Inexpensive Walkway Ideas

Broken and Planted

• Lay out stepping stones, broken concrete or bricks leftover from your patio construction project. By spacing out these materials you will need less hardscape material and will save money. In the open spaces plant low-growing perennials that tolerate foot traffic to soften the look of your walkway. Blue star creeper -- pratia pendunculata -- is characterized by dark green, mat-like foliage that grows low to the ground and produces waves of small blooms in blue or white from spring to fall. Woolly thyme -- pseudolanuginosus -- grows between your hard scape material and tolerates foot traffic. Or use seed grass over your pathway and mow along with the rest of your lawn..

Mosaic Pebble Path

• Collect pebbles from the seashore, river beds or buy them to create a mosaic pathway in your yard. Build a wood form with scrap lumber to delineate the edges of your walkway and fill with a few inches of gravel. Pour concrete over the gravel bed and, when partially set, set pebbles into the medium with relatively flat pebble sides on top. Draw out your pattern first and layout your design from sorted stones. One of the best ways to determine the color of your pebbles is to wet them before you work with them.

Gravel Walk

• An even less expensive idea is to lay a gravel walkway. Use landscape timbers, brick or other edging material to lay in the boundaries of your path. Gravel pathways are softer and look more natural than poured. Use smaller stones, such as pea gravel or crushed limestone, to ensure a walkway bed that is denser and more weed resistant.

Edgings

• A wide array of affordable edgings will hem in your walkway. If you have a neighbor or family member who is busting up an old driveway, offer to haul some of it away to break up and use as a walkway border. Purchase pretreated landscape timbers, continuous plastic edging, cedar shakes or line your walkway with a mulch bed and annuals.