What do you edge with?

I know we've discussed this before but I'm ready to discuss it again! =o)

What do you use to edge your beds with? The wood I've used to edge my beds is pretty much compost now. The weeds just love it!

What DON'T I use? Rock, hard plastic (decorative "stone look" and plain black, etc.), metal edging, 12" stackable "retaining wall" stone, tumbled pavers, pressure-treated lumber, and that's just around the house! (Gee, that sounds like a hodgepodge, doesn't it???)

With Bermudagrass, finding an edging that is modest in cost and easy to maneuver AND will keep the grass at bay is definitely a never-ending quest!

lol, doesn't everyone use weeds? er, native um, volunteer, um grass????

I have a lot of rocks. I'm using bricks from an old chimney they took down at church around my veggie/herb garden. And out front, where everyone can see, I have all that lovely, um, greenery, yeah, that's it!

I use nothing mostly I edge and right now wish I did'nt I am considering some 16 inch side walk in a few places to reduce the maintenance. Ernie

This message was edited Jun 5, 2004 2:52 PM

I have found it easier to use "nothing" I just keep the grass around the beds trimmed. I've tried using other methods before, and they didn't seem to really offer any help at all. DH has a super sharp butcher knife we keep in the garage to help trim the beds/grass to a perfect look. People walking by get a real kick out of it when they see him doing it.

poppysue - although i have never done this before let me run this by you and see what you think. have you ever seen that black round platic tubing that looks as if it had ribs in it. it is usually used for drainage. well i though that i would get some and using a utility knife cut right through the top. i would then punch some holes in the bottom and fill it with planting material made for containers then plant flowers in it or even herbs like basil etc. this tubing is very flexible and you can bend it any way you want. i think this would make an excellent edging. i am thinking of using it in my garden next year to sperate rows. whatta think?

Sue, I've never edged with anything. I just dig a trench and run it around the beds. This way the grass can't travel in the beds. I like how neat it looks. It's also very easy to mow. My husband does run a weed eater over it once a week, although I don't think it needs to be done. Here is a picture of some of his handy work... Let me add, I dug the edges. LOL...

my mantis for the most part! have to always pull up the edging and till the grass every couple yrs anyway!

Round up sometimes! ;)

I don't use anything either, my DH will use roundup a couple of times through the summer. I have a little handtool that I use to cut off creeping grass. We don't have Bermuda grass and but we have quack grass like grass only finer and spreads just like quack with those underground rhizomes.

My shovel does a pretty good job as long as the shovel operator isn't lazy. It just needs to be done regularly. One of my beds hasn't been done since last summer and I can't tell where the edge was so it is going to be a bit more work when I do get to it. Rocks along the edge looked nice at first but then turned into an obstacle course with the quack grass growing up between and behind them so that even the weed eater couldn't get the job done. I have some railroad ties along another bed that do ok as long as the weedeater trims what the lawn mower misses. Any bed that doesn't get the shovel trimming treatment goes back to grass quickly, quack grass can travel a couple of feet a year.

I have used the butcher knife method too. LOL

Some areas have the black plastic edging that comes in a roll, some have large desert rock lugged home by me and all are infested with the runner grass [witch, devil, quack, rice, and just plain MEAN grass]

It is obviious I will have to dig out the desirable plants and roundup the front bed this year. I may yet win the south bed battle.

This message was edited Jun 7, 2004 10:14 AM

I was like datdog with the beds at ny old house. Trenching kept the grass and other "green stuff" in the lawn from getting into the rock borders of my beds.

Here, railroad tie retaining walls come right up to the concrete driveway and there's not a speck of lawn to mow.

Some of mine have no borders other than a 6-8" wide strip of mulch. Others I have been working on this year have a brick paving stone edging. Those are obviously more work to install and then there's all the weed trimming to do after mowing. I keep that to the front yard mostly. In the back I have the mulch borders. I do have a raised bed with pressure treated lumber too.