Gravel and grass border ideas ?

[summit151]

Hello so I am just in the process of installing some grass on my acreage and I am wondering what would be the best thing to use a border ? I would like to be able to drive the lawn mower over it or have a entrance point some were as it does go onto the back lawn area. How well does that plastic lawn edger work ? n

 

[EddieWalker]

I installed the plastic edging on a house I used to have decades ago and didn't care for it. It worked like it supposed to, but I still used a weed eater to clean it up.

The best that I've found is pouring concrete in a small ditch with a piece of rebar in it. But it's also the most work.

I was at a friends house yesterday and they had treated 2x6's flat on the ground with long nails holding it in place on the dirt. I didn't think it would last, but they said it's been there for well over a decade, and in my opinion, I thought it was only in there about a year.

Currently at my house, we are laying thin cedar logs on the ground and using them as a divider between flower beds and the grass. I spray round up along the grass side of the logs so I can mow close to the logs and have it look nice, but not have to use the weed eater.

 

[summit151]

I installed the plastic edging on a house I used to have decades ago and didn't care for it. It worked like it supposed to, but I still used a weed eater to clean it up.

The best that I've found is pouring concrete in a small ditch with a piece of rebar in it. But it's also the most work.

I was at a friends house yesterday and they had treated 2x6's flat on the ground with long nails holding it in place on the dirt. I didn't think it would last, but they said it's been there for well over a decade, and in my opinion, I thought it was only in there about a year.

Currently at my house, we are laying thin cedar logs on the ground and using them as a divider between flower beds and the grass. I spray round up along the grass side of the logs so I can mow close to the logs and have it look nice, but not have to use the weed eater.

Thanks for the input. Do you have any pictures of the logs? I alive also thought about laying 6x6 wood but I didn’t know if it would last and be a pain to drive over and walk over.

 

[Industrial Toys]

That's been the bane of my existence here for decades. Snow removal of course is probably the number one issue. If it's too high it poses a hazard to navigation and too low, it won't do any good as a barrier.

Plus, a barrier is always the place the weeds will grow. An old GF of mine once thought it would be a great idea to ring everything with the billion stones lying around here. All she did was create a nightmare for weed whipping, grass cutting and snow removal.

 

[EddieWalker]

This shows it pretty good.

 

[ededic]

I always cut an edge with a shovel straight down on the lawn edge and angled up on the bed edge. Then feathered chips into the trench. The trench was 4-6” deep so the chips never got sucked up into the mower but dead grass and leaves do.

Have to redo every 2-3 years due to growth but it sure looks nice when done.

 

[woodlandfarms]

Think of grass as a good looking weed. It will grow everywhere for the most part, and drive you crazy controllng it. The only control i know of that effectively works is a trench, at least 6" deep, and one that is maintained as a trench. Otherwise you use labor to control your grass.

 

[Industrial Toys]

My issue is more on traveled areas. The grass naturally migrates onto the gravel and the gravel through traffic, snow blowing/plowing and torrential rain migrates onto the grass.

 

[newbury]

I've a path through a 5' wide gate to the backyard. It's a high density path, thus was always getting muddy as the grass got worn down. About a decade or to ago I took some 5/8 PT decking, nailed it to a few PT 2x6's to make a "pallet" the width of the gate and about 5' or 6' long. Laid it down and expected to replace it in a few years. Still there.
I left gaps between tho boards like on normal shipping pallets, about an inch wide. Grass grows up between the cracks, gets mowed down.
Works well.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I saw some plastic crate type material which is used by the military and in agricultural applications. It allows support without sinking into mud. I was going to use it where there is heavy traffic on grass areas and on inclined gravel roads to stop washout. I'm not sure the gravel won't get washed out of the square sections by eddie currents. Unfortunately, the product has disappeared from my local farming magazine.

But it still doesn't solve the grass/gravel delineation issue.