DIY: Weedless Walkway

I hate weeding.  REALLY hate weeding but I LOVE gardens. When we purchased our house a few years ago there was a beautiful stone pathway.  At one point it had gravel between every rock but over the years it seemed to have disappeared.

I felt like I was spending hours each summer weekend weeding the walkway. I’d tried all sorts of weed and vegetation killer- these things were relentless!

So I thought about what I could put between the rocks- most were embedded into the ground so putting weed block under them really wasn’t an option.  Sand and gravel would still allow the weeds to germinate and grow.

So I decided to cement the rocks in!  For this pathway it took 15 bags of cement.

First I took a leaf blower and cleaned the entire pathway. Then I weeded it.  Then I cleaned it off again.

I started at one end and began to spread the dry concrete.  I used a shovel to pour it into the cracks and crevices between each rock and used a broom to clean most of the excess off the rocks.  Yes, it’s a tedious and long process but so is weeding!

Starting at the highest point of the walkway begin to wet the concrete. Use a light spray to keep it from splattering.  Don’t wet it too much at once or it will begin to run down the rocks.  I found it was better to lightly wet it over and over than to drown it (and have concrete water run down the walkway).  It took about  10 times to get the concrete soaking but not dripping. I’d wet it- let it soak in and wet it again.

When it was wet I went back over it with a broom to get as much off the rocks as I could. Then I wet it one last time and let it dry.

It took a few hours (and sadly my dog put a few prints in it) But I LOVE how it turned out!  It doesn’t look like smooth concrete like a patio – it’s rough and uneven and fits in perfect with the rugged rocks!

A few tips I learned as I went:

• Don’t try to make the concrete level with the rocks if they aren’t level to begin with.  our rocks were a rustic type path and so trying to make the concrete level with each rock was a futile effort.
• Do not wet it too much at once.  You will have a river of concrete water and will have to clean all the rocks off.
• Don’t just dump the bags onto the rocks- it makes a mess you have to clean up before wetting it.  Pour the dry cement into a wheel barrow and spread it with a shovel- using it to get in all the crevices.

The side garden is where we used to have 4 LARGE Bradford Pear trees. They were hanging over the house so we had them removed but roots were still everywhere.  We opted to cover the entire garden in weedblock (it took 3 LARGE rolls).  First I placed newspaper down THICK.  I put them one Sunday Newspaper thick (it took about 2 months to gather enough) and then laid the weedblock on top of it and secured each one.  We placed 5 large pots I picked up on clearance last fall at Home Depot along the middle.  We planted Hydrangea bushes in each pot.  No Weeding!