46 Cheap Pathway Ideas For Small Gardens

Garden paths are beautiful accents in the whole yard landscape as they emphasize the different features and fixtures scattered in it.

There are various ways to make one in as much as there are numerous ideas that you could choose from in building one. And with the help of Austin Concrete Artisans, achieving the garden pathway of your dreams will be much more convenient and cost-effective. You may check out their works at https://www.austinconcreteartisans.com/. So today, if you want to upgrade your garden, we will show you some of the cheapest yet most beautiful garden paths to guide you in building one. 

What is the cheapest way to make a garden path?

The cheapest way to make a garden path is probably grass or mulch. Rock, the uneven shaped ones, is also a cheap way to make a garden path and also excess tiles from the house renovation could be used. 

How do I make a homemade garden path?

Well, it depends on the material that you will use. For rocks, slabs and tiles, you will have to cut them into smaller ones and bind them with cement for the path or just stick them real deep to attach to the soil. If it is grass or mulch, you will have to distribute them thickly for them to stand out and look like paths. 

Best material for walking path

There are a lot of answers here depending on your preference but we think that we could all concede that mulch, gravel and clay bricks would be the best materials for walking paths. Clay bricks are traditional materials that are still being used today and gravel lasts longer than all else while mulch is technically organic and you’ll just have to add some more every now and then.

Here are 46 easy & cheap DIY Garden Path Ideas that you can follow:

1. Gravel Path

2. Stone Edged Gravel Path

Click here to see the tutorial.

3. Stone Path

Source: diynetwork

4. Paver Path

Source: Diyvillage

5. Wooden Step Path

If you are eyeing for a little zen, cool vibe good for brisk walking meditation and along lush greens and bright blooms, wood garden paths are the perfect fit. And the best part? You can use excess wood pallets and turn them into walk paths like these from Gardenoholic, Lushome and Farm Food Family.

Source: styleblueprint

6. Wooden Boardwalk

Click here to see the DIY tutorial.

7. Paver and Pebble Garden Path

Visit The Home Depot to see the step by step tutorial.

8. Flagstone Path

In a way, we could say that flagstones are like cobblestones only the shapes are uneven. They look like big mosaic stepping stones sometimes because of the crazy cuts. If you are looking for flagstone garden path designs, you may check the following from Houzz, Sunset and DIY Home Things.

9. Mulch and Stone Path

Source: prettyhandygirl

10. Planted Path

See more of it here!

11. Pallet Walkway

Learn more about this lovely garden path idea here!

12. Stepping Stone Path

Stepping stone garden paths are made of differently shaped stones tucked deep in the soil. Criss-cross patterns are the most common designs for this idea and are arranged with mulch, crushed gravel or small pebbles for accent like these designs from Garden Lovers Club, Bob Vila and One Kin Design.

Learn more here.

13. Brick Pathway

Modern, Mediterranean or Spanish style houses are good matches for the classic brick garden path. It is good for both spacious and minimalist gardens adorned with lush palms and other big-leaf plants. Brick garden paths look very neat and classy like these ones from Houzz, Home Garden TV.

Visit here.

14. Concrete Walkway with Brick Edging

Concrete garden paths are the most common designs nowadays form modern homes. They could take the form of smoothed concrete slabs, stenciled concrete, tiles and molded concrete. The materials used for this are also one of the most accessible and the designs are more liberal than the others like these ones from Net Luxury, Hayley Stuart.

Visit the Family Handyman to learn more.

15. Wood Chips

Visit here to see the tutorials.

16. Stone Walkway

Visit Instructables to see the idea!

17. Pebble Mosaic Pathway

Of all garden path types, this is the most colorful, ingenious and hardest to come up with because it uses tiny to medium pebble stones in different shapes, patterns and colors. It is better seen than explained so better look at these designs from Fine Gardening, Creative Ideas and The Owner Builder.

Click here to see the how-to!

18. Wood Slice Walkway

See the tutorial here.

19. Granite Pathway

Visit Remove and Replace to see the idea.

20.Wood log pathway

Wood logs give a different feel. They are more rustic and into-the-woods type. It is good for spacious gardens that lead in the outback or manmade bayou in the backyard. You can have 1/8 of the logs sprouting or have them deeply stuck in the cement, gravel or soil like these from GenMice. 

Cobblestone garden path

Stepping stone designs usually use cobblestones so you will find that there are similarities in the patterns here. Nonetheless, cobblestone garden paths use larger stones and are placed with little distance between them like these ones from The Old Farmer’s Almanac, Europave and New Abell and Scapes.

Japanese garden path

Japanese garden paths are usually a mix of flagstones, cobblestones, concrete, crushed gravel, and wood. But mostly, it is about flagstone, concrete and stepping stones accenting lush greens and high trees like these ones from The Paintbox Garden, Steem It and Holi Coffee.

Grass walkway

These walkways may not entirely mean grass all over. It will still need some small stepping stones, wood accents and some pebble edges along the way just like these from The Garden Glove, Green and Vibrant,  and Medium.

Garden path with patterns

You better be thinking of Alice in Wonderland right now or maybe Kensington Palace or old English movies with high hedge gardens and all because this is certainly it. Hedge borders, clustered colored flowers and stone edges and pavements characterize these gardens and they essentially look like these from Trek Earth, and French Gardens. 

Garden path on a slope

Be it stairways like or simply a cascading stone pathway or gravel, beautiful paths can be made out of sloping gardens. Just look at these garden path designs from Sunset, Zac’s Garden and The Spruce.