pathway maintenance

**b*@ix.netcom.com**

On 09/20/99 23:50:47 you wrote:

Hi,
In my experience, dutch white clover makes for good pathways. Low growing, weed suppressing, nitrogen fixing, easy and even 
unecessary to mow, attracts pollinating insects. And should pathways ever get converted to growing space, the soil will be better off 
for it.

One may view this more convenient than woodchips, since woodchips decompose and need replacing, whereas clover reseeds itself.
Woodchips while decomposing also tend to draw sow bugs and other insects, whereas clover root systems will attract beneficial 
insects. Also, firm ground with clover is more handicap accessible than woodchips which shift and move under foot, crutch and wheel.

You may want to try different solutions in different paths to find which works best for you.

>>Hello!  Jennifer here again looking for yet more advice from all my
>>fellow (helpful) gardeners.  We are experiencing a mess in our 
>>walkways
>>surrounding each garden plot.  Last year we left them bare, with only
>>dirt in them, and it was a mess whenever they got wet from watering.
>>They'd turn into rivers of mud, and were very slippery.  So, this 
>>year,
>>we received donated sawdust, and put this in the walkways.  It
>>eliminated the mud problem, but some of the gardeners do not like it
>>because when wet, it sticks to bags, buckets and shoes.  Does anyone
>>have any suggestions that have worked for them?  We've thought of 
>>straw
>>or hay, but of course, not everyone agreed on this either.
>

Happy Gardening!

John Edward Verin
Senior Apprentice
Ecosystem Farm
Accokeek, MD

"I don't want to break your heart in two
 There's just one thing I'd like you to try
 Don't let science take your wings away
 You can live tomorrow from today"
 - Francis Dunnery

   francisdunnery.com

Food is power... are you in control of yours?

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