Lawn Edging

[SpaghettiMeatballs]

The main flower beds in my garden are at one side of the lawn. They have been really badly cut by previous owners and run straight into the lawn. The grass is forever sprouting in them which is annoying.

I want to neaten the edges and somehow segregate the lawn from the beds.

We had block paving bricks at the last house to make a 'mowing strip' which was great but we paid someone to put it in and I'm keen to sort this out ourselves.

I've seen log roll type material that you bang into the ground but presumably that leads to a lot of extra work when mowing the lawn?

Can anyone recommend a way to edge the lawn that isn't too expensive or too difficult to install.

I'd be interested in responses too! I want to curve the bed along the length of the lawn. So far I've bought a pack of that green plastic lawn edge c.£4 with a view to buying more if it's the right product...

There is some absolutely beautiful edging that is metal, called Everedge. It has a kind of A-frame construction that sits in the lawn, and then a tough metal edge that goes down. The advantage is that this creates no problem at all with mowing, yet you get a lovely, crisp edge. It's not cheap, but it looks the business.

This looks similar, but it's plastic, and a lot cheaper!

www.primrose.co.uk/-p-751.html?adtype=pla&kwd=&showPLA=true&gclid=CjwKEAjwq6m3BRCP7IfMq6Oo9gESJACRc0bNwKulSJVVQxKygzb4QbWAxcbXu93byW1jamHVrDMOpBoC6Tnw_wcB

That looks perfect shovetheholly. Thank you. I wanted the convenience of a mowing strip but the real separation that something with a little bit of height offers.

I shall have a measure up later to see if I can run to the metal. I think the plastic looks like a good budget alternative though.

It doesn't look hard to install either.

That looks great, So clever! Do you think you could set it out so its resting on the soil if you wanted the bed to be slightly raised from the grass?

Hmmm, I don't know twinkle - I suspect you might make it difficult for yourself with regard to mowing because you can't take the mower anywhere near something that sticks up. So you would have to edge with shears, which is a PITA.

The way I've seen it used in most posh gardens is so that there's a steep edge to the lawn, almost the entire depth of the edging metal IYSWIM. Then a flatter bit of earth at the start of the bed, then a gradual ramping up of the earth to a deeper depth that is above the level of the lawn. A bit like how you 'trench' around the lawn edge if you are doing it with one of those semi-circular tools. That way, the edging is flush with the lawn so you can mow, you get a really neat visual edge, and then you get those lovely deep beds that are so good for dumping stuff on.

That all sounds like I'm terribly neat doesn't it? Only when I did brick edging in my garden, I managed to miscalculate this completely with the result that it gets far too high far too quickly at one point and the earth falls onto the path and makes a right mess, especially when the cat chooses that bit to do a poo . I now need to get all the plants out and redo it!! Argh!!

spaghetti - I just realised I was talking about another product earlier when I was telling you about the A-frames that bed into the lawn. It's called SmartEdge and it's at the link below. I like this for the idea of it actually melding with the lawn - I think it should make it less liable to move. However, that feature also makes it rubbish for edging anything that isn't a lawn or something similarly matter - and getting those right angles bedded in could be a mare on a slope.

www.greenfingers.com/product.asp?dept_id=200332&pf_id=LS4071D&utm_source=google&utm_medium=textAds&utm_campaign=BrandNames&gclid=CjwKEAjwq6m3BRCP7IfMq6Oo9gESJACRc0bN313ThMTQUgZNGqb58WvHfskVXapE7T63255CRJYEFhoCkWPw_wcB

Thank you so much. I am going to show DH tonight. He's an engineer and very handy so I'm not too worried about any difficult angles. He's good at things like that which is fortunate because I'm dreadful!

The brick edge looked great at the old house but it was put in by a landscaper and it was a new lawn and new flower beds so much easier to get it just right.

Thanks shove!

Ohhhh, you're so lucky to have a handy member of the household! Both DH and I get 10/10 for trying, but sadly our achievement score is often, ahem, a bit lower.

If you can stretch to the metal, it does look great. I first saw it at a really posh garden in Dorset, where they had deliberately used uncoloured stuff for effect and it really did look stunning. It must have cost a bomb, because there were hundreds of metres of the stuff. Mind you, I think they probably had a flock* of gardeners to install it!

*What is the collective noun for gardeners?

I have Everedge (small garden) and it's fantastic - www.everedge.co.uk - being metal it's tough and holds the line beautifully. To be honest, unless someone here has actually used that plastic one I'd be a bit concerned about its' ability to do the job.

You could also use strip timber, although that wouldn't last forever like Everedge does.

We had a measure up and have ordered the metal EverEdge. It is quite a bit more than the plastic but we both thought it was worth it.

Two sides of the lawn are edged by a block paved path so we are only doing two sides which helps with the cost.

It arrives this week so we might try and get it in over Easter depending on the weather. I'll let you know how we get on.....!

Thought I'd update this thread. Nearly finished installing the Everedge in between the rain over the past few weekends.

So happy with it! It looks ace. It's really easy to install too. It's the sort of thing that is right up DH's street but I think I'd have made a decent enough job of it on my own.

We have found it works just as well on curves so we've been cutting all the beds with curves.

Thank you so much for the suggestion.

Great news Spaghetti! Would you be able to upload a couple of pictures of the product in situ? I'd also be really curious to see the shape of your lawn

I've probably made it sound more exciting than it is haveyouseenherlately!! I should have taken a before photo of the lawn leaking into the bed and the awful wonky edge and then you'd see why I'm pleased!

Ignore the planting. Garden is my current project and it's slow going.

It looks great. DP is definitely going to like this.

Oh that's great, thank you!

Spaghetti and purple- do you just have the classic? It looks really good.

Yes guerre it's this one in brown:

www.greenfingers.com/product.asp?dept_id=200332&pf_id=LS7336D&ptm_source=google&ptm_medium=shopping&ptm_campaign=under10&gclid=CPG3mpKuiMwCFc0y0wodvewFfw

wallywobbles my DH would tell your DH to take no notice of the advice to use a workbench to bend the metal to shape as one's thigh and stomach will make much better curves!!

Yep, that stuff is the dog's proverbial. Looks triffic!

Thank you spaghetti! Hmm. How long do you think it took you to install ?( per five metres, say)
My lawn is not huge, but neither DH nor I are the most practical of people!

We've installed 30 metres this weekend. It rained all Saturday morning so we didn't start until after lunch. Spent all day Sunday on it. It's not that time consuming compared to some jobs.

I say 'we' but the DCs are 2 and 4 so I wasn't much help as I was mostly entertaining them.

We bent each 1m length into shape as we went along and then used that as a template to cut the lawn with an edging tool. We then used a piece of old chip board to put on top of the Everedge to make a flat, wide surface for whacking with a rubber mallet iyswim?

Just need to get more plants in now although the DCs and I have put some seeds in the greenhouse so hopefully that will help.

It looks really good.

Thank you, that's really helpful!