This is my third attempt at writing on this topic. I’ve been working on this project for years, and while there were two saved drafts tucked away, I’ve never actually published anything on it.

But this week, it’s been one of the big jobs I’ve spent energy on. So I’m finally going to let you all in on the little secret that’s below your feet when you walk around my garden.

I’m going to tell you about my garden paths.

Bye bye black plastic

My garden sits on what was once a kikuyu grass-infested cow paddock. When I began developing it, I laid a lot of black plastic. Firstly for killing off the kikuyu, and then for protecting the paths from re-infestation.

The black plastic genuinely is the only way to kill off the kikuyu without poisons. It takes time—way more time than you’d think—but it does work.

However, after years of UV exposure and dog claws trotting around the place, the plastic had seriously deteriorated. The paths had started growing weeds in the holes. Walking around on a rainy day was like walking on a slip-and-slide.

And with a giant pile of mulch that needed moving, a plan began to form.

Slowly, I began lifting that plastic, re-shaping the paths, and replacing it with mulch. But it also seemed like a missed opportunity.

I wondered if I might be able to use my paths to help improve my gardens in some additional way.

Garden layout

The paths of my garden run in two directions, in a grid. In one direction (roughly east to west), they run along the contour. In the other direction (north-south), they go up/down the contour.

For the paths that run along the contour, I began playing with a concept called ‘vertical mulching’.

I dug trenches down the middle of the contour paths, and then filled them with mulch. They’re not as deep as this diagram would suggest—mine are about the width and depth of my digging spade.

Theoretically, rain would travel down the slope, and get caught in one of these trenches. The mulch would then hold the moisture for longer than usual, and make it available to the beds above and below it.

I started with an experimental trench, and after a few months, I thought I was seeing some positive results. So I dug more. Slowly, the mulched paths started improving the soils in the garden beds around them.

Then I ran out of mulch.

Reinvigoration

For the most part, my garden has been in this half-built state for years now. Some paths have trenches, and have been mulched. Some paths are bare, becoming repositories for weeds which need regularly pulling back out.

I’d be lying if I said it was planned, but this has produced the opportunity to compare approaches. As it turns out, there does seems to be a pretty big difference between the places with trenches and mulch, and those without.

As well as additional moisture around the trenched paths, the mulch seems to have worked to increase my worm population. Mycelial networks are developing too. I’m pretty sure I found some magic mushrooms growing in one of my paths a few weeks ago.

Rather than being dead places as they were under the plastic, my paths are alive now.

The garden as a whole is becoming an ecosystem that continues even in the bits you’re formally ‘allowed’ to walk on.

Regular maintenance

Of course, part of the reason those paths are teeming with life is because the mulch is actively breaking down, and has been for a couple of years now.

Recently, my father lent us his trailer. And last Monday after dropping off a load of accumulated crap at the scrappy, we picked up 2 cubic meters of mulch from the landscape supplier.

We got it home, and positioned it near the garden. Then I got to work.

I cleared and dug three trenches. And I shifted all that mulch, in one day.

Once I finished with the first row, I lifted some of the last plastic which had completed its purpose and mulched that. Then I began re-surfacing the oldest, barest paths. I kept going until the trailer was empty.

We’ve still got another load for the scrap man (finally, those fridges will be out of my life!), which means I have every intention of getting another couple of cubes of mulch to maybe even finish the entire garden. I reckon a third cube might be needed to fully tidy it up, but we’ll wait and see.

There’s still work to be done, but I’m happy with where we are now. My wee garden is really starting to come alive, thanks in large part to the paths.