Nick Bailey explains how to sharpen up your border edges
It’s a simple way to get a really neat look around your borders
Smart edges can really make a garden. Even if the borders are a touch wild and woolly, a sharp finish to the boundary between border and turf or wall and turf give it a pristine look. Edges can, of course, be as simple as clipped grass, regularly trimmed with edging shears. But there are several products and ideas that can smarten the look and save you time.
The most popular of the edging systems are usually steel or aluminium strips which lock together. They have inbuilt or ‘slot in’ spikes that secure them in the soil. Try www. everedge.co.uk or www.rite-edge.com. The advantage of these products is that they’re fast and easy to install. If you get them at the perfect height (just below turf level) you can run the mower just over the top and cut some of the edge in the process. The real advantage of these products is that they give a fixed edge that’s easy to strim at speed and prevent inevitable ‘border-creep’.
Wooden edging can be installed in the same way, using 2x8cm (¾x3in) timber lengths. They’re not as flexible as metal strips so only really suit geometric or straight line gardens. Tanalised timber will last longer than untreated wood.
Brick mow-over strips not only define bed edges, you can runun the mower over them,hem, reducing the need to edge by hand. Layay bricks at soil level, just below the turf line,ne, so the mower glides across them with ease.ase. Laying bricks end to end is the fastest method and gives you a mow-over edge someome 10cm (4in) wide. For a chunkier look, layay them side by side, fanning them as requiredequired to follow curves. Don’t try to level them hem to perfection, just follow the lie of the land.and. Tap them down into a mortar (1 part cementement to 5 parts builders’ sand) bed some 7cm (2¾in) deep. Either butt together, or leave 1.5cm (½in) gaps which can be pointed (filled with mortar). Make sure the mortar mix for the pointing is all the same colour by doing batch mixes. This simply means using a tub or a bucket to get exact amounts of sand and mortar every time.
Brick mow-over strips work against wall and fences, too, so you can mow right up to the structure and avoid having to return with a strimmer to cut stray grass and weeds.