If you’re anything like me then you have spot in your yard where grass just won’t grow. Ours happens to be a path from our back patio to the duck enclosure. Whenever any sort of weather happens this small stretch of land becomes a nightmare to navigate. Between mud puddles, massive piles of snow or leaves, or whatever other random yard debris exists, this is where it lands. I took matters into my own hands and decided to build a simple pathway to help ease the journey to and from Ducktopia.
A step-by-step guide on how to build a simple, living pathway
1. Planning
Naturally you’ll need to do a bit of planning before tearing up your yard. I tend to lean more towards the spontaneous side so this step for me was pretty short. In my case I already had a portion of my lawn that was a hot mess. Knowing we would be tackling a lawn transformation project in the future, this was as good a place as any to start. My yard had an obvious need. What about yours?
Take a look around your yard. Is there area that gets more foot traffic than others? Maybe you have a part of the yard you envision a pathway leading to- like a hidden garden, a hammock, or a gate? Or maybe you just want something small to go in-between some raised garden beds? Once you have figured out where your path will be you’ll then be able to start laying out your outline.
2. Marking your pathway
The easiest way to determine what sort of shape you’d like your pathway to have is to use a hose. They’re long, most people have them, they’re easy to curve, and easy to move if you don’t like what’s in front of you. Use what you have, there aren’t any rules here. Just something that allows you to see what it will look like.
If you need some guidelines to get you started then it’s worth noting that most pathways are 3 to 4 feet wide. This allows for things like lawnmowers and garbage totes to be comfortably pulled along. It’s also wide enough for two people to walk side-by-side. If you want to have a pathway in between raised beds, 3 feet is probably going to be too wide. So take into consideration what you’re using it for, and where it will be. This will help you determine the overall shape and width of your soon-to-be new pathway.
When you’ve had your fill of moving, and moving, and moving your hose all over the yard, picked the shape, the width, and placement, you can now mark the outline with upside down spray paint , chalk, or if you’re like me, just use the edge of a spade and follow along your hose outline digging just deep enough to make a new, permanent outline. My pathway was directly in front of my duck enclosure, so I had no interest in using spray paint. I knew I’d have to dig the area out anyway so it made sense to me to just stick the tip of the spade in the dirt and rock it back-and-forth a bit to create a shallow crevice.
I also laid some plastic edging that I had left over from another project into the newly formed crevice and scraped off some of the dead grass. Keep the shovel handy! Next up, excavation!
3. Time to dig!
I should mention that it’s always a good idea to practice safe digging. Call your local utilities company to come and mark all of your lines and utilities. Fortunately, the colors used to mark are universal so if you happen to forget what each represents, it’s easy enough to look up!
Here’s a chart in case you’re wondering:
Once you know it’s safe to dig, how deep should you dig? Here’s the short answer- if you’re building a non-living pathway you’ll need to dig a minimum of 6 inches. 3-4 inches for your base, 1 inch for your sand, and however tall your pavers are. Here’s why. You need to account for the underlay of gravel that serves as the foundation, and the height of your pavers.
Your best chances for success at laying a stable pathway are in these next steps, starting with the excavation. Bottom line, you want to make sure that you’ve dug down, at a minimum, 6 inches, plus or minus a touch depending on the height of your pavers, and removing all that soil and organic matter, so you can lay the gravel base. That’s the foundation of your pathway. If you don’t dig down far enough your path won’t be stable. That means your pieces will shift, sink, or break causing your pathway to become uneven. Not digging deep enough allows dirt to mix with your base making it ideal for weeds to take root. Not ideal.
A shallow dig can also lead to drainage issues because you won’t be able to slope your pathway to have water runoff in the right direction. The water that can’t drain will stick around, and in the colder months, can freeze. This causes the soil to freeze, lifting the pavers, and resulting in cracks and uneven pavers.
A deeper dig also ensures that all the organic matter has been removed. For similar reasons to the water issues, organic matter that is left will eventually rot. When it does it leaves holes. If there are holes… well… your pavers will collapse into the hole, cracking them, and making the pathway uneven.
Your best bet is to dig for however much base you are putting down (3-4 inches of gravel) another inch for sand, and measure the height of your pavers. So 5 inches plus your paver height.
The same issues exists if you dig too far down. It’s also a waste of energy and resources that you’ll end up needing to put back in your newly excavated trench. I like to use a tape measure and mark a line with a sharpie or some tape directly on my spade so I can see exactly how deep I need to dig. It takes the guesswork out. Not all shovels are the same.
Quick tip– Shovels are bowled and rounded. They are used for scooping loose materials. Spades are flat with a flat edge which is ideal for edging, turf removal, and making clean lines.
Here’s the digging exception. Living pathways. Which is what I did. In my case I did not have to dig for the gravel base, or the sand. I simply had to dig about 3 inches lower than the height of my flagstone (which isn’t universal of course.) 4- 6 inches is a great depth for a living pathway. An added bonus in creating a living pathway is that I’m helping with soil erosion, attracting beneficial insects to my yard, suppressing weeds, and making something aesthetically pleasing which looks great year round!
So what is a living pathway? It is a pathway that incorporates low growing, tread tolerant plants, that are eco-friendly. Put another way- it’s a pathway that uses plants instead of inert materials like gravel and rock to fill the gaps between pavers.
Living pathways utilize the space between pavers to plant things like creeping thyme, moss, clover, low growing grasses, chamomile, or similar plants. Naturally you’ll need to plant things that can tolerate whatever levels of light, water, and temperatures you have in your area. If you aren’t sure what zone you are in, click the growing zone link, enter your zip code, and it will let you know!
4. Place the edging
Now that you have dug up all the organic matter, and dug out a trench for your pathway, it’s time to place the edging. Edging comes in many forms. It can be metal, stone, brick, wood, plastic, and so on. There are a million options so find something that you like and works for your space.
I had a copious amount of leftover 4×4 pieces that I used for my front yard edging. Repurposing things you have on hand keeps it out of the landfills and saves money! A win-win in my book
Edging also helps define your pathway. It helps keep your base material in place and the lawn from growing in your pathway. On the flip side of that, edging helps keep a living pathway from growing outward to places you weren’t necessarily wanting it.
5. Add back gravel or soil
I’m not a fan of weed cloth, so I would not recommend putting it in. Generally speaking, here’s why:
- It is bad for soil health
- Weeds will still grow, only on top where dirt and debris now collect
- Soil compacts underneath which doesn’t allow water to absorb
- Weed cloth needs to be replaced every few years because it degrades, not too mention hard to remove
- It is expensive
If you decide you still want to put in weed cloth, this is where you’d do that. Prior to the gravel.
If you’re creating a living pathway, you would add back your soil at this time. It’s a good idea to mix some compost into your excavated soil before adding it back. This adds nutrients to the soil and helps with water retention. It also helps balance the soils Ph levels, and promotes microorganism growth which all impact the overall health of your plants.
How much gravel or soil do you add back? Fill your pathway trench up to 1/2 an inch below the top. Make sure to rake it evenly throughout.
6. It’s time to tamp!
Don’t worry if you don’t have a tamper. There are plenty of alternatives you can use instead. Here is a short list of alternates in case you’re like us and don’t have one on hand:
- Car tire. Just roll it
- End of a 4×4 post (vertically)
- Sledge hammer (also vertically)
- Cinder block
- Water. Lightly spray the area, let the water soak in, repeat. If you choose to use water do this lightly and repeatedly. If you soak the area with too much water it will just wash all the dirt away.
7. Now for the fun part! Laying the pavers!
No matter what you use for pavers, they need to be arranged. You’ll find that one side looks nicer than the other. One has a small chip which makes the whole thing look weird. One is too dark, or not dark enough… Flagstone is exceptionally famous for this. When I started placing my flagstone I began noticing that many of the pieces resembled flower petals. I loved the serendipity of it! Flowers from flagstone in a living path! So I ran with it.
Another interesting option for a living pathway are turfstones. These are stones with holes in them for planting. I’ve included a google image for those of us who like visuals.
8. Fill in the gaps
Once you’ve laid out all of your pavers, and nothing wobbles or shimmies, it’s time to fill in the gaps. In a living pathway you’ll sweep in the soil/compost mixture. Otherwise, you will be using crushed gravel, jointing sand, mortar, concrete, or polymeric sand. Polymeric sand is the preferred method by most. It’s very easy to use and does not crack like concrete does, though it does have its drawbacks if it’s not installed correctly. After sweeping the polymeric sand in, moisten it with a hose and the sand hardens much like concrete does. Drawback of gravel and sand is it tends to wash away. And mortar and concrete tend crack when the weather gets cold.
9. Planting time!
The last step in creating a beautiful, living pathway is to plant! All of the gaps that are now filled with primo soil is the perfect base to support life. The plants will then help with soil erosion, biodiversity, weed suppression, and provide an exciting and unexpected element to any backyard! Now I just have to wait for my wooly thyme seeds to sprout!
You will need to maintain your new pathway to keep it weed free, repair any cracks that develop, and sweep any errant gravel, dirt. Living pathway maintenance includes watering, light weeding, and mowing depending on what you’ve planted.
We hope that you now feel confident and ready to take on creating your own living (or not) garden pathway! Do you have a cool pathway you’ve made? We’d love to hear about it in the comments section!
Grow where you live. Build what you need. Learn as you go.