Advice for garden path

[Adavez]

Hi all,I am looking for advice with my garden path. As you can see from the picture there used to be a concrete path at one point; but the previous owner destroyed it for some reason…

I’m looking at the most budget friendly way to create path for this area? Any advice is appreciated!

Path is 14m in length and 70cm width

Are you able to do the labour yourself? If so the cheapest option would probably be to break up the remaining concrete (sledgehammer and some suppressed rage 😁), dig out a few inches all the way down, put down weed suppressing membrane (you can order it by the metre) and then top it with bark mulch. Pea shingle or gravel would be another option but it's a little more expensive than mulch. Also seems to be more popular with cats as an impromptu litter tray than bark.

Thank you for the advice! Yes, I’ll be doing all the labour myself with help from my wife. After what you’ve said I think I’m swaying more towards the gravel as it’s high foot traffic area and not sure how the mulch will hold up 🙂

Here's a video from Bunny Guinness, the queen of doing things cheaply. Go to the chapter at 7:10 called . I think the materials are quite reasonable but the problem may the equipment that she assumes you have. I suppose you can always hire it in.

Sorry about the formatting. I've never sussed out why / when MN puts a link at the end of a post or at the mid-point!

Rather than gravel, I would use slate chippings. They are much more of a weed suppressant than gravel, being flat. The weed seeds can't root into them so easily. The grey/green ones are a very pleasant colour.

@Adavez You need to be really careful about using gravel or shingle next to grass. It gets in mowers! It gets everywhere. So you need robust edging. We have a granite sett edging. Bark also gets everywhere and very soggy at times of high rainfall. I'd much rather have a border next to the fence and have a meandering path. Straight is a bit boring.

I'd much rather have a border next to the fence and have a meandering path. Straight is a bit boring.
Agree. I obviously didn't look closely enough at the photo last night: I thought that the fence was the wall of a shed and that the path was merely boring access!

Gravel isn't always that good a choice if there is wheeled traffic along it such as kids toys, wheelbarrow, bikes, wheelie bins etc.

Would it be an option to get someone to dig up all the rocks 'n' stuff, and then just lawn up to the house but put down some mesh which stops the ground getting trodden into mud, like this stuff.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/GLP-Grass-Protection-Reinforcement-Plastic/dp/B09B1RBL6L?source=ps-sl-shoppingads-lpcontext&ref_=fplfs&psc=1&smid=ABO13LXAORBN2&gQT=1