Laura, I have no advice to offer. Just wanted to say you sure have a smart dh!! lol!!! Be sure to take plenty of water breaks and don't over do it. I would love to have all that flagstone! If it were me I would let the grass grow between the stones and just run the mower over it all, but I'm sure there's a better way.

You know we need progress pictures and updates, right?

~Betsy

laura - get a roll of ground cloth and put it down where you want the pathway to go, right on top of the dying grass. This will help prevent the stones from sinking.

The right way to do your pathway is - ground cloth, a layer of drainfield rock at least 1" thick, then place the stones. Fill in with brown river rock between the stones to hide the drainfield rock and stablize the pathway. This is also the most expensive way of doing it.

You can get by without the drainfield rock and river rock, but you should not skip the ground cloth. Use finely shredded mulch between the rocks as a "grout" and bring the mulch out past the stones.

Think about two important considerations - first, are you going to walk side-by-side with someone? If so, then the pathway has to be at least 36" wide, 48" is best. Second, are you going to walk barefoot? If so, then the stones should be closer together as you'll be walking slower.

I actually saw Paul James do a stone pathway on HGTV. It was interesting because he laid down the stones in a nice pattern and then he put dirt on top of the stones and swept it into the crevices and smoothed it out. No digging was involved.

I do it the same way except instead of using soil (we don't call it dirt down here) I use either small river rock or chatahoochee and sweep them into the spaces.

I'm dog tired and I have TONS of flagstone left. I might be "up" for doing it the Paul James way!

Here is some of what I've laid out.

Looks nice

Where do you buy flagstone, Laura? I think this is what I need to put around the pond, to finally hide the edges....If you have left over, want to sell some?

Olya

I want to make clear that my dh doesn't know I bought the flagstone...maybe he won't notice!!!

Olya-I may have some left over from the path part but I also want to make little retaining walls/edging around some of my beds. Some of the pieces are just too thin to use as steppers and I've been tossing them aside for edging. Still looks like I will have some left.

I got the stone at Wingates on Sligh/Lambright. It is 30 cents a pound until you go over 1K and then it goes down in price to 15 cents per pound.

I was planning to go over to Wingate tomorrow to pick up some flagstone for my little walkway. That's really pretty; do you remember what kind of stone it is?

I built my brick patio. I spray painted the ground based on the shape I wanted. Dug the area, filled in with leveling sand and laid the bricks. Then, added more leveling sand. They call it a mortor-less patio. I get a few weeds but they pull up so easily. Once a year I add a bag of leveling sand (or play ground sand...whatever they have at HD...).

None of the bricks have moved and it came out quite nice. The digging is the hardest part.

Your path looks beautiful. You will be quite proud once it is done.

Yeah, I think I need to dig and also get some leveling sand. That is what I should do...what I actually do is another matter altogether.

I got the Florida Sunrise I think. It is the first stack on the left.

Oh, the borders are looking nice! I'll have to post more pictures

BTW that stack of stones isn't getting any smaller. I think the landscaper was going to use larger thicker stones that don't go as far. What would I do with 5 tons!?

laura - If you want to not have to look back three years from now and say, "I wish had." I would recommend you lay down ground cloth in between the mulch and the current pathway and then move the pathway closer to the house, on top of the ground cloth. The grass is useless there and will become a maintenance issue immediately. The stones are going to sink unless you have coral rock under that sod.

I know that at this point in the project, moving them has you shaking your head "no", but three years from now you'll wish you had. Also, if you do move them, make the new pathway less straight; throw a gentle curve to the left and then to the right into it.

It's hard to tell from the picture, but that doesn't look like "Florida Sunrise" or "Florida Sunshine". Can you take a close up?

And some ideas if you have any left over. Ring several of your large trees. Make the rings at least tall enough that you can sit on them. Create a piece of artwork, a sun perhaps, using the stones and a bag or two of river rock.

Fawnridge: Any specifics on that ground cloth or will any old ground cloth from HD or Lws do? Do you sweep the river rock or chatahoochee just in between the flagstones or do you leave some on the outside edges of the flagstone path too?

Laura1: Do you plan to make the bed next to the porch wider, meaning no grass between the path and the bed at a future date? I agree with Fawnridge that the grass there is going to be a nuisance.

By the way, I love the idea of the sunshine made of stones and river rock. May have to use that one myself.

mel - Porous, black mesh, ground cloth. Any kind will do as long as it doesn't hold water. I run the river rock to the outside as well, but I use the largest possible size for the exterior edges.

Ricky,

What would you suggest if someone wanted large flagstones widely spaced as stepping stones, less path-like, allowing lawn to grow in between the stones? Don't do it? Or cut out pieces of ground cloth slightly larger than the stone and lay that underneath? Anything else?

mel - the pathway from the sidewalk in front of my house to the garden is just 18" round chattahoochee stepping stones on the grass. Every couple of years, I have to lift one or two of them and put some soil underneath to raise them back up. The ground cloth really won't matter nor will putting a layer of stones underneath. Figure the weight of a 200 lb person on them and over time, down they go.

Ricky-I'm going to widen that area of schrubs and flowers so there won't be any grass there. I will get the ground cloth but it won't be right away. I might end up getting help from my handy man when I start that.

Here is what I've done with some of the thinner pieces:

These are the trellis that I got off the curb. On the left is a passion vine that you can sort of see. On the right is a coral honeysuckle.

Again I have that skinny area of "grass" which is really weeds that I'm going to have to deal with. And please remember I've only lived here less than 9 months and there wasn't anything here.

Laura, what a project! I have a stack of pavers left over from a neighbor's project but haven't started laying them out yet. Congrats on starting yours. You've made amazing progress.

Kate

All I can say is "WOW!" and "I'm jealous".

If I had the spare money sitting around, I'd surely be buying some stone.

Laura, you've made wonderful progress! The stone is just lovely. And those trellises - amazing what people throw away. The plants you put there will look fantastic by this time next year if not sooner. Keep up the good work!

~Betsy

You are doing a beautiful job. That's hard work!

It's beautiful! You did alot of work and it shows. Applause!
But how are you going to 'splain this to DH??? Fairies did it? (Wonderfully talented fairies who work hard and even did a border?) Flagstone? What pile of flagstone?

If he's like my DH you could say it came with the house.

Thanks everyone. I'm REALLY pleased with the way it is shaping up. I never imagined that it would look so good. My husband doesn't get mad when I spend money but I feel guilty, like I shouldn't. The only problem is in my head-hehe.

Hi Laura, I was wondering if you have done any more work with your flagstone. I stopped today at a stone yard to drool over all their pretty rocks and get some prices. I fell in love with a stone they call Pinola and another one called Crab Orchard. They were both 21 cents per lb, but the Pinola goes further because it is not as thick. I think it averages 1.5 to 2.5 inches. I would think that would be fine for a pathway, especially if I first laid a base layer of screening. If I get the okay from dh I think I'm going to order some.

Any pics of your recent progress?

Here is a link to the yard I went to. Pretty nice website with lots of great pictures, calculators, projects, etc.

~Betsy

Here is a link that might be useful: Clicky

I haven't done anything more. I scratched my cornea Monday and had a guest fly in on Tuesday. Our rose show is tomorrow and so I'll be busy with that this weekend. The stones will have to wait.

I hope you get your stone soon. I can not believe what it has done to improve the landscape!

Sorry to hear about your injury. Hope it's not too serious!

Have fun at your rose show!