Anybody know about Gardening?

[richtung]

Morning Chaps,

Bit of a random question about lawns really.

We have a panel fence that separates mine and next doors garden. My lawn goes right up against this fence. Im struggling to cut this grass with the mower and dont want to buy a strimmer as the fence is only 2 meters or so.

So, im thinking of creating a border between the fence and edge of the lawn. The areas along the fence line is always in the shade so the grass is thinner and always looks half dead anyway.

In my head, im thinking of removing a 1/2 meter of turf along the fence line
Laying down the weed suppressing fabric stuff
Laying a top layer of gravel or bark

Do i need to use any solid edging to separate the gravel/bark with the edge of the grass?

Thanks

Rich

[Tortaruga]

You should use an edging - the bark/gravel will migrate all over the place otherwise. You could use a lot of materials for edgings, but timber or precast concrete are the most common and are cheap.

The treated timber ones will degrade over 10 or 15 years, but you may prefer how they look.
Precast edging will last forever, although it should be haunched in a mortar bed, otherwise they'll settle and end up looking gash.

[rich83]

No you don't need to put any kind of edging in.... You can if you really want but it's not essential

We did something very similar in our front garden a few weeks back. Will post a photo once I've pulled my ass out of bed.

[ConeKiller]

I know nothing about gardening but if you use gravel next to the lawn wouldnt it go everywhere as the lawnmower hits it when you cut the edges?

[rich83]

I know nothing about gardening but if you use gravel next to the lawn wouldnt it go everywhere as the lawnmower hits it when you cut the edges?

Not if you make the gravel bed slightly lower than the lawn.

[Tortaruga]

But then the edge of the lawn will fall into the gravel bed over time.

[rich83]

I know what you mean. I'll get some pics of mine up in a bit.

[garrardrj]

Cut the edge of the lawn with an edging iron , cheap ones are ok about £10. Then get some edging shears again about £10 . Then when you remove the turf up to the fence make sure the turf is higher than the dirt by about 3 inches (transfer excess dirt elsewhere) , then when you put down the plastic and cover with bark/stone etc it will be lower than the turf. You could make the turf/dirt line eiother straight or a weavy line , straight is difficult to keep straight . When you cut the grass it will push the grass over the edge a bit , you can then cut this edge with the edging shears to keep it looking good .

[Tortaruga]

[richtung]

I know what you mean. I'll get some pics of mine up in a bit.

that would be great!

rich

[rich83]

Front... weve put loads of flowers in there now and covered it with bark chippings



or....



We thought the bamboo looked a bit more natual that the other options