Edging Idea...Will it work?

My husband came up with a neat edging idea, that I really haven't seen before.

I want to know if it will work though. We have two flowerbeds in our front yard that are adjacent to the grass. To keep the grass out of the flowerbeds, hes talking about making a trench along the edge of the flowerbeds (maybe 2-3in deep and 2-3 inches wide) and putting gravel in it. One to help drainage, and two to keep the grass out of the flowerbeds. The more I think about it, the more I like the idea because I haven't seen it done before. Gravel will keep the mulch and the grass apart. Plus it will be pretty inexpensive to do rather than put that plastic edging around, plus I think it will give a neat look.

Any opinions on this? Maybe someone else has tried this before, and can let me know if it will work or not.

You know- that might work.... We had a low spot at our back gate that led to the driveway and it puddled up (about an inch deep) in even the most piddly rain. DH dug out about 2 to 3 inches deep and filled it with gravel --come to think of it I never had a weed problem in that area so it must be an effective barrier.

As long as you don't have kids that will pick it up and throw it around. DH would curse a blue streak when it came to mowing the lawn because some of the gravel would find it's way out (kids and us walking on it) into the yard. There sould be a broken lawnmower or flying rocks......

Great Idea!!!!! I want pics!

Heather

Okay, I really really like this idea! I just talked it over with SO1 (my love) and he said go for it! He was especially sold on the idea after I said I wanted to use some of the smaller sized river-rock that we have piled up in the corner after pulling it out of our veggie garden. Makes a more 'natural' look and it's free. :)

Please give an extra special hug to your DH for me, Magwar!
Donna

=) Will do Donna and Heather. I was surprised when he came up with the idea but the more I thought about it, the more I liked it. He said he is going to get the gravel this weekend, so I will post pictures of before and after for you guys =)

I have a bed that is in the middle of my front lawn. I used the gravel, and it effectively keeps the grass out and the bed intact. Just be sure that you aren't stingy with the gravel. Make this edging at least 3-4 inches wide. Of course you can do wider if you want to. I put down crushed brick, then a white pearl stone for some contrast. Looks good.

Ooo. You wouldn't happen to have a picture would you? =)

In one of my classes, they showed us to make a v shape in front of the bed, about 4 inches down and then put sand then your soil. It works well for me and if you change your mind later will be easier to handle than gravel, plus not as dangerous in case of an accident with mowing. Mikey

gotta picture yet?

Not yet, still working on underbrush. = too many projects so little time...

Oh man - I know what you mean! I've been edging my beds for weeks, have only started getting the vegatable
garden in and have a huge shrub border just barely started (but I've already bought some of the
shrubs so I'm commited now!)

I'd love to hear how this idea works. I'm hoping its a big hit so I can copy it :-)

My neighbor has a trench around all her beds. She has a nursery at her house and it's huge. So she doesn't have time to do a lot of weeding and edging. So she has trenches, about 4 to 6 inches wide, all the way around all of her beds. She doesn't fill the trenches with anything. We're in hot, dry Arkansas, so if the trenches hold water, that's great. They can release it back to the beds as needed. They wouldn't hold water for more than a day for us.

Also, since she doesn't add gravel, she can easily enlarge the beds as needed without having to deal with all the gravel.

Now as for myself, I don't have "beds" anymore. They were like freckles in my yard, but I've connected all the dots now. So I have gardens that take up my whole yard. NO GRASS! I don't even own a mower anymore. Now THAT's the ultimate solution to edging, you must admit. LOL

NancyAnn

This message was edited May 13, 2005 9:53 AM

oooo... gotta picture? I have just too much grass to dig out to go w/o
mowing. 10acres. We're on a ridge of a "mountain" so its pretty
steeply sloped and since its set up as a horse farm, I hate to let the
fields revert to trees & multiflora roses. It'd be really hard to clear the
fields once the trees took hold. So I mow them (though not very
often - 2-3 times per year). My mom suggests getting sheep. (she's
a nut with spinning & weaving, knitting and everything fiber).

I edge once a year and try to leave an empty trench but somehow that
grass just keeps on bridging it. I also edge the beds with some of the
MANY rocks I dig up when I make the beds. I put the trench/edge outside
the rocks.

I am working on digging out more and more grass every year though :-)
Eventually maybe I'll get to your state and have no more dots to connect.

NancyAnn: Do you know how deep the trenches are your neighbor has around her beds? I am glad to hear this works because I have a backyard that I hate mowing and doesn't have enough garden space. This year I dug a sort of kidney bean shape right in the middle to start a new bed. I'm on a tight budget and know that I'll be expanding it every year so digging a trench with no filler will really help. The neighbors think I'm nuts with my new half-dug random shape in the middle of my yard but I think they are secretly glad I will be putting in plants. They know I will take care of those, unlike doing nothing to my mass of dandelions and some kind of creeping weed that now encompasses half the area jokingly referred to as a lawn. Thanks.

You are so right in your trench. It is not a good idea to add gravel for a multitude of reasons. It is really easy to spray for grass and weeds in a trench. I was told by a "professional" to add sand but I have to say that I don't add very much because I just hate to add anything that is not great for the soil. Mikey

I am digging "moats" around all of my various flower beds. We have really bad quack grass and this is where I start. The dirt from the moat gets tossed up into the bed, making slightly raised beds. (As I dig out all of the quack grass roots and pile them on a tarp where they will dry and die and not re-burrow into the ground...The idea is to keep the soil easy to cultivate with a hoe or similar tool whenever something starts creeping, creeping...By the way, quack grass will dig way down under if it has to. Actually, this is an easy way to enlarge your beds. Every spring you can dig a new edge slightly further out...This way it is my garden that is creeping...creeping....