When money is limited, cheap DIY garden path ideas are a great option if you want to upgrade your property without breaking the bank.

Every garden needs a walkway so you can travel around it easily for practical reasons like tending plants, flowers, and homegrown produce, as well as a crucial design element to help divide the outdoor space into sections, such as planting, seating, and relaxing places.

DIY Garden Path Ideas

If you choose high-quality materials, creating a path can be a costly investment that costs thousands of dollars. Making a road out of less expensive materials has the advantage that you can always update it later if necessary after doing the difficult work of selecting where it should go, how long and wide it should be, and what features it should link to.

You might opt not to because many inexpensive DIY garden path materials are available, like gravel, bark, repurposed bricks and stones, pebbles, and decking planks. You might also decide to make your DIY creation a permanent fixture.

Choosing one of these inexpensive garden ideas can also save money on labor costs because everyone with a basic understanding of DIY can complete them.

You can define your outdoor space with our top do-it-yourself garden path designs. Among the bold design statements that don’t cost the earth and are simple to complete are gravel, wood, and recycled bricks.

Read on to learn about the best DIY garden path ideas to build your desired path for less money:

Try the Coastal Look With a Cheap Decking Board Path

Consider using timber decking boards or planks, laying them horizontally to create an inexpensive DIY garden path if you’re going for that super-smart coastal vibe for your cheap backyard ideas. You can use lines of gravel or stones to edge the decking or planks to create interest.

Decking planks are an inexpensive and simple way to make a path in your outside area. Wheelbarrows will have no trouble navigating a decking route, making this boardwalk-style approach quite useful. A lighter wood option will also add some light to the landscape. Additionally, hardwood decking is a strong material that can survive heavy hammering.

Combine Paving With Inexpensive Pebbles

Pebble landscaping can be a smart way to save money and produce an eye-catching, colorful, and textured DIY garden path. This option will work well in both a rustic, traditional garden and a sleek, modern design concept.

The all-natural beauty of pebbles is that they are always blended in different tones of earth browns, gentle greys, and neutrals. So, if your yard has a lot of distracting backdrop features, a DIY pebble path will blend in well with those features and structures.

Try a DIY Gravel Path

Gravel landscaping is among the simplest and least expensive ways to build a do-it-yourself garden walkway. Gravel has a wide range of uses. A wide variety of hues are available, including white, buff, grey, mixed, and soft red/pink. Limestone crushed stone is much more affordable, especially when purchased in large quantities.

Gravel has a wide range of uses; warm colors with yellow/orange tones provide the impression of a Mediterranean gravel garden, while white will be more modern. Reclaimed materials like crushed shells, which are ideal for a coastal landscape, are also categorized as “gravel.”

The cost benefits of gravel outweigh the ease of construction. Gravel makes a garden simple and low maintenance, whether you choose a meandering route or carefully considered plans.

Another benefit of using gravel for your inexpensive DIY garden path ideas is that it’s simple to resurface; if it starts to appear worn down, just add more gravel.

Try Reclaimed Bricks to Cut Down on Costs

Reclaimed bricks can be used to build a low-cost DIY garden path that will give your area character and let you coordinate the new walkway with other elements outside your home. It can be beneficial to make sure the new route will reflect the surrounding brickwork in order to produce a cohesive overall appearance.

Using recycled materials in the garden not only helps you save money, but it’s also beneficial for the environment, whether you get them from a reclamation firm or use items that were left over from another project.

As a type of raw recycling, using salvaged bricks left over from another home renovation is not only economical but also an excellent concept for eco-friendly landscaping. It cuts down on waste and lessens the need to generate more resources.

If you want to build an appealing cottage garden walk in your garden as well, choosing more rustic-looking reused bricks or pavers is great.

Try a Simple Planted Pathway

You don’t need to rely too much on pricey landscaping supplies to create a low-cost DIY garden walkway. Instead of spending money on paving stones, gravel, and other expensive aggregates, uses fast-growing, aromatic ground cover plants to fill in the majority of the walkway.

The majority of planted paths are only appropriate for light foot traffic, yet they nonetheless look really lovely. For brighter areas, creeping thyme or camomile make suitable path plants, whilst delicate baby tears (Soleirolia soleirolii) thrive in shade. In the spring and early summer, Blue Star Creeper (Laurentia fluviatilis) produces masses of pale blue, star-shaped blooms, or golden/grey Due to its coin-shaped leaves, creeping Jenny (Lysimachia nummularia), often known as moneywort, adds color.

Use Budget-Friendly Landscaping Bark

Wood chips, shredded bark, or broken cocoa shells are all great options for creating a DIY garden walkway on a budget. Land bark or chips are fantastic choices if you prefer to use natural materials. Simply tip the bag up and rake it into place to lay it down.

Although it’s vital to lay a weed barrier landscaping fabric beneath a chipping path to stop weeds from working through, chippings are even less expensive than gravel. If you decide against the bark walkway, you can mulch your flower beds with the chippings.

There are, however, a few dos and don’ts while planning a course with these supplies. For a wet or poorly draining part of the garden, chippings are less ideal than other materials since they will become sticky and may be harmful.

A walkway like this will likewise require renewal every few years due to the degradation of the organic material. If you have pets or kids, chippings might not be the greatest choice because frequent use (or digging) will spread the chippings around the garden.

Additionally, you must find a technique to use an edge to keep the bark or chippings contained. Metal garden edging is the finest technique to have bark chips. It is really affordable and simple to install on your own. It helps in path definition and can stop animals from kicking the chippings around excessively.

Try Inexpensive Railroad Ties

In a similar informal manner to circular stepping stones, railroad ties or short lengths of wooden sleepers, as well as outdoor porcelain tiles made to resemble wood, can be used. For a low-cost, do-it-yourself garden walkway, simply put them horizontally into the turf.

Nevertheless, you may also use sleepers to make a more formal walk by encircling them in gravel, chippings, or pebbles and enclosing the route in a hard border, like a concrete edging.

Either contrasting or complimentary materials may surround a sleeper walkway. Whatever you decide, using timbers in landscaping creates a powerful design element in a garden and doesn’t have to be expensive. The horizontal positioning of each sleeper acts as a ladder leading forward, making it a good method to lead into a hidden garden corner.

Go Ahead with a DIY Stepping Stone Design

Informal stepping stone designs will give any yard a laid-back appearance. One of the best things about them is that they seem quite natural when used as a low-cost DIY garden walkway because of their circular form.

Transitioning between various regions of outdoor space is simple by using stepping stones. They don’t have to overpower the rest of the design because they are a subdued addition to a landscape.

In addition to adding character and beauty to any area, circular paving stones are ideal for tiny gardens because the path doesn’t need to take up much space.

They are a particularly wise choice if you want to make a simple path through muck or need to keep people from wandering on your lawn. Additionally, since it is not particularly difficult to learn how to lay stepping stones, this is a quick and simple approach to setting up your new DIY walkway.

Choose Colorful Slate for a Bold DIY Path

Slate chippings function similarly to gravel, pebbles, or cobblestones when used as a route surface. Slate paving stones are another choice but are more expensive and less suited for low-cost DIY garden path ideas.

Additionally, slate is not limited to a single shade of grey; it can also be dark grey, soft grey, plum, or black.

It is ideal to consider the surrounding environment when selecting a slate hue for a path and how it can harmonize with colors already present in the garden as well as the outside of the house. Also, consider the style you want to achieve: stark contrast or complementary colors that “disappear.”

Try a Tiled Path to Save Labor Costs

Focusing on curb appeal and visual effect when building a low-cost DIY garden path in a front garden. Nothing beats a gorgeously tiled path leading to the front door if you reside in a vintage home.

However, purchasing authentic or replica porcelain tiles can be very expensive, and hiring someone to install them can be very pricey. But if you’re adept at DIY and want to achieve this classic appearance on a budget, you might concentrate your efforts on a smaller space, like the step and the area right in front of the entrance.

Prioritizing visual impact and curb appeal is advised when building a low-cost DIY garden path in a front garden. Nothing compares to a magnificently tiled path leading to the front door if you reside in a vintage home.

Porcelain tiles, whether original or replica, can be prohibitively expensive, and if you need to employ someone to install them, the cost will be high. A smaller area, such as the step and the space just in front of the entrance, can be the best place to concentrate your attention if you’re adept at DIY and want to get this classic appearance for less money.

How to Make a Cheap DIY Garden Path Look More Expensive?

You will need some sort of border to keep everything contained, whether you choose gravel or bark for your DIY path design. If you choose a clean border to define an outer edge, inexpensive DIY garden path ideas can appear expensive. This is additionally a useful benefit.

Plastic landscape edging that comes in rolls and is easy to shape is your best choice for inexpensive garden edging ideas.

Modern garden designs benefit from the sharp, defined appearance of steel or aluminum edging. Concrete pavers, fresh bricks, and stone paving stones are more expensive options. If you choose a less expensive material for the route itself, these ideas will add a touch of class without incurring the cost of installing a full path in a high-priced material.

Landscape timbers can also be used to create a beautiful edging along a straight walk that will age and silver beautifully over time.

Final Words

There is nothing better than having a beautiful garden pathway that adds attraction to your home and garden. There are different things you can do to make your garden look beautiful and attractive, but a pathway is the most important part to consider. You can read this article to learn about the best DIY garden path ideas to follow in 2022. Keep reading our articles to learn about the best garden improvement tips and tricks and reviews about the best garden products.

FAQ

What is the Cheapest Way to Make a Pathway?

Mulch and gravel are two of our favorite walkway alternatives because they are the cheapest pathway materials you can purchase for rock walks and make installation straightforward. The sod must be removed, landscape fabric rolled out, and mulch or gravel spread.

Should a Garden Path be Straight or Curved?

It is crucial to have a plausible, logical path for travel. Curved paths should follow the lawn’s lines, curves, or even curves around beds, features, or grass islands with varying heights. It makes no sense at all to have a meandering route through a level lawn with straight edges.

What is the Best Width for a Garden Path?

Primary paths leading to entrance areas and main garden walkways should be large enough to accommodate two individuals walking side by side: 4 feet is a reasonable minimum; 5 feet is ideal. Garden paths, landscape walks intended for general use, or any other path used by a wheelbarrow should have a minimum width of 3 feet.

Can I Use Gravel as a Pathway?

An easy and affordable option to make a walkway that channels foot traffic through your yard and safeguards your grass is to lay down a gravel or rock path. However, you can’t just lay a gravel path and call it a day. Any DIYer can complete it over a weekend, but it requires some planning and preparation.