How To Lay Wood Chip Garden Paths For Weed Suppression

If you’re tired of weeding garden paths, you’ll love wood chip paths. They are one of the simplest, affordable ways to keep weeds under control while making your garden easier to work in and tidy. Using cardboard and a thick layer of chips creates a natural barrier that keeps weeds down and makes your garden easier to maintain, leaving you to do the fun planting and harvesting.

When I planned the new raised bed vegetable garden at our farmhouse, the one thing I knew for sure from my experience in our cottage’s vegetable garden was that I wasn’t going to use gravel for the paths again.

While I loved the look of gravel with raised vegetable beds – and they had worked wonderfully in our small city lot with 4 raised beds – gravel in a large raised bed garden became a maintenance nightmare. Between spilling compost and dirt, moles coming up through the paths, and cleaning up all the debris, the paths eventually had enough dirt in them to grow loads of weeds. Other than pulling or spraying, which I didn’t want to do, there wasn’t much I could do about it once the gravel was down.

Enter the cardboard-and-wood-chip garden path. This easy method for walkways uses inexpensive (and potentially free) materials, works well between garden beds, and only needs occasional refreshing as the wood chips break down over time. Most importantly, I could easily add another layer of cardboard under the new chip layer, if needed for weeds, and I wouldn’t have to worry anymore about dirt and clippings falling on it.

As you can maybe guess, I love the wood chip paths. Like, LOVE them. The freedom of not worrying about spilled compost and the ability to just toss small plant debris on the paths is wonderful.

I created a video a few years ago illustrating all the steps and materials used which you can watch below.

Now a number of years into using wood chip paths, I wanted to provide a guide showing not only how to build wood chip garden paths and what types of wood chips work best, but also the simple maintenance that keeps them working year after year with photos from the garden through the years.

Why Wood Chip Garden Paths Work In Vegetable Gardens

Grass paths need constant mowing and can easily creep into the beds, and gravel has to be kept meticulously clean, but wood chips (over cardboard for initial weed suppression) will:

• Block sunlight that weeds need to grow.
• Allow water to soak into the soil, reducing run off or muddy areas.
• Create soft, comfortable walking paths.
• Use natural, inexpensive or free materials.
• Define the garden and create areas that don’t need water (#1 tip to less weeds is not to water the areas that aren’t growing food).
• Be maintained easily by adding new layers.

Materials Needed for Wood Chip Garden Paths

• Cardboard: plain brown boxes (tape and staples removed) – you can also use heavy carpenter’s paper on rolls from a home store if you can’t get cardboard.
• Wood chips from a landscape company or arborist mulch/tree trimmings free from a local source.
• Wheelbarrow or cart for spreading chips.
• Rake
• Optional: Water source if it’s windy (to help hold down cardboard as you’re spreading the chips)
• Optional: Landscape staples if paths are on slopes.

Step-by-Step: How to Lay Wood Chip Garden Paths

1. Clear the Path Area

Remove large weeds with tap roots (dandelions) or tall growth. No need to dig or fully clear the soil of small, annual weeds.

2. Lay Down Cardboard

Break down cardboard boxes until flat, removing any tape and staples. Lay them along the path area, overlapping so weeds cannot grow through the seams.

3. Add a Thick Layer of Wood Chips

Use a wheelbarrow to spread chips 2 to 3 inches deep. The thicker layer you use, the better the weed suppression and the longer the paths will last before needing to add more.

4. Level and Smooth

Rake the chips where needed and walk on the paths to help the chips settle.

Wood chip garden paths work best for:

• Between raised beds.
• Vegetable garden rows (though I might prefer straw for this).
• Orchard paths.
• Around berry patches.
• Between large garden sections.
• Covering large shrub borders.

Maintaining Wood Chip Garden Paths Over Time

I have found wood chip paths to be very low maintenance, but they do need occasional refreshing as the chips break down.

1. Add New Chips When Needed

After 2 to 3 years, or as the bottom layer decomposes, simply add another 2 inches of fresh chips on top.

2. Spot-Treat Any Weeds

Occasional weeds may appear if seeds blow in. Pull them early or cover with a piece of cardboard and more chips.

3. Refresh Cardboard if Needed

If a path becomes heavily weedy after several years, you can lay a new layer of cardboard and then add fresh wood chips. This is easily done in just certain areas as needed.

4. Keep Edges Defined

Use a rake or shovel occasionally to pull stray chips back into the path, if needed.

If you want less weeding over time, easier garden access in wet weather, a natural, tidy look in the garden, and no worry about dirt and debris falling into your vegetable garden paths, then wood chips are for you. I’ve found it to be a simple, forgiving system that can be adjusted over time, refreshing only the parts of the garden where needed. If you’ve been fighting walkway weeds, I hope you give this method a try!