Thanks. I use the usual method of cutting the edge with a half moon trenching tool but due to water drainage and ground covers the beds keep getting larger and if I don't confine them I will never stop their growth. I'll be all beds if things keep up. :)

Hi Lynn,

Do you think there is danger that you might hit the edging with your lawn mower blade? If that were an issue, plastic would avoid creating sparks from the blade. You didn't mention wood. You might want to consider that. It rots, but not rapidly. You might find something that you could use in the scrap bin at your lumberyard, or home store.

ZM

I think plastic is probably not a good solution for that reason alone.

Hi Lynn,

You want sparks from your edging ???

ZM

After taking a much closer look and making a more informed evaluation of the bed growth situation, I think my problem has more to do with the people who mow my lawn. They are weed whacking around the bed edges so close to the ground that they are killing the grass. After several times of whacking the grass around the beds, the grass is gone and either weeds or perennials/ground covers fill the void. Either way the beds continue to expand.

They should be doing the edges with edging shears or an electric edger, not a weed whacker. Done properly the edge shouldn't creep out.

If you edge with stone the slabs should be set very slightly below grade so the mower blades don't touch it. It's called a mowing strip for that reason. It's not a cheap option.

Yes, now that I understand the situation and my husband and I have had a little talk, we need to do something, be it change lawn services or put in permanent edging. Thanks for your time about stone being below grade.

I use a buried plastic edging and a line of bricks or patio block just inside the edging that the mower wheels can run on so we don't have to edge. While I love the look of the cut edging, DH mows the lawn and he vetoed it since he finds the mower wheels tend to drop down into the cut. If I filled it with mulch like mayflowers, my grass would be into the garden quite quickly, so it may depend on your soil and grass.

Here is a new garden I was in the process of creating when I took the photo. You can see the edging and the patio block. By now (and by a few weeks after the photo was taken) the buried plastic edging is hidden by the grass and the patio block isn't particularly visible since plants tend to spill over onto it. I find that unless I am right next to the garden, the edging isn't visible; it usually takes a bit of searching for me to find a photo where the edging actually shows.

Thanks for the photo. The visual really helps.

You mentioned you'd prefer not to use stone, and that's certainly understandable -- installation takes quite a bit of work, and it's not necessarily a good look for all applications.

I'll comment that I've tried bender board, fiberglass strips, and the sod cutter routine, and gave up on all of 'em in favor of pavers. It's the only solution I found that did the job at containing the lawn, didn't get weak or rot over time, and stands up to being repeatedly driven over by my riding mower:

The paver edge is just slightly above grade, just enough so I can hang the edge of the mower deck over it, and catch even the most enthusiastic blades of grass trying to stretch over the 8" wide pavers :)

http://havingfunalongtheway.com/building-a-mow-strip-for-your-lawn-part-1/

Thanks so much for the info and link.

I like using various forms of bricks too because when I decide, as I do often, that the bed should expand, or change shape, it's so easy to do that. Sometimes in much larger increments by digging or smothering, but constantly where there is still mowed space to claim, as soon as everything under the current row where the bricks are is dead, I move the bricks back 1 brick width. Eventually the plan is to have nothing but cultivated beds & paths, and be free of the forced servitude of mowing.