LANDSCAPING : Slab or Brick, Curvy or Straight, Garden Paths Set the Direction

Besides keeping feet dry in sloshy weather, a garden path tells you where to walk, as well as guides your eyes and--if the end of the path is hidden from view--your imagination.

Bricks and stones make a path that appears durable and is, in fact, if properly constructed. The essence of constructing a solid brick or stone path is to give each brick or stone firm footing on a well-drained base.

Common building bricks tend to absorb water and can flake apart so you might want to choose non-porous bricks (SW type). For stone paths, use flagstone, which is made by splitting any type of horizontally layered rock into flat slabs, or “flags.”

Bluestone and slate are among such rocks. Even concrete can make a nice path, especially if dyed the yellow, buff, tawny red or gray color of natural flagstones and cast into slabs.

A garden path makes connections within the landscape and helps define it, but the path itself should not grab your attention. When planning a path, consider its aesthetic and functional purposes.

Jogs or curves, and wide paths, are for slow strolling--just what is needed to encourage a prolonged look at some choice plants. A straight path is more suited from the back door to the vegetable garden, or any other route where footsteps are hurried.

Consider how many people will walk together along a proposed path. Two people--even two intimate people--need a path 4- to 5-feet wide. In any case, no path should be less than 18 inches wide.

Random flags lend a casual air to a path, whereas square and rectangular flags create a sense of order and formality. That sense of order and formality can also be created with bricks set in any one of a number of different patterns.

With planning completed, construction begins. First mark the outline for the proposed path by sprinkling two lines of pulverized limestone on the ground. For a straight path, guide yourself with strings and stakes. Achieve smooth bends of a curved path using two garden hoses as a guide, measuring across at intervals to keep the path’s width constant.

Next, remove a four-inch depth of soil where the path will be. The excavated soil is no longer needed, so pile it directly into a wheelbarrow, then cart it away to layer on the compost pile.

Into the excavated area, shovel porous drainage material such as sand or stone dust, tamping and smoothing it as you proceed. This material provides a solid base beneath the paving, and prevents water from collecting there.

Add enough material so that when stones or bricks are in place, their top sides are one-half inch to 1 1/2 inches above ground level. Slope the top of the path to one side if the path is narrow, or crown the center if the path is wide. Settle each stone or brick in place one-half inch or less from its neighbor.

Once paving is in place, shovel additional stone dust or sand on top of the path, then sweep the material with a broom to fill the cracks. Further settle the material into the gaps with a fine spray from a hose. Repeat the shoveling, sweeping and watering a few days later, after everything has settled.

Time and moisture will give the path a soft patina. Informal paths can be further softened by growing such plants as thyme or chamomile between the paving. For all this mellowing in appearance, the stones or bricks will give firm footing for decades to come.