Garden paths
Have you taken a close look at your garden paths recently?
If you have gravel or cinder paths, these should be attended to now.
With the general move to gas, oil and electric heating, the advantage of cinders for surfacing paths, has to a large extent, been overlooked. If you have an open fire, the trend to plastic waste bins has presented many folk with a disposal problem that using cinders for pathways can solve.
First of all though, you must differentiate between cinders and ashes. The latter must not be used to this purpose as they will only produce a muddy sludge when it rains.
Use the ashes rather, for enriching your garden soil. Cinders on the other hand, will never break down into the soil but will give a good, gripping surface with drainage properties second to none.
Whether your paths are of cinder or gravel and you wish to keep them looking good and performing
efficiently, now is the time to attend to them most assiduously.
Rake them over well, covering thin spots and adding more material as required. Apply weed killer as necessary making sure not to let any of the chemical drift onto the areas bordering the path.
Take the opportunity to define the edges and, where necessary, contain the path within its own boundary. Edging materials of various types, can be had from garden centres and it’s worth having a look to see if anything could make your pathway look neater, tidier and more easily maintained.
Stone and concrete paths can be plagued by mosses, lichens and other damp-loving green algae. In winter especially these can all become slippery and dangerous. Mosses can be dispatched by slicing them away with a spade and washing the residual soil away with water and a stiff brush.
The other, shorter growths and the green algae can be banished very effectively by washing the path with a strong solution of household bleach or a special fluid you can obtain from your garden supplier.
Now here is the moment you will realise the need for adequate drainage alongside your pathways. With good drainage ditches, the chemicals will run away harmlessly into the soil.
Without drainage, it will stand on the path’s surface and probably upset your footwear. In any case, paths with drainage ditches look and last much longer than those where water stands on, or just below, the surface.
Whatever your paths are constructed of, be sure to keep them scrupulously clean and clear of obstructions. Safety is of prime importance and it is all too easy to slip or trip over a small stone or slippery surface, fall and break a bone in the process.
Steps should be attended to for the same reasons. Clearing them of damp-loving growths and obstructions is obvious (or should be) but in winter, ice can form almost invisibly.
A light sprinkling of salt will usually do the trick. Salt will effectively remove even tiny fragments of ice that can escape your notice - till you slip on it!
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CORNISH GARDENER - summer 2012 11
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