Gardening & Landscaping
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Garden/flagstone/stepping stone path?
We're in the process of getting quotes for some landscape work but I'm thinking we can save money (but not time) by doing the flagstone path ourselves. I'm thinking flagstone path with gravel then half of it with stepables (like creeping thyme). My question is, has anyone laid their own garden/flagstone path? If so, how difficult/challenging was it? I'd love to see some blog posts about this process. Or should I just hire this out? TIA!
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Re: Garden/flagstone/stepping stone path?
Hi!
We just laid a bunch of flagstone last summer and fall. It is definitely something you can DIY it just takes a little time. The most important part of the path is the base. If you are in an area with a lot of freezing/thawing you'll get flagstone popping up in no time with a bad base. In areas that freeze 6-8" is recommended for patios but since it's just a path you could get by with a little less. We did two flagstone projects this year using flagstone with polymeric sand and a flagstone path with moss/Irish moss in between. I have some blog posts about the first project:
Rock Wall Redo
Using Polymeric Sand with Flagstone
Getting everything level was the tricky part. We found using a brick layer's trowel (the pointed ones) worked well because you can slice off a thin layer of gravel/dirt below to get things just right. We got the flagstone from a local landscape/stone yard and the gravel/sand mix at our local gravel pit. In areas you don't want weeds the polymeric sand might be a good idea instead of the gravel but in either case you'll need to install an edging to hold it all in place (similar to any instructions for flagstone patios).
With the dirt path you only need to dig up the dirt and put the flagstones down. No base needed. Then you fill the gaps in with good topsoil and add plants. The downside is that it takes a while for the plants to spread and until then it could be muddy.
I only have pictures of the flagstone with steppables:
This spring I'll be planting moss and Irish moss in between the stones. (FYI Irish and Scottish moss aren't real mosses). There is a Steppables website with plants you can buy for that application but they are expensive from that site. You can find them for cheaper at local nurseries. You can even buy seeds for things like Irish moss if you need a lot but it might take a while for it to spread. If you have sun Thyme would be my first choice.
HTH! Let me know if you have any questions.
I don't have any answers on DIY or hiring someone. I'm curious about the responses though because we need to repair ours.
We have a flagstone patio, sidewalk and steps that were there when we bought our house. The area between the stones was filled with some type of concrete product. I would NOT recommend that. It's only about 10 years old and is cracked everywhere. I like your gravel or steppables idea much better.
We've also had issues with the edges of the flagstone cracking and breaking up on the overhang on the stairs on our patio. I don't know if it was poor installation or poor product. (And the fact that I've run into it several times with the lawnmower probably didn't help.)