A Fool-Proof Guide to Laying Garden Paths

Paths are an essential part of any garden – they can break up broad spaces of open grass as well as providing the eye with an appealing point of reference that stops large lawns becoming visually overwhelming. They can also protect your lawn from wear and add a much needed splash of neutral colour to your garden.

Unfortunately, laying a brand new path can often be a daunting prospect if you don’t know exactly what you’re doing: It’s all too easy to run out of materials when don’t know the exact amount of ground that you’re covering, and there’s no counting the number of times that people have finished laying a path only to find that their expensive flagstones shift as soon as any significant weight is placed upon them.



To avoid pitfalls like this, it’s important to make sure that you carefully plan your project beforehand, and properly construct your path using the right materials.

You should always start by laying out a plan on squared paper and then marking the ground with pegs and string to make sure that you can accurately measure the exact area of your path. This will help to ensure that you know exactly how many square feet of flagstones you will need to buy, as well as ensuring that you know what the finished project will look like well in advance.



Once you have a good idea of exactly how much ground you intend to cover, you can then begin purchasing materials. Normally the materials that you will need include:

(1) Enough sand to cover the area required to a depth of one inch
(2) Paving stones (preferably made of the same high-quality stone that’s used by garden suppliers like Milford
(3) Mortar sand to fill any joints or gaps

As with all things, it is best be cautious here, and purchase enough excess building materials to allow for a 10% margin of error.

Once you have your materials to hand, and you’re path is nicely laid out, the rest is really very simple – just remove any existing sod with a flat shovel, lay down a solid inch of compacted sand, stamp it down and then begin laying your paving stones. The only thing that you’ll need to watch out for now, is that your sand doesn’t get damp before the stones go down, as this can significantly weaken the integrity of your path. Once all the slabs are down, just shovel mortar sand into the gaps to stop things shifting around, and then sit back and congratulate yourself on a job well done.

This article is contributed by Vickie Harrison.