Building Garden Paths And Walkways

By John Vivian
Published on June 1, 1996
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Drilling stringing holes.
Drilling stringing holes.
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1. Cutting slats with a circular saw (a).
1. Cutting slats with a circular saw (a).
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2. Cutting spacers (Note: Blade guard on saw removed for photo clarity only. Always use safety devices in normal operation.)
2. Cutting spacers (Note: Blade guard on saw removed for photo clarity only. Always use safety devices in normal operation.)
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3. Flame-sealing end of nylon rope.
3. Flame-sealing end of nylon rope.
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4. Stringing slats and spacers on rope.
4. Stringing slats and spacers on rope.
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5. The paths are ideal for planting in early or late season.
5. The paths are ideal for planting in early or late season.
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7. Making paver: Laying bottom layer and wire reinforcement.
7. Making paver: Laying bottom layer and wire reinforcement.
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6. You can drop the seeds right in the mud and cover them with a bit of potting soil/dry out.
6. You can drop the seeds right in the mud and cover them with a bit of potting soil/dry out.
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8. Making paver: Top layer of concrete.
8. Making paver: Top layer of concrete.
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9. Adding texture stones (a).
9. Adding texture stones (a).
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11. Washing the surface.
11. Washing the surface.
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10. Adding texture stones (b).
10. Adding texture stones (b).

Down the garden path in style building garden paths and walkways to beautify the garden. (See the path and walkway building photos in the image gallery.)

Building Garden Paths And Walkways

Back in the 1800s when America was expanding west, no sooner did the railroad come to a rowdy frontier settlement or scruffy trading post than the town elders got the urge to citify. One of their first civic improvements was to built boardwalks to protect ladies’ skirts and gents’ shined boots from the mud roads. Then they took the twists and turns out of the coach road and named it Main Street. Next they paved the road and replaced the old boardwalk with a poured-concrete sidewalk–all evenly graded and arrow-straight.

But, have you ever noticed that there are no even grades or straight lines in nature?

To me, sidewalks–straight, flat, rigid, and purposeful–symbolize citymen’s relentless urge to civilize: to impose order and efficiency on the lovely curves and chaos of nature.

In contrast, the deer trails and the faint hillside rut that’s all that remains of the old Indian path running through my woods keep their curves and seem to meander. But they are as purposeful and efficient as any city sidewalk if you can accept a pre-industrial concept of efficiency. They don’t impose straight lines and artificial order but take their own “path of least resistance.” That path may be longer as it winds along ridges rather than up hills and down gulches, but it guides you gently to travel at a deliberate pace using minimal energy and no technology beyond a soft grass cushion inside a well-stitched moccasin.

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