I have been trying to figure out how to cover the garden paths between the raised beds, as they are long it would be too expensive to lay any commercial materials.Well, it got around the neighbourhood that I accept logs, wood from cutting down trees. Shortly after new year a guy stopped his small farmers' truck at our gate. I have never seen him before. In the back of the truck were logs, branches he had chopped from a tree. Do you want these he asked, I heard you took this sort of wood? Of course I replied, so we unloaded the lot. He then asked if I took smaller ones, and point to some thinner branches. Yes, I can use these for kindling, thank you. Off he went and returned twice, later for a third and fourth time. The second two he dumped conifer hedge trimmings. Gosh, what to say, no thank you after he had dumped half of them on the ground on his first return. Okay, what to do with these: 1) make a raised bed and slowly layer them to make a blueberry patch, as the firs acidify the ground; 2) Eureka, how about layering them lengthways along the paths, and make a covering. This will break down over time, will look nice and green, can be trimmed to remove the larger branches, looks good and even smells nice too... So that is what I did, see the photo left of the trimmings being laid. It is a bit springy to walk on, but where it has been frequently used it is flattening down, and it is also easy to run a wheelbarrow over it. So far, no problems, is this a win win?
