Lawn Edging

[Martinr]

Well, I use the word Lawn loosely, green mixed foliage would be a polite description....anyway I digress.

I'm creating a fairly large shaped mound of a bed in the middle of what passes for grass, including some of the more aggressively running stoloniferous grasses and buttercups. I want to create a buried edge round the bed to minimise the problems from the surrounding grasses and buttercups. The problem is what to create the edge from. It needs to either be in fairly short lengths or bendable to accomodate the curved edge of the bed. I've found some metal edging which would do the job but the price is a bit steep considering the length involved.

Anyone got any good suggestions ,or for that matter comments on what to avoid.

Ta, I know you won't let me down

[Giles]

Martin,
There's a plastic version called 'Smart Edge' which you can get direct from the manufacturer, or from GardenDirect.
http://www.lawnedge.com/

[ranunculus]

Hi Martin,
4 1/2" Damp Proof Course comes in 10 metre rolls and can be pegged in place with treated wooden pegs (it also comes in 9" rolls for deeper edges) - not particularly rigid but very tough.

[Martinr]

Thanks guys. Cliff, I agree damp proof course is a good, and cheap, barrier but I need somethind a little stiffer to ensure a firm edge.

Giles, have you used the Smart Edge? I worry it may not be quite sturdy enough.

[ranunculus]

Thanks guys. Cliff, I agree damp proof course is a good, and cheap, barrier but I need somethind a little stiffer to ensure a firm edge.

Giles, have you used the Smart Edge? I worry it may not be quite sturdy enough.

Another possibility might be a cheap brown pvc cladding strip (usually in 20' lengths and up to 6 inches deep), quite pliable and a permanent but more expensive solution? Available from somewhere like Wickes or your local double glazing wholesaler.

[Martinr]

Thanks Cliff, it's beginning to feel like an hour meandering round our local B&Q Superstore and, while I hate sheds, this one has a very nice coffee shop.

[Martinr]

Update. In the end I went for the plastic edging suggested by Giles. I would have preferred the metal ones but they would have been difficult to lay in undulating ground with tree roots. The plastic can be cut without rusting!

Laying it isn't easy but not quite as difficult as I thought. Pictures of the start of installation attached. I've still to do the hard parts of transitioning to uphill and cutting it round large tree roots.

[ranunculus]

Looks eminently suitable Martin ... very impressive. How long before you join a garden open scheme?

[Martinr]

Cliff, we used to open for the village open gardens day but the garden's got a bit out of control the last two years. Too much work, too many shows, too many years on the clock, too many other hobbies and , crucially, less holidays than I used to have....not a topic you want to get me started on

Maybe when I win the lottery I'll have time to get it under control again....well as near under control as this plot will ever be

[David Nicholson]

You run out of aluminium to erect Martin!!

[Martinr]

You run out of aluminium to erect Martin!!

Yep Mind you greenhouse no 1 has been emptied and is now ready for a deep clean!

[Maren]

Update. In the end I went for the plastic edging suggested by Giles. I would have preferred the metal ones but they would have been difficult to lay in undulating ground with tree roots. The plastic can be cut without rusting!

Hi Martin, what is it called? it's just the sort of thing I have been looking for.

[Neil]

Maren it this stuff

http://www.lawnedge.com/en-gb/index.php

[Martinr]

It is indeed that stuff, called smartedge, Maren, but shop around on the internet. The manufacturer was not the cheapest when I ordered. I got mine from Keepos.co.uk. The hardest part (apart from digging the trench that is!) is pushing in the plastic nails which hold the a-frames down into the grass. If they hit something hard they will bend so don't hammer them in. It's much better to push them in and hold the a-frame up until all the ridges on the pin are through the hole or the pin jams in the hole and you think you've hit a stone. This is much easier if the ground is fairly soft which, with my heavy clay, means when it's wet.

[Maren]

Thank you, Martin and Neil, that's just the information I needed. I am in the Chilterns where we have 30% stones and 70% soil, or is it the other way round? So I am used to pushing things into stony ground. I do that quite often, using black ground cover for paths and between rows on my allotment. I find it works best when the ground spikes are very sharp and pointed, which I achieve with a housebreaking tool (chain cutter). I shall go forth and investigate sources for the edge. Thanks again.