Sometimes I so want to do something like that in my garden, causing enthusiastic responses and admiring glances.

Adding an interesting element to the garden is easy. And most importantly, not for long … Sometimes it’s just enough to slightly transform what is under your feet all the time — garden paths.

They are so different: from wide walking ones to narrow ones, disappearing in places and indicated only by subtle hints (pebble after pebble, peeking out of the ground). Therefore, you are sure to pick up something interesting and even intriguing.

RESTORATION OF PAVED PATHWAYS

A stylish element of the English garden is red brick paved paths.

This material brings an element of archaism into the atmosphere of the garden and looks especially luxurious when it has already been covered with patina and moss.

But in severe winters, brick tends to collapse from exposure to moisture and low temperatures.

An old brick paved path does not have to be completely dismantled and laid out again. The first thing to do is assess the extent of the destruction. If the proportion of broken bricks is less than half, then the crumbling elements must simply be removed. Now you can start filling the cavity. I offer three options to choose from.

1. Fill voids stone chips and large pebbles. You can safely step on such “patches” when walking.

2. green islets from ground cover perennials or moss look just great. To create them, the voids are filled with fertile soil. And then the plants are planted.

The following plants are most suitable for this purpose: sedum sedum, young (in sunny areas) bryozoan (in partial shade), sphagnum moss (only in shady and humid places), bashing (loves the sun, but requires watering), carnation-grass (in sunny areas and in partial shade) and some other ground cover.

Since it is undesirable to step on the green islands, they try to place them at the edges of the path, and backfill with stones closer to the center.

3. wooden elements can be a worthy replacement for a broken brick. For these purposes, trimmings of an oak beam of a suitable section are suitable, which are immersed in potholes instead of bricks.

HERBAL TRACKS

There is nothing more natural for a garden than a green grass carpet. Therefore, the decision to completely sow the paths with lawn grass is quite reasonable. But the fact is that it is impossible to walk on such a coating in winter (when it snows) and in early spring (when the soil is too wet). And in summer, in places of intensive walking, the grass is trampled down.

All paved paths are laid on a sand cushion about 5 cm thick. This is a drainage layer that will help quickly drain water from the surface. To do this, they dig a trench, level its bottom and fill it with wet sand. Then the surface is leveled with a plank. The trench is now ready for laying.

PAVING FROM IMPROVED MATERIALS

All this is laid on a pre-prepared pillow from a layer of wet sand. The gaps between the elements are also covered with sand. If the gaps are large, then they can be filled with crushed stone screenings.

TRACKS FROM PLATES

Concrete tiles do not have to be laid out in a continuous flooring. Such a covering in the garden will look too man-made. But if you lay the tiles in a checkerboard pattern or even less often, then the remaining free area can be covered with soil and planted.

Laying tiles on the lawn is even easier. It is enough to attach it to the grass cover, cut the turf around the perimeter, take it out, slightly deepen it, sprinkle it with a layer of sand and lay tiles in this place.

PRINTED CONCRETE PATHWAYS are not exactly a garden theme, however, with a sparing pouring area and thoughtful design, this material looks quite harmonious in the garden. And all thanks to the fact that it became possible to paint the surface in shades of natural stone and create a relief close to natural.

How to do everything right, according to technology, you can find out if you follow the link on the right.

In the photo, «concrete spots» were painted after pouring and decorated with «stamps» from plant leaves.

STONE PATHWAYS are made mainly of sandstone. It is a flat element of arbitrary shape. Elements no larger than the size of a foot can be 4 cm thick. If they are much larger, then the thickness should be 6 cm. Otherwise, one day the stone will not withstand the load and will crack.

This path looks like the stones are just laid out on the ground. In fact, the base of the path is a concrete mortar, on which the stones are both fixed and recessed only to a certain depth. The remains of the height are covered with sand and even in some places overgrown with moss.

In order for green grass to grow between the stones, the gaps are covered with a mixture of sand and soil. After sow the seeds and sprinkle with sand.

If such a path is carefully watered over the next two weeks, the grass will sprout and turn green.

But for the first month you will need to walk very carefully here until the grass gets stronger.

In the photo on the left, the quartzite paths are decorated with curtains bashing. Its leaves do not exceed 5 mm in size.

The crevices of this path are inhabited by bryozoans.

In the wide gaps between the stones, you can plant plants for an alpine slide.

More recently, I found out that this flowering grass comes from Australia and is called isotoma (river Laurentia), perfectly tolerates the conditions of our winters, but, unfortunately, is poisonous. It looks very nice on the tracks.

WOODEN TRACKS are made in the same way as stone ones. Only dense wood of oak, acacia, larch, aspen, and pine can be used for laying, but it must be treated with an indelible antiseptic.


An alternative option is a thermobar. Expensive, but almost eternal solution to the problem of green paths.

A bar or cross cuts of trunks are laid in a trench.

As a drainage for wooden elements, it is better to choose fine stone or coarse sand.

In order to maximize the life of wooden paving, wood is treated:

• indelible antiseptic,
• kept in hot drying oil (carefully, this is unsafe),
• from below — coating waterproofing.

For paving such paths, a bar sawn from the dismantling of an old log house or sleepers is quite suitable. True, the sleepers are impregnated with creosote and have a specific smell, and sawing them by hand is unrealistic, and with a chainsaw it is fraught with a chain.

Curbs made of massive timber will lie in the ground for at least 10 years.

BULK TRACKS

GARDEN IDEAS

We are all used to the fact that to cross the reservoir you need to make a bridge. But some landscape designers do not think so. That is why such original ideas appear, as in the photo above.

This photo shows a slightly different interpretation of the same idea of ​​walking through the pond along the islets.

The above photos are only a small part of what I found on the world wide web, to view everything, follow the thematic links:

What else to read on the site:

Inspired by time or stylish ruins

If a If you are a romantic, then a garden with a touch of abandonment is your style. Flowers of delicate colors and simple shapes grow in it, stones covered with moss lie, benches are hidden in the thickets, on which, as if no one has sat for a long time, in general, notes of nostalgia sound distinctly…

Stones in the landscape as an element of decor

No matter how good the bright flowering greenery of the garden is, but without contrasting and, at the same time, complementary components, it looks somewhat monotonous. It is on the contrast of the living and the dead, the mobile and the static that the most perfect landscape is built. It’s in nature…

The option of arranging a well in a private courtyard is not such an atavism, especially if the substation in the village is old and often malfunctions. Of course, this is not the only argument in favor of the well as an alternative source of water. Here, this winter, automation broke down …

Concrete in garden design

You can make many decorative elements for your garden with your own hands. Moreover, all of them will be made in the same style, which (within reasonable limits) ennobles the overall design of the courtyard and landscape. We are talking about such an accessible and pliable material as concrete.