How to Create Wood Chip Garden Paths

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How to construct woodchip garden paths using a weed suppressant layer and woodchips. An easy, quick, and inexpensive garden path solution that keeps weeds down between garden beds.

How and why you should create wood chip garden paths in your vegetable garden #vegetablegarden #diygarden #growfood

Years ago, I watched a fellow gardener lay wood-chip paths between their raised beds. At the time, I thought they looked nice but could interfere with the soil and the garden beds. Years passed, and the paths kept the plot tidy, and the raised beds and crops didn’t suffer at all. On the contrary, they thrived. I took the plunge myself and learned that wood chip garden paths are effective, easy to make, inexpensive, and look great.

Permanent garden paths reduce weeding and mowing time -- they can also be easy, quick, and inexpensive to make. Here's instructions on how to make wood chip garden paths and why they're such a great option #lovelygreens #vegetablegarden #diygarden — Before and after laying wood chip garden paths.

If you’re looking for a great way to keep weeds down in your garden paths without spending a fortune, feel free to use the following tips. They cover how to create wood chip garden paths, their pros and cons, and where to source wood chips. If you’re all about working smarter, not harder, this is a great solution for your vegetable garden.

Pros of Wood Chip Garden Paths

They keep weeds down in your garden paths
No grass means no extra time mowing
Raised beds can dry out more quickly than the surrounding soil. Wood-chip paths help retain moisture in the soil beneath them and reduce wicking of water from the beds.
Wood chips will not strip nitrogen from your garden soil.
Soil life underneath the wood chips isn’t adversely affected.
They’re easy and inexpensive to put in
They look good!

Cons of Wood Chip Garden Paths

Fungi will colonize the wood, so you can get mushrooms over time. Not a big deal, in my opinion.
Within a couple of years, the wood chips will break down into humus. If you leave them, they can get muddy.
As more wood chips decompose into humus, plants can begin to grow along the paths. A fresh layer of wood chips stops this, though. Or you can scrape off the top layer, dig out the lower compost, and use it to mulch your beds. I do that every few years.
Pests can live under the landscaping fabric you might place under your paths. Certainly, slugs, but in parts of Britain and Europe, the New Zealand Flatworm.
If you live in a fire-prone region, wood chips can be a hazard.

Creating Wood Chip Garden Paths

It’s really very easy to create your pathways. If you have an established garden, just mow and/or weed your paths between. Try to remove as many stones and perennial weeds as you find growing at the edges. If you’re working from a blank slate, measure your beds and pathways out first. The paths should be a minimum of 18″ wide to accommodate a wheelbarrow.

Next, lay down a weed suppressant material. Many people use cardboard, but I also use landscaping fabr ic. I love using biodegradable cornstarch type, but I’ve used the standard fabric in the past. Whatever you do, avoid plastic sheeting. I had a bit left over and tried using it at first. Just imagine a hidden ‘slip and slide’ running across your garden. No photos or videos exist of that experience, thank goodness!

After your weed suppressant material is down, you can bring in your wood chips and lay them down at least an inch thick. I use two methods to get them down. The easiest way is to dump small piles along the path, then spread them out. For more accurate covering, I throw handfuls of wood chips where they need to go. It took three hours to spread the fabric and cover it with wood chips across my entire garden. If you use stones or anything to weigh the material down, remove them as you work.

Cardboard vs Landscaping Fabric

Many people choose to use cardboard as their weed suppressant material since it’s natural, free, and breaks down over time. If you’re planning to cover a relatively clear area with a wood-chip path, it might be the way to go. However, my garden paths already had a lot of perennial weeds—dock and dandelions for two. These are plants that I’ve seen growing right up and through piles of wood chips three feet high! They’d also go right through cardboard, so I prefer using landscaping fabric.

There are two main types of landscaping fabric you can use today: natural and synthetic. Natural landscaping fabric is made from cornstarch and breaks down into the soil after three to five years. That makes them an excellent choice for permanent wood chip paths. After three years, any weed plants will have died beneath the layer, and the material will be completely gone. It can be pricey, though.

I used synthetic landscaping fabric for years and made a small discovery about it. After woodchip paths break down into compost, I can use that compost to mulch my beds. If you lay synthetic landscaping fabric so it’s easy to lift again, the wood-chip compost lifts with it. It pulls up like a dream! Then you can lay it back down on the ground and add fresh wood chips to create new woodchip paths.

I’ve had someone ask if landscaping fabric stops or kills worms in the soil underneath. It doesn’t, and with it being water-permeable, the soil underneath is plenty moist for them. Even more moist than if there were nothing on top of the soil.

Wood Chip Paths Aftercare

Wood chip paths need to be topped up with fresh wood chips every year. All you need to do is remove any plants growing in the woodchip (such as rampant strawberry runners) and spread one to two inches of fresh woodchip on top. They’re as good as new afterward, and the fresh wood chip will deter plants and seeds from growing.

After three years of having your woodchip paths down, most of what’s just under the surface will have broken down into compost. Good compost that you can put on your garden beds. When you do this, it’s best to skim off most of the fresher wood chips, then dig up what’s left and pile it on your garden beds about an inch thick as that season’s mulch. You can plant directly into it or move it aside and plant into the soil or older compost below.

Frugal Gardening Idea: Create easy wood chip garden paths #lovelygreens #vegetablegarden #gardeningtips

As for whether or not this broken-down wood chip is good for plants, let the weeds growing on your pathways inform you. If you leave woodchip paths for a couple of years without topping them up, they will become weedy because the material has decomposed into compost.

Where to Source Wood Chips

The best place to get wood chips is from local tree surgeons. Wood chips are a waste product for them, and they’ll likely bring you as many as you need for free! Or at least inexpensively. I found this gem of a tip from a friend who works in garden maintenance. After speaking with his contact, I asked whether he had wood chips available (yes) and how much they cost (nothing). Within a week, we had a large truckload delivered and ready to use.

The wood chips in my garden are a mixture of softwood and hardwood. Basically, whatever trees the tree surgeon had been working on at that time. You should make sure that none of the wood chips are from black walnut trees, though—they contain compounds that will kill other plants. Wood chips in winter will also contain less green material and be much better for pathways. Leafy greens break down quickly into a material that weed seeds can easily root in.

Wood Chip Paths are Inexpensive & Effective,

Wood chip garden paths look great, feel good to walk on, and keep weeds down for years. I highly recommend them to anyone who’ll have a listen. To see more on wood chip garden paths and other gardening tips, make sure to subscribe to Lovely Greens on YouTube.

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