Grass walkways through garden?

[Zootal]

I would welcome comments from some of you more experirenced gardners. My garden consists of about a dozen beds of various sizes (15x5 being common) with grass walkways in between. The walkways are wide enough to run a lawn mower through them. I've considered killing the grass. I have an old swimming pool liner that I am thinking of cutting up into strips and laying it on the walkways for a while, so I can kill the grass without resorting to chemicals.

Any thoughts of having grass near and through a garden? Is it likely to house and breed flea beetles and other insects, and would you recommend getting rid of it? Or would you consider it to be harmless and possible aesthetically pleasing (it does look nice in the summer to have nice green pathways through the garden)>

[Charlie]

If you have good grass between, were it me, I'd leave it be. You kill the grass and you have mud to walk on, or you have to mulch.

Acts as a living mulch. You kill the grass, you will have "weeds" to deal with. And tufts of grass that you didn't kill. Untidy.

I would guess the grass also conserves moisture in the area and helps keep it cooler.

Like you said, it looks nice this way also.

Charlie

[David E. Ross]

If the grass is becoming a maintenance problem, replace it with decomposed granite (DG) walkways. The walkways through my garden consist of a 3-inch layer of DG over ground cloth and framed with some kind of composition boards. The ground cloth is porous but has such a fine mesh that weed roots do not penetrate; thus, weeding is easy. The walkways drain quite well.

If you are in a climate where the soil freezes, you might need a thicker layer of DG. Also, the surface of the DG should be even with the surrounding beds. This means digging down at least 3 inches. Also, if you have any appreciable slope, you might need some of the framing to cross the walkway to inhibit erosion.

After being wet by my garden sprinklers, drying, being walked upon, and then all that repeated about 3-4 times, a DG walkway sets up quite firm. I can even rake leaves and other garden debris from it. But it cannot be swept with a broom without having to replace some of the DG.

I still have a grass lawn, but it is quite small. It's red fescue (Festuca rubra), an ornamental grass that grows about 6-12 inches high and flops over. I can walk on it, but it's not intended for children to play ball on it. It gets mowed 1-2 times a year (especially in the fall, so that I can rake leaves off it).

[Zootal]

Thank you everyone! It seems the general consensus is that it doesn't hurt anything to have these grass covered pathways through the garden. I live in the mid-Willamette Valley, western Oregon, right in the middle of the grass seed farming area - grass grows everywhere, and very well.

[brooklyn1]

Yeah, but... have you considered astroturf?

[Phisherman]

I have fescue lawn grass growing all around most gardens. No doubt, grass controls erosion and weeds. Right now, I am seeing a lot of bluebirds in my backyard, with the main focus of hunting for insects in the lawn. Grass will provide a place for flea beetles and well as beneficial spiders. My second choice would be to replace the grass with a mulch, very last choice is bare dirt. Grass is pleasing, but not all agree.

[sf]

Beautiful country up there! I hate gravel, but was wondering if you'd considered hardscaping your garden paths? They have wonderful pavers out now that are made of concrete, but have a natural stone look. We just replaced our sidewalk with them a few days ago and we're very happy with the result!

[Zootal]

tree that shades one side in the morning, and a huge fir tree that shades the other side in the afternoon. Plus fruit trees on the west side and a fence in progress that will shade one of the beds when it's finished. I'm not quite sure what they final layout would be. Too many other things still on my to-do list, it never ends .

[dr-solo]