The experimental solution we attempted out ultimate week for the trails in our vegetable lawn proves to have some flaws. For one factor, a couple of days of heavy rain became the dust paths to dust paths, which aren't precisely the a nice robust floor for taking walks on. It moreover weakened the kraft-paper underlayment to the factor that more than one bold weeds were able to poke their manner clean via the paper and the dust above it, which kind of defeats the purpose of setting down the barrier in the first location.
For the time being, we've included up the dust with a layer of leaves, which we were the usage of to mulch the garden beds at a few stage in the winter and raked off the top as we organized the beds for planting. The direction continues to be a chunk squishy underfoot, however at the least it's miles now not slippery. But for the long time, it seems that dirt over paper is not an exceptional solution for the garden paths. However, paper with something else on top, like wood chips, can also need to however display a viable answer. Although having an entire truckload of woodchips brought to our residence appears to be impractical, I did in recent times stumble upon some records I'd dug up closing year after which forgotten about a tree company in a nearby town (approximately 7 miles) on the way to allow you to come to their yard
So my current thinking is, we pick up some of those big paper lawn and leaf bags, and we haul them to the tree service and fill them with wood chips. Well, actually, when I say "we," I probably mean "I," because they're only open on weekdays while Brian is at work. But in any case, I fill up several bags with wood chips—as many as I can easily stuff into the back of our little Fit—haul them home, and drag them down to the garden. Then, I can just lay the entire bag down in the path, slit it open the top, and either tuck under the top layer of paper or cut it up entirely. No need to mess with cutting kraft paper off the roll first and laying it out; the bag itself will provide a ready-made weed barrier, with the wood chips laid out on top.
Of course, the downside of this is that it wouldn't use up all that leftover kraft paper we have from our paper floor project, and we would have to pay something for the bags. But at 50 cents a bag or whatever, with no additional charge for the wood chips, it's probably the most cost-effective idea we've come up with so far.
