Paths on allotment?

rosie383

We have a new allotment which we dug over before the snow came, and have put down some well-rotted manure. I really want to create some wee paths between beds on it. Can anyone tell me what is the best way to do this? I can't afford to spend much, but would like to have defined areas, possibly edged with reclaimed timber, and paths in between to make it less mucky IYKWIM.
If the answer is bark chips or something, where can I approach to get these free or cheap? Do councils or tree surgeons have them? I am sure I have heard of people getting these for free. I have got some half flagstones that I can use, but they won't go far, and I am not sure if they would be a good or bad idea. Any help gratefully appreciated.

rosie383

I just spoke to someone in the parks dept for our local council (Luton). He said if they happen to be around cutting trees down, they will come and dump some for you, but it's once in a blue moon and you have to be lucky and just catch them at the right time, so that is out.

I had a look at the weed-suppressing membrane, but it is very expensive. Cheapest i could find was £23 for 50m x 1m in Wickes. I did buy some really cheapo stuff from Poundland 5m x 1.5m but you could spit through it so you could, and if you try to walk on it, it just tears. Am I being unrealistic hoping to get membrane for less? I don't know if there is any chance of things like that cheap from a builders yard for example. Any pointers appreciated.

1jim

If you use reclaimed timber for path edging how about gravel? small pea gravel in Nottingham is (or was last year) around £30 a tonne- not sure how much you need but might be worth considering.
What does everyone else on the allotment site use for paths?

lolarentt

Gravel not a good idea, it will get trodden in across your plot, and your neighbours. Also most of the other flexible lay-down things have disadvantages. Things like HD polythene will tear and split, (fine for covering areas you don't want to cultivate at one time, or to disperse manure laid on surface over a season). Wool carpet laid upside down is also popular, this will eventually break down into the ground but add reinforcement. I found the main problem with all these sorts of things was that they act as slug hideaways!

In the end we finished up allowing grass to grow down the main path, and on 4 or 5 cross paths (we have a 10 pole plot so quite big) and as long as I keep it mown regularly it's fine. Best to keep a cut edge to discourage couch grass spreading onto the adjacent soil. This seems to be the most popular method on our site, which has around 150 plots. The paving idea is fine if you have the c ash for material and the time and transport to get it onto the plot , offload and lay it!

valk_scot

I use scrap timber scavanged out of skips (ask first) to edge the beds and well trodden sawdust for the paths. for years. I got the sawdust for free from the local timbr merchant. Then he closed down and I use a mix of old carpet, carpet tiles (local bowling club gave me about 200), weed suppressent membrane, layers of newspaper, cardboard and a layer of straw over the whole lot to make it look a bit better. The only thing I've ever had to pay for was the membrane and the straw, which is cheap. It's a big allotment (80' x 40') and I don't have much spare cash to spend on it so I've always used as much scrounged stuff as possible for the landscaping.

Incidentally tip for future: Mark out your beds before you dig and don't bother digging where you're going to have the paths. Waste of energy! Also you don't need to put precious manure on the paths. When I took on the second half of my allotment I worked with string-edged bed areas at first while I scrounged up the timber and path materials. Took me a couple of years but I was still getting plenty of crops in the meantime.

irishwexford

We managed to obtain some wood from skips to define our paths and I cut carpet (also from skips) to supress weeds. It works for us and helps keep the plot looking a bit tidy.

tpsjrm

For your paths, join your local Freecycle or Freegle site to request paving/flagstones - you will be surprised what people are happy to give away for free. An easy no-dig method for the beds is to lay cardboard and paper over the weeds. If you can get a load of compost cheap (try a local stables) lay this on top and let it rot a bit. Plant spuds for the first year till it all composts down. After that, it should be fine for anything.

Good luck.

rosie383

Thank you all for your helpful advice. I think I will ask for some flags on Freecycle. Can't use carpets on our allotment. I think I will maybe try putting cardboard down to begin with until I get enough flags. I will ask for some timber too and may be lucky.
Do people tend to give away pallets? I only ask as I have seen quite a few people have like wee makeshift compost heaps or lean-to type things for storing their bits and pieces which look like they are made from pallets. However, when I was in wickes the other day, they had what looked liked a couple of pallets and some membrane or something advertised as a compost box. Being sold for £2.95 or so. Does this sound like a good idea?
One more wee question........until I get my paths sorted out, what is the best idea for getting wellies clean? After being up there with the kids, it ended up taking me 1 hour with the wellies in the bath to get all the muck off. I don't have an outside tap, or a sheltered area outside to store them, so I need to clean them every time. I did try to get off as much muck as I could using a stick, but the soil was a bit clay so quite sticky.