Edging.

I have metal edging in some of the areas (where I have the river rocks around the pool). Two new beds have brick pavers and the rest are just edged every so often with a shovel.

I use the black edging you can find at lowes and home depot. However don't buy the cheap stuff..buy the edging that says Professional quality on the side. It is a bit more expensive but much higher quality. The trick to making this look nice is buying 12inch metal stakes in the nail aisle of the hardware store. We put the stakes about every 18inches. The edging will never more or come up if you do this.

My brother used 6in X 6in concrete pavers. Brown and natural looking but concrete none the less. they look great.
He dug a 6inch wide trench all around his flower beds (about 3 inches deep) and set these pavers into it. Keeps the mulch and grass apart and looks really tidy. The top of the pavers are about 1 inch above ground level, just right for the mowing edge.

Thanks so much for the replies! :)

Most man-made edging just does not appeal to me. I have large rocks along the edge of one garden, but don't have enough to go around. I had dug a 3 inch trench around my cutting garden, but I guess that's just not wide or deep enough. I'll try quincy's idea, when I can get some large pavers.

landscapedesignchina- That is absolutely gorgeous! Don't know if i wqant to put that much work and money into something my big oaf of a dog is likely to plow under, but I sure do like the way it looks.

Keep in mind that any sort of brick or paving stone or just plain stone edge right against the grass will still end up having the grass grow through the gaps between the stones/bricks unless you also use a root barrier of some sort. It took me all summer last year to replace my trench edges with a brick edge. I used the aluminium Curve-rite edging product between the bricks and the grass and laid the brick on top of several inches of compacted limestone screenings. I should probably have used some levelling sand on top of the screenings too but it seems to have worked well and it wasn't too difficult to level things just with the screenings. It made a nice edge that is easy to mow around. I'm keeping an eye on it though to make sure no creeping grass flops across the bicks and has a chance to root itself! The biggest drawback is that if I ever want to change the shape of the beds, it won't be easy! But I hope that I never have to edge again - it was a chore that was becoming too much for me. A trench edge is the best and simplest edge to do if you are capable of it and do it right.

A crisply spaded edge filled with mulch looks neat, but has be redone at least annually or it will creep back into the bed. Did you fill your trench, or leave just the soil?

Hi saypoint. I topped the soil with mulch, and though it seems to slow the creeping of grass and a particular ornery weed, I think it's time for a longer-term solution.
Woodyoak, YES! That too I learned from experience. It looked SO NICE for a while...
So here's what I'm doing today (If I last long enough)
- pulling up all the sod and weeds & loosening soil
- placing black plastic edging (I almost got some brown earth-wise stuff, but it was $15 for 20 feet, compared to $5 for the heavy duty black stuff on clearance)
- trenching in front of the edging & filling with mulch

I might add bricks, pavers or rocks later.
Flat bits would help with neat mowing.

Thanks for all the input! :)

So tell me, WHY didn't I start this at 8 a.m. instead of noon?
It is so hot and icky outside.
But the butterflies floating around help keep me going. :)

"So tell me, WHY didn't I start this at 8 a.m. instead of noon?"

Heehee!

We've done fifty feet of the black edging on each of the past three weekends and have four more weekends to go! Lots of roots from trees no longer there to cut through, and I always end up ammending my lines when the husband is halfway through. But it looks so nice when finished- I do so love a crisp edge.

We do start at first light, though, and are usually winding up by 2-3 PM at the latest. After all, the best part of the day is sitting and admiring what you have done.

What do you mean by trenching in front of the edging?

I thought with such edging, it needs to be held in place by tight soil in front and back, not bounded by a trench with mulch.

Trenching is generally done absent a physical border- just the trench filled with mulch and no border material (plastic, metal, rocks) at all.

I have a new neighbour who is a new gardener and as the first thing he had to do upon moving in was to cut down a huge conifer that dominated both our properties, he has had to jump into designing his garden right away. He is putting in grass with a few small perimeter beds and it was interesting that he realized very quickly that each decision about where to put grass and where to put plants immediately generates the question of how to separate them. We have flat properties here with street parking, so there are few "natural" demarcations like walls, walks, driveways, and such.

All that to say that edging is really a major issue in planning and should be addressed up front in the design process.

I have to say I really like a clear edge too, but I don't like to see plastic. I use mostly rock, sometimes with a sunken bit of edging to keep the grass out of the rocks where it abuts the neighbour's grass. But mostly I am passing on grass beside rock at all ( did start a thread about this way back when...). As my yard is small, there isn't much room for lawn anyway and I'm just using the leftover chippings from the aforementioned tree to mulch the surface for now.

Woody, it sounds like you really have pushed off in new directions since you last showed your garden. Congratulations on getting some big decisions made, and obviously a lot of work done!

And kudos to those of you out working in the hot sun too. Cheers!

KarinL

My favorite gardening tool? My half moon spade! Too bad it has to be done every year, though - it can be back breaking work, but the results are so very nice.