paths between veggies wit clover

[mountaindweller]

I thought it might be a good idea to sow the paths between the veggie beds with clover or lucerne or similar. First there is always grass growing and I have to hoe it out or it grows into the beds. Second the clover could be cut and used as green manure. But how do I sow a path were I am constantly walking on? Does the clover or lucerene or whatever else still grow? Is this practical at all or does the clover end up in the garden beds like the grass (at least it might be easier to get rid of the clover than the grass)

[Walk]

Our paths our mostly either white clover or ground ivy. The ground ivy was here in areas and has been encouraged to become a ground cover. It does want to creep into the beds but can easily be pulled back occasionally. The white clover was seeded thickly in the middle of paths before a rain so it came up quick. Then we tried to walk on either side of the seedlings until they became large enough to handle light traffic. The clover does need mowing more than the ground ivy and can harbor slugs. It is also harder to pull back when it creeps into the beds. Both ground covers do a fine job of keeping other weeds out and making a nice green carpet to walk or work on, especially preferable after rain. The grass that was originally present here was quack which we have nearly eliminated after 10 years of digging and pulling. We used to do clean cultivation but it was a constant battle with weeds. Mowing seems physically easier for me than hoeing or wheel hoeing and there does seems to be a small contribution to organic matter. In our herb garden we have stepping stones which are surrounded by a sedum. This also gets thick enough to suppress weeds. Green or brown paths may be more of a personal preference when it comes down to it. Maybe experiment with different options to see what works best in your situation?

[rowan]

I know it seems a bit strange but I was going to experiment with creeping raspberry this year. It is very low and doesn't climb on plants so it mightn't be too much of a problem when it sometimes gets into the beds. It seems to be tough enough to handle low traffic. I will let you know how it goes.

[steev]

Given that one doesn't want bare soil, my choice is tree-chippings or leaves. I just spread them on where I want to smother weeds; if they get too thick, I rake some off for the compost and start over. Mostly they just rot into the soil. Sometimes I get a bonus of mushrooms!

[mayz]

the concept of weed is bound to your location and your climate.

Here my paths are covered with clovers and creeping buttercup

Buttercup is very invasive but no problem with clovers.

[raymondo]

Most of my beds are now entirely covered with woody mulch. Paths are where I haven't planted anything. Weeds so far haven't been an issue. One large section though is beds with lawn paths between. It's a pain to mow so as time and money permit, they too will be covered with woody mulch.

[oxbowfarm]

Elliot Coleman used to be a big proponent of seeding white clover in between rows of vegetables. The cover of "The New Organic Grower" still has a shot of him walking through such a planting. You need pretty good control of your weed seed bank to have the ability to do this though.

[mountaindweller]

Wood mulch has the advantage that you can shovel it on the beds after a while. The idea with the clover was to grow fertility on the paths. Maybe I simply mark the area off and leave stepping stones between the clover until it's established.Mowing is a bit of a pain. I have got a sickle but cannot sharpen it properly.

[steev]

Sharpening a sickle is much like sharpening a scythe; needs a whetstone, or an anvil if really dulled. Only source of these I know of is the Marugg Company, in Tennessee, USA.

[richardw]

Concrete!!,for years my paths have been bare soil that every so often a layer of soil will get scraped off and dug into one of the 1 meter wide beds each side.But as i'm looking to the future i'm finding this an ever increasingly physically demanding way to keep the paths free,so ive started to make narrow concrete paths in between with low stone walls so as to change to more of a raised bed system,a fair bit of work but will make it easier later on for when i'm an old bugger and don't want to do doing heaps of bending down and maintaining of pathways.

[steev]

Wisely foresightful, that. Plus the physical labor involved will do much to postpone the day you're not up to it. Nothing kills us more surely than a lack of regular exercise.

[oxbowfarm]

Here's my favorite scythe shop

Here's the best informational site on the use of scythes, at least in English.

[Joseph Lofthouse]

Aug 17, 2012 21:39:30 GMT -5 oxbowfarm said:

Here's my favorite scythe shop

Here's the best informational site on the use of scythes, at least in English.

Sounds complicated to fit the scythe to your body... Does anyone here use scythes? How do you like them?

[steev]

I use my scythe for clearing weeds. It's faster than a weedwhacker and very good torso exercise. Then I rake off (so I don't waste time clearing tines) and till. The one I have is an old wooden-snath scythe. If I get old, I may buy a lighter all-metal model. I enjoy going out, scythe on shoulder, whetstone on belt, to battle entropy. It's almost as medieval as a ditchbank.

[oxbowfarm]

I use one just about constantly. Most often for the same operation steev just described or for cutting grass to throw to the cow. I've used it to make loose hay quite a few times, but not this year so far. The challenge for me is the stony nature of my soil and all the hidden rocks jutting up. I've had a lot of experience repairing my blade.

The Peter Vido stuff is very useful but most of it is technical nuance on scything technique. If you are of average size then you can get most of the scythe/snath outfits sold by the several American scythe suppliers to work for you.

I've made several snaths based on some of the info Peter Vido has on his site. I find his two handled scythe design hard to wrap my head around, but I've been making the single handled Czech style snath and have come to love it. Besides being simpler to construct it actually gives you a lot of flexibility. If you leave both ends of the snath over-length when you first construct it you can attach the central handle and the blade and experiment in the field to find a blade-to-handle length that suits your body, then very quicky you will notice how much of the opposite end of the snath you are actually using and cut it down as well. Easy peasy, and hard to mess up. The other nice thing is it doesn't even need to be particularly strong wood. Saplings work perfectly as snaths and the nib can be made from just about any slightly curved piece of branch you can find.