Garden Path

Maybe a little like my own body, my garden lacks definition.

Although the veg garden fenced off, the muddy track down the middle is a haven for weeds and general messiness. I decided that I would use the free slabs I got back in the winter to add some paths and try to make it look a bit tidier.

The garden did look a bit wishy-washy and weedy

 I had intended to lay the paths on a hardcore base, bedded on mortar. But time and logistics are against me so I took the easy option and laid them on the soil. In fairness this means I can change anything I don't like and alter the layout if I want to at a later date.


The slabs make it easy to see the divides and to see where I should be weeding

I had to lug the slabs a fair distance (three at a time on a little push sack truck), and I levelled off the earth with a mattock, a tool I've always loved using!
 I was quite pleased to get around 80 slabs down today (although I can feel it now), and although I know they're settle yet and move a bit when it rains, it's really changed the whole feel of the garden. In fact now it feels like a proper garden!

Quite a long stretch up there!

I've got another pallet of slabs (about 50 I think) stored at my parents to bring over yet so they're will be more paths added around the fruit garden and up by the greenhouse. Hopefully this will help to keep it looking a bit more loved!
Quite pleased with my days work today. Anyone else have experience of laying slabs on dirt and how they fair?

Mud, Glorious Mud!

 Well not so Glorious really. The mud around my chicken pens and garden is becoming a real pain in the bum. I hate having to walk through it twice a day to feed the birds and leave my muddy boots in our tiny litttle hallway. I've put down wood chip but it soon becomes part of the mud, and I've put down straw but that does much the same, what to do?

Mud!

I have come up with one solution, but t'ts going to involve a bit of effort (mind you all good things do!). It involves around a hundred 2ft x 2ft slabs I've been given (bargain). I've got to pick them up and bring them home first and they need a good wash off as they're quite black at the moment, but they should cover a large area.
I'm thinking of a path down the veg garden and fruit garden and some paths to the chicken pen and feed shed. I'll probably just lay them on soil for now as I'm not sure where everything is going to stay at the moment, but it should go a long way to reducing the amount of mud around the place. I should even have some left over to maybe make a patio for the spring when my little girl should be out and about.

Slabs

The slbas are quite a large long term project - Anyone else got any ideas for reducing mud in this wet year that is a bit quicker?