Garden paths - cleaning - moss and weeds
The following tips & tricks have resulted from personal experience. They are not binding for the individual case. We assume no liability for following the tips.
How much garden path cleaning should it be?
The topic of "cleaning garden paths" actually has to be considered and discussed before a garden path is laid out. Because every surface of a garden path has different cleaning requirements, the type of cleaning and the intensity. Here is an overview:
- Garden paths that look natural, so ideally so that they cannot be seen at all, are becoming more and more popular. You can make such a path from bark mulch, and if you go into the excavated and with beautiful curbs If you lay out a root protection fleece under the bark mulch, you also have a very easy-care garden path created. Because the bark mulch rots little by little, there is no cleaning, you just sprinkle a little new bark mulch every now and then. If a few herbs that you do not want to grow appear at the top due to the flight of seeds, you can almost collect them, the roots cannot anchor themselves deeper than in the mulch.
- Even a loose pavement made of sand or gravel still looks natural, but more or less designed, depending on which color sand or gravel you choose. A covering of finer sand or gravel, also applied to root protection fleece, is cleaned by raking it off. If a lot of plant debris has accumulated over the years, making the path a little "dirty" in your eyes works, you can also do a kind of "general cleaning": remove a few centimeters and clean through fresh sand / gravel substitute.
- A pavement made of coarse gravel is also cleaned by simply raking. However, as this coarse gravel gets older, you will have to live with discoloration from organic matter (in case you have it do not want to make a hobby of picking up and washing every stone) or renew the entire pavement as well have to.
- Small paths made of individual stepping stones usually rarely have to be cleaned, they should have a natural flair. However, if you wanted, you could really clean these stones bit by bit every few years by brushing them off with a coarse wire brush Remove the surface and maybe also soak it with the soda-starch mixture recommended below for cleaning the pavement and then soak scrub off.
- Garden paths with weatherproof wooden pavement or made of natural stone will eventually grow algae. Even after one winter it usually looks so green that a general cleaning is advisable every spring. However, this can be done with little effort, expense and chemistry: Mix up a pulp of soda and cornstarch by adding a few Stir the tablespoon of cornstarch and 0.1 kg of soda one after the other into a saucepan with 5 liters of lukewarm water and bring the whole thing to a boil permit. It should be really thick so that this porridge can be applied to soak, if in doubt you can add a little more cornstarch. The warm mass can be applied straight away to floorboards or stones, nice and thick, and then allowed to work for half a day. When scrubbing, a lot of dirt comes off... You need washing soda here, sodium carbonate, which is a little stronger than baking soda, also known as baking soda. But it wouldn't mind if you caught baking soda, sodium bicarbonate, either. This also has a cleaning effect, it is only a little more expensive than washing soda, which is hard to beat at around € 2 per kg.
- Paved surfaces also have to be cleaned occasionally, how often depends on when you feel that "nature takes over". Here you can work with the remedy just mentioned, the effect of which you can increase if you add 5 grams of potassium permanganate to the above-mentioned 5 liters. Potassium permanganate is not very toxic when used as a cleaning agent, but it is corrosive, so really only take the few grams Put on gloves when cleaning and let the pharmacy explain to you how to dispose of the leftovers of your cleaning agent when you buy it.
No longer attached today: Radiant plasters thanks to a lot of chemistry
If you have any kind of paving as a garden path, you will usually get a lot of completely different cleaning tips:
- The manufacturer of the patch may recommend a special cleaning agent that costs considerable amounts per liter and contains substances that you would rather not have in your garden.
- In stores, they recommend a patio cleaner, before buying it, write it down first Name up, look for the safety data sheet on the Internet and almost fall in while reading it Fainting.
- There are many tips on the Internet, none of which you can follow uncritically: With the high-pressure cleaner you will destroy Sensitive stones also equal the surface, the application of salt in the garden is forbidden, and any home remedy with acid can damage the stone attack.
So do not ignore the fact that the success of any cleaning process is to a large extent simply water and Scrubbers contribute and carefully consider their potential material and environmental effects before using any miracle cure insert.
cleaning
After a while, you will find moss on damp and shady paths. To let the path shine again, you can spray the plates with a high-pressure device. Care should be taken to ensure that the joints are not damaged and that the stone is not damaged. Caution is advised.
Cleaning can be cleverly avoided by using paving clinker or water-repellent stones and slabs. These special plates are only available from specialist retailers. You should inform yourself in detail about the advantages and disadvantages before buying.
Moss and weeds
There are garden paths in which moss and grass should grow. This usually looks very nice. However, it is a recurring annoyance for anyone who wants a grass-free path. Instead of using expensive and environmentally harmful chemicals, you should remove them by hand fall back or use salt, whereby one should also be careful here, as salt will attack the stone can.
In the winter
Since, as just mentioned, salt can attack the stone, you should be particularly careful on terraces in winter. The best way to remove the snow is with a broom or snow shovel. The paths can be advantageously sprinkled with gravel.
Slates
Slate panels are very suitable for an organic garden. Laying in the sand bed, the uneven stone slabs look very friendly and loose. The garden looks more natural and if you want to change the path, you can do this quickly, as the panels are partly loose on the ground. Also very nice for a Mediterranean garden.
We hope that we were able to give you a brief insight into the subject of paving in the garden in the series üRichtig Pflasternü. If you missed a post; visit our overview, there you can switch to each article.