How to design a pathway in your garden

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Pebbles and stone make a great mix. Photo/Courtesy 

In Summary

A garden walkway is a wonderful way to guide visitors through your garden, as well as cut down on mud coming into your house or when you are working around you plants during the rains.

A walkway is easy to install, and can easily be completed in a weekend if you plan well in advance.

Gravel
The first thing that you need to do is decide on what material you want to use for your walkway. Gravel or what is popularly known as ‘kokoto’ is inexpensive, but will need to be added to or topped up frequently. Stone and brick pavers cost more initially, but require less maintenance afterwards. The choice of what to use is basically a matter of personal taste. All of these materials are readily available. Once you decide on your material, the next step is to prepare the surface.

Layout
Begin by planning your layout. Where do you want your walkway or path to begin and end? Do you want it to go from your verandah or back door to a point in the garden or from the car park to the back where the garden is?

You can actually draw out on a piece of paper how you envisage your garden to look when you are through with your project. 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 of your garden.

Mark the path with flour or lime, and then prepare the area you want to work on. If you are using gravel, you simply need to level out any major bumps that may cause someone to trip.

If you are using paving stone like cabro or stone such as mazeras, you need to remove the top layer of soil in order to get a good grip on the soil. Mazeras stone look beautiful especially if varnished to look shiny.

You can also simply use concrete slabs laid out neatly to get a beautiful pattern. This may not be the most creative material but it can be made to look beautiful.

Lavender
If you are using gravel, all that is left to do is to get a lorryful and dump it out in the desired area and level it along the path with a rake. The material should be between four and six inches deep. This is deep enough to slow weed growth along your path, but shallow enough to be easy to walk on.

You may also want to plant some low growing flowers along your path to give it a little more structure. Lavender, which grows well in the sun 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 about maintaining the edge of your path each year.

Stone
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 cabro stone as close together as possible, for a more informal look, you may 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 stones for an elegantly charming look.