Stepping stones
Simple steps can make a practical impact, says Bob
ONE of the easiest ways to make your garden simpler to look after is to add some stepping stones. You need a good number, preferably matching, and can choose from a plethora of shapes, sizes and materials.
You can place your stones either in the lawn, your borders and amongst your plants and crops – not just as a pathway but also just to cover bits of bare soil, where they make useful access points for weeding and watering.
However, the point is that each extra ‘stone’ also increases the area that will never again need weeding, saves on watering, suppresses pests and diseases and can reflect more light. No weed has the strength to grow up through a stone, so adding steps will reduce your weeding workload.
The soil under each stone becomes cooler, moister and more comfortable to roots. Meanwhile, impenetrable stones mean many soil-borne pests and diseases are suppressed and not splashed up (an inspection every so often rounds up any well-known suspects likely to be lurking underneath).
Further time will be saved when you replace narrow grassed paths with more stepping stones – perhaps surrounded by low-growing plants such as thyme or violets. It’s not the time you save mowing the path that counts but the time saved not doing all that edging! You could go further still and get rid of your lawn altogether. Replace it with a pattern of
“They make useful access points for weeding”
stepping stones running between clumps of gorgeous plants set through deep shredded bark mulch.
Then, once you’ve done all that, you can sell off the mower and lounge in a deck chair all summer!