Last month I wrote about preparing your lawn for a new garden. In that article I discussed some of the strategies I’ve tried (and a few I haven’t) for removing the sod. This month I’m going to look at a few techniques for making your garden edges look more formal so that your lawn doesn’t look like it’s simply being neglected. This is partly because on social media there have been a number of postings recently about “tidy” gardens (and the issues that arise when neighbours think your garden isn’t tidy enough). I have used most of these techniques or have friends who have used them. Hopefully this month’s article will give you some useful ideas to try.
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In the Beginning
In my early gardening days with native plants, I had a couple of relatively small flower beds. Using plastic garden edging was both affordable and easy. The nice thing about the plastic edging is that it provides a nice, clean edge with virtually no maintenance after it’s installed.
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But all plastic edging is not created equal. The small (usually 3-4”) lightweight stuff is, in my opinion, a waste of money as it will work out of the soil with frost heave in only a couple of years. Go for the heavy duty stuff – 5” or more – and you should be good for years to come.
But even the heavy stuff has issues. I find that on sharp curves the plastic will work up out of the soil. And it doesn’t take much to catch it with the lawnmower and then you have a shredded piece of edging. It also doesn’t work that well if you have any kind of topographic variation to your lawn. It may snake around curves nicely, but it definitely doesn’t handle the up and down curves of the ground.
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Dig a Trench
Almost all my flowerbeds over the last 10 years have had no hard edging at all. Instead, I dig a V-shaped trench (about 3-4” deep) around the perimeter of the garden. In my sandy loam soil, this is a pretty easy trench to dig.
One of the big advantages of this is that as your garden expands (as mine invariably do), I simply dig the perimeter trench a little further out. Another advantage is that topography makes little difference – your trench simply follows the lay of the land.
Unlike plastic edging, however, the v-trench requires annual maintenance (at best). Grass grows in, seeds fall into the trench and sprout, soil gets trampled, and before you know it there is little evidence of a clean edge. To me, though, the little time it takes to re-dig the trench is worth it for the flexibility it offers.
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Another drawback to the v-trench edge is that you can’t really get the lawnmower close enough to trim the grass – unless there is room in the bed itself to run the lawnmower wheels (usually ok for the first year or two, but eventually my flowers push right to the edge of the garden). As a consequence, I have to take the grass trimmer to all my beds that are trenched. This is just one more chore to add to the gardening tasks.
Fill in the Trench
A technique I was introduced to this year definitely warrants some further investigation by me as it seems to provide the best of both methods.
A good friend digs a U shaped trench about 4-6” wide and just as deep along the edge of her gardens then proceeds to fill the trench with limestone screenings. She then packs the screenings in with a tamper.
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Not only does this make a clean edge to the flower bed, but it also provides a smooth surface to run the lawnmower wheel along. Weeds like Creeping Charlie will grow over it, but very few roots will actually penetrate the stone screenings – which is great for things like twitch (quack) grass. If you want to keep plants IN the bed, too, you can always dig the trench a little deeper and even your goldenrods won’t escape.
Another advantage is that, like the v-trench, topography of your lawn won’t matter.
The only drawbacks that I’ve noticed so far is that some weed seeds will grow (mostly lawn grasses) in the stone dust, but these do pull out easily if tackled early. Another challenge is that the edge is semi-permanent – it will be a bit of a job if you need to move the border, though a sharp shovel after a good rain would do the job easily enough.
Make it Permanent
A couple of other options would be to make the edging out of poured cement instead of stone screenings. NOTHING will grow through it and there will be no maintenance for many years. Of course, don’t expect to move the border any time soon.
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Rather than pouring concrete, you could also dig your trench and lay in concrete blocks or bricks. These can make a clean edge while being a lot easier to move if needed.
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The friend who uses the limestone screenings plans to try using “universal curb” blocks for the straight-line edge of a couple of her beds this fall. These concrete blocks are 3” wide X 8” deep X 39” long and apparently weigh just over 85 lbs each. And they aren’t cheap. We’ll see if they work as expected.
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Make it for Show
Of course, your garden edging can be mostly for show. In other words, you can install some low cost, low profile fencing along the edge to make your garden “deliberate”, even if the bed is a tad messy. I’m a huge proponent of the lazy gardening method and prefer not to clean up stalks and leaves till late spring when most of the insects are out of their winter homes. For that reason, anything that helps to give the appearance that the garden mess is purposeful (and not just neglect) is worth a try.
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Fences come in all sizes, colours and configurations and there’s probably one for every budget. But if this is for a front yard, make sure that your fence doesn’t obstruct sightlines or violate any municipal bylaws.
Happy native plant gardening.