Turn vegetable garden pathways into living, compost creating spaces

Don't let your garden pathways become dead zones. Turn them into living spaces that create compost, increase soil structure, increase soil fertility and most importantly extend your growing space to grow mushrooms.
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If you have a vegetable garden then you have pathways. These are important parts of a garden that give you the space you need to move, harvest, plant and feed the soil. However, paths are all too often seen as just that - pathways. They are seen as things to walk on that serve a functional purpose.
What if I told you that you could extend the soil network, fertility and structure outside your growing space or raised beds into your vegetable garden pathways? In a way that allows you to create immensely rich soil to feel trees and other plants, as well as to grow additional food in the form of mushrooms?
When you are looking for vegetable garden pathway ideas or just garden path ideas in general, then make sure you don't overlook the ability to use garden paths as spaces to increase your ability to grow amazing food and plants.
I am creating my vegetable garden pathways from horse manure which is known to be incredibly well-balanced and nutritious. It is also a very good substrate to grow mushrooms in the garden and is a fun way to learn how to grow your own mushrooms at home. Horse manure compost and pathways are really good at supporting mycelium growth. The high carbon content creates great soil structure with high nitrogen providing nutrients. The fruiting bodies of the mycelium are the mushrooms and once you have added enough horse manure layers in your garden paths the mycelium will spread far enough to be able to fruit and provide you with an endless supply of delicious home-growth mushrooms.
NOTE: Mushrooms can be, and are, deadly so make 100% sure you know what mushrooms you have in the garden and if you are growing your own then make sure you know how to identify them once they sprout.
Video timeline
00:00 - Introduction
01:16 - Garden pathways as extended soil spaces
04:12 - Why using garden pathways is so important
06:55 - A CAUTION on mushrooms in your garden
08:17 - Grow your own edible mushrooms in your pathways
10:38 - Using vegetable garden pathways in smart ways
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#pathways #vegetablegarden #compost

[@tracybailey680]

Great logic. I was also so excited to see my first mushrooms. Napier, Overberg

[@MySustainabilityJourney]

Yay, that's amazing to hear! This is a sure sign that you are doing something right. Well done and thank you for your wonderful comment 💚🌻

[@tracybailey680]

@MySustainabilityJourney And thank you for your interesting and inspiring videos! I have a small plot and am going the rewilding/pollinator garden route. Very focused on soil health, which was neglected by the previous owner for many years. So, I actually do very little except watch in wander how the ecosystem balances itself out, with lady bugs, birds and slugeaters doing their thing, allowing me to recognize that aphids and snails have a role to play too. To the extent that there are vegetables growing, these have sprung up from homemade compost 😀

[@pampotgieter7611]

Thank you Craig. You are STAR ! That was awesome sharing with the pathways. I saw a video by the Welshman Huw Richards. How important put layers of grass cuttings, dry leaves and what ever is available to you, onto the pathways. I very fortunate, we live near a park, with many Maple 🍁 trees. My husband and our grandson built a compost container last winter for the autumn leaves. Made from pine pallets given to us. I love to share your videos with my sister, neighbour and other garden friends. I dont know if you heard of Nate Mure "Garden like a Viking" Another awesome chap, he also like you, makes short and sweet, to the point videos. Packed with experience and knowledge. Love your videos Craig. I have learnt so much from you. 💚❤️💚❤️💚❤️💚❤💚 Especially because its applies to the South African climate.

[@MySustainabilityJourney]

Aaaaahhhh, thank you Pam 🤗 What a beautiful and inspiring comment. It is feedback like this that really makes all the effort worth it and I am over the moon to hear you are finding value in the content I am sharing. Thank you so much 💚 I actually follow both of them and really love their content! I saw a video from Huw where he used his pathways to create compost, but I don't like that at all. I tried it and to be honest it turned out to be slimy and started bringing in rodent by adding food scraps and other compostable materials. I 100% agree with leaves, grass clippings, etc. which will do very much the same thing as horse manure and with enough layers you could also grow mushrooms in that if you wanted to. I also love Nate - he is such a character and his content is really valuable. I find we do very similar things by sharing what actually works for us and showing how it works and it is great to see how you are learning from so many different people giving you different perspectives 🌻

[@yvonnejackson1696]

I like your videos. You always cover your topics in such an interesting and informative way.

[@MySustainabilityJourney]

Aaahhh, thank you so much, what a kind comment and I am so glad you hear that you are finding value in the content I am sharing 💚

[@nadoubidou]

Hi Craig, have you been able to inoculate your soil with mushrooms? How did it go and have you eaten any yet? Also where do you find these?

[@MySustainabilityJourney]

Great questions and thank you for asking! I have managed to get all the spawn into the places I wanted and added some thick layers of horse stable bedding, which is mostly wood shavings and straw, which is perfect for mushrooms. I have checked and the mycelium has spread really nicely and I have had one flush of oyster mushrooms but I'm only expecting mushrooms from the spawn I added this year in a year or two 🌻

[@nadoubidou]

@@MySustainabilityJourney thank you for your response. I didn't know it would take so long. Glad you could already enjoy the oyster mushrooms, these are tasty! When you buy mushroom kits it goes super quickly. Where did you get these inoculates to put in the garden? I'd like to try as i also have been looking after my paths with wood chips and saw dust (my husband cuts our invasive gum trees into planks for building) and the soil went from a light orange clay to a dark brown and i had mushrooms growing there.

[@MySustainabilityJourney]

Oh nice! Isn't it just the best feeling seeing all your efforts pay off and the transition from poor, lifeless soil into rich, thriving soil?! For the oyster and kind oyster I actually just used those mushroom logs that you buy online or at the shops. Once I got my flushes from that I broke up the mixture on the inside and then spread it all over and covered with a thick later of horse stable bedding. That is really all you need to get those colonies multiplying. I then got some syringes from Sporespot for the wine cap and lion's mane with a small inoculation tub from them and once that is fully white and teeming with mycelium I sprinkle that into the garden the same way as above 🌻