Unless you have a garden that is narrow enough that you never have to walk in it, you are very likely wasting some of your best growing soil. Here in the midwest, topsoil only runs a few inches deep before turning into heavy clay. The remedy for this, that maximizes the use of your soil, is to lay out your garden space into wide rows that are about four feet across. Then, leave a space in between each row that is about two feet wide which will become a permanent path that is no longer planted. The idea here is that you would be able to reach into any portion of your wide row from one side or the other, while having adequate room to stand or kneel between each row while reaching in to garden. After you have divided your garden into wide growing rows and path spaces, you begin digging out all of your best soil from what will become your paths and place it into your growing spaces. This way, none of your prime, rich growing soil is wasted by being walked on and used as a path, and at the same time, the depth of the good soil where you will be growing is dramatically increased.
Now some gardeners will simply leave things like that and have raised beds (which are well known for their benefits), but I like to help hold the deep growing soil in place by filling in the paths with wood chip mulch. Now mind you, fresh wood chips can deplete the adjoining soil of nitrogen while breaking down, but there are several ways to counter that effect.
I like the chips because they help prevent my soil from washing away or spilling back down onto my paths . . . and eventually, they will be adding back organic matter to my soil as they complete their decomposition process. Another benefit to having the chips is that they allow water to drain quickly and easily when it’s wet and rainy, but when things dry out in the summer, they do a great job of helping to hold moisture in. You will probably need to add new chips from time to time, but what lies beneath the surface will just keep getting better. Many of the vegetables that you grow will send roots out that will be drawn to the soft moist composty material that is building up underneath your path. Weeding will be much easier with the wood chips, especially if you apply a “corn gluten” germination preventer, which in fact will add nitrogen to counter the depletion factor.
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