Mats to Go Between Raised Beds

[thankful_k]

Anybody use anything between their raised beds? I'm looking for something that will suppress weeds, and that does not have any toxic chemicals in it, and that will allow a heavily loaded cart to move along (ruling out most gravel).

My choices that I've come up with so far are:

1) cheap concrete pavers packed right up against one another, over landscape fabric. (expensive,bumpy, uneven, hard on knees)
2) long rubber mats the stores use to prevent slip & fall (but chemicals)
3) Do nothing and weedeat, carry thick cardboard to sit/kneel on (but then weedeater debris gets flung into beds, creating more weed problems)
4) cheap plywood (expensive, not very permanent)

 

[Pearl]

Anybody use anything between their raised beds? I'm looking for something that will suppress weeds, and that does not have any toxic chemicals in it, and that will allow a heavily loaded cart to move along (ruling out most gravel).

My choices that I've come up with so far are:

1) cheap concrete pavers packed right up against one another, over landscape fabric. (expensive,bumpy, uneven, hard on knees)
2) long rubber mats the stores use to prevent slip & fall (but chemicals)
3) Do nothing and weedeat, carry thick cardboard to sit/kneel on (but then weedeater debris gets flung into beds, creating more weed problems)
4) cheap plywood (expensive, not very permanent)

Your first choice sounds about the best. Or quickcrete, easy to mix!

 

[zoomzoom]

How big of an area do you need to cover?
A couple options that came to my mind (but all are synthetic materials).
Horse stall mats
Kids/yoga foam interlocking mats
Driveway fabric (then have a foam pad for your knees).

 

[backlash]

I know a guy that has a tree cutting company and he is always glad to give away the wood chips.
You could put down cardboard and top it with wood chips. Rolling a cart over this might be a problem
Better yet use a weed blocking fabric under the chips.
I have had this down for 2 years and I have no weeds growing and it is still in great condition.
3'X300' cost $88 4'X300' is $98
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B004SI9RY0/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Another idea is to contact a place that rents rubber mats to businesses and see what they do with the old worn out mats.
You might be able to get some cheap or even free.
25 years ago I took a load of trash to the transfer station and there was a guy with in Aramark truck tossing brand new unused rubber floor mats away.
He gave me a pickup load of them.
I weighed almost as much when I left the transfer station as when I went it.
I still have some and I use a couple to cover the floor in my hoop house.

 

[rice paddy daddy]

I second zoomzoom - horse stall mats.
They are thick, heavy duty, and the edges interlock.
Do you live where there are feed and farm supply stores?

 

[Cascadian]

We use wood chips with no real issues with wagons and such. They do have small pneumatic tires tho. The wood chips keep the weeds down pretty well also.

 

[Patchouli]

Using rubber, I don’t think I would do that since it doesn’t breathe, could cause water pooling for mosquitoes, and personally I hate the smell of rubber.
Wood chips, newspapers, paper grocery bags, cardboard…Except for the expense of hay, wouldn’t that be good to use too? Grass clippings. The landscape fabric was used in one of my properties before I bought it. Still had to pull grass out of the flower beds and eventually pulled the stuff up. YMMV

 

[lilmissy]

I am having this dilemma also. I am thinking of putting pavers down. We have some so thats another reason why to use them.

 

[rice paddy daddy]

Luckily our ground is hard sand with good drainage.
Our raised beds have been built up using horse manure mixed with the hay the horses drop, it is excellent growing material.

 

[Pearl]

Just concrete it!!

 

[UrbanHunter]

Anybody use anything between their raised beds? I'm looking for something that will suppress weeds, and that does not have any toxic chemicals in it, and that will allow a heavily loaded cart to move along (ruling out most gravel).

My choices that I've come up with so far are:

1) cheap concrete pavers packed right up against one another, over landscape fabric. (expensive,bumpy, uneven, hard on knees)
2) long rubber mats the stores use to prevent slip & fall (but chemicals)
3) Do nothing and weedeat, carry thick cardboard to sit/kneel on (but then weedeater debris gets flung into beds, creating more weed problems)
4) cheap plywood (expensive, not very permanent)

I went with the pavers, but even they get dirt in the cracks and will grow weeds. I wear knee pads if I am going to be spending a lot of time down there....

 

[Bacpacker]

I just built a bunch more beds this year and put down a bunch of cardboard. Weeds just grew thru and around it. So I got the bright idea to till the entire space between the beds and sow it heavily with clover. I'll just now it with a lawn mower and take the clippings and use for mulch in the beds.
I watched a utube vid a while back and the guy was talking about the nutrients leaching out of the beds into the walkways and if you used the cuttings and put it back in the beds it would help keep the nutrition in place. Clover adds a good deal of nitrogen, so it should work out ok. I'll know by this time next year

 

[joel]

Hardwood wood chips is best & they will support wine cap mushrooms.
The mushroom will compost the clips & you can coo the flush two or three times a year.