Grass Mower?

[Roger Chapman]

You could bury isolated flags flush with the ground to provide a walking surface and possibly some continuity for a wheelbarrow and grass the remainder. If you intend to use your path in the wet grass or earth will quickly turn to mud unless you have something hard to walk on.

You can mow over stepping stones set flush without any problem and my experience is that if they are like mine and you take a bit of care laying them they won't move. But mine are odd bits of sandstone flags a couple of square feet or more and 2 - 3" thick. Small stones might be a bit more prone to tilt or sink.

[Another John]

The little push/pull ones are great -- you can buy them new in B&Q. 35 quid for a "Tertiary", though I've never used one of them -- I've used the Qualcast equivalent for years on our back lawn, 25' x 50'. Only trouble is, as someone else has said, the side wheels: you have to hold the mower on one wheel when you do an edge (and yours is mainly edge!).

So... I'd look out for the back-roller variety, 2nd hand in the local paper. Problem: few people selling mowers this time of year .... except for the big sheds who are getting rid of stock, so you might get one new, and cheap.

I WOULD grass the strip, and I WOULD use a manual mower.

John

P.S.: the extremely rude answers from The Natural Philosopher are sadly uncharacteristic, so (1) he was drunk (2) he hadn't "taken his meds" or (3) it wasn't actually him.

[Another John]

*Good* points -- I've just said that I'd grass it, and use a manual ... I'd forgotten that this is probably the main thoroughfare up the allotment. So I'd insert flags a few inches apart down the middle -- I used scrap "natural stone" off cuts for a similar bit in our garden, and they sink naturally into the turf after you've cut 'em an inch or so's worth of bedding. And I use a Flymo Mini-Mower to cut that bit ... but you won't have mains power, will you? Can you get a battery hover? It will be a lot less bovver.

"Rustic" flags set into turf give you the best of both worlds.

John

[Sacha]

Given the area involved, I'd leave it alone and wear wellies.

[<vicky]

Can make it tricky to wheelbarrow over.

[Sacha]

But it's not so very long - annoying perhaps but not a marathon. I think old carpet is a good idea, so is bark if it doesn't rot down and alter the soil chemistry. If the OP wants tidy and good looking, I still favour gravel and think paving stones will cause more problems than they will solve. On our standing out area 'up the field' in this notoriously soggy County, we have only Mypex, a weed suppressing membrane that allows rains to pass through it. I am absolutely dreadful at estimating areas but I suppose this is about quarter to half an acre of slightly sloping Devon field. Nursery staff go up and down it all day with 'trucks' - quite heavy, long trolleys that take around 18 x 2 litre pots at a time, probably a bit more. If furrows start to develop due to wear, the Mypex can be peeled back, the furrows in-filled and off we go again. It's not difficult and it keeps the feet pretty dry, too. The OP's allotment path won't get anything like the wear and tear we have here and for a fairly small outlay I think he'd have a dry and mud-free path. Membrane would be my suggestion - gravel on top if good looks demand it.

[Christina Websell]

Paving slabs. You know it makes sense ;-)