the crushed stone and walking stones, plus I want to keep it more Permaculture friendly.

I tried white clover but it did not do well.
I was very interested in a extremely low ground cover like moss but not sure if moss would do good in this area.
The area gets a lot of water and and sun from early noon till end of day.
The dogs may occasionally pee on it too...dam dogs
I am in Zone 7a

It doesn't need to be an edible or flowering but those would definitely be bonuses, especially if it flowered.

I like this look
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I checked out Steppables.com but want advice from you folks. https://www.stepables.com/scripts/prodl ... idLookUp=4

HoneyBerry
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Joined: Sat Jul 18, 2015 1:10 pm
Location: Zone 8A Western Washington State

I love the picture. That would certainly look nice for your application.
I did some research a while ago on ground covers. I love the look of white clover but decided against it when I learned that it does not hold up well to being walked on. So it doesn't surprise me that it didn't work out.
I think the stoned area needs to be widened. The grass near the door has a worn look as if it is being walked on.

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rainbowgardener
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Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
Location: TN/GA 7b

creeping thyme is often used in these situations. It does bloom and it is aromatic.

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applestar
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Posts: 30514
Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 7:21 pm
Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

I looked through the steppables listing, but as I was looking, I started thinking that I would like to find a native plant that fits the conditions if possible....

Prairie Moon has a great plant selector — May be see if you get a match? If native plant isn’t a concern, it might still help look for a non-native related match:

Popular Natives for Sun | Prairie Moon Nursery
https://www.prairiemoon.com/native-wildflowers-for-sun/

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Gary350
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Joined: Mon Mar 23, 2009 1:59 pm
Location: TN. 50 years of gardening experience.

Stone walk ways look very nice I love them but they have always been a nightmare to deal with. You need to decide how bad do you want to keep it. How much maintenance do you want. Once I pulled up all my stones, leveled the soil, covered soil with plastic, made sure flat side of all stones face up, then put all the stones together close as possible like a gig saw puzzle. Then I poured sand in the cracks between the stones. First year was good, second year plants started growing in the sand they were easy to pull up, by the 5th year it was a nightmare of weeds and grass again. Grave is worse you can not keep it in the walkway it will be all over your yard. I replaced stones with 12" square patio bricks it was flat and easy to mow looked good too, few years later cracks between bricks were full if weeds & grass. Finally fed up with the whole thing I pulled it all up then framed a sidewalk with 2x4 boards along all sides then bought concrete mix in bags. Instead of hand mixing each cement bag then put it in the forms I cheated, I dumped the forms full with dry cement mix from all the bags, after it was level I watered the dry cement mix with the garden hose. LOL. That was 20 years ago my son lives there now and it still looks good. You can buy cement with sand and gravel already mixed together in, 20, 30 & 50 lb bags. Last time I bought a 30 lb bag at Lowe's 3 years ago it was $2 plus sales tax.



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