THE SCOOP ON MY FLOWER BED EDGES: Tootsie Tip #1

Okay. I have had so many people comment on my flower bed edges, and ask what I do to them....that I have decided to devote a day on my blog to them. I finished planting for the most part....and will be using the photos of this year's spring plant to illustrate my method for you. I do hope this will help. If not, please ask.

When I first dig a bed....it is most likely on the already existing grass. I use a sharp edging shovel to dig straight down into the grass far enough to make sure I am past the majority of the roots, all the way around the shape of the bed I am digging. I then remove the grass from inside my

shape.

After the grass is gone, I fluff up the soil inside my new bed. I would either use my roto-tiller or use a shovel to fluff the soil and break up any hard clumps and then remove any left over grass roots that may have been left behind. Even one root left over is cause for the grass to try to grow in your bed!

Once the soil is fluffy, I take my small hand shovel and dig a small trench all the way around the outer edge of my flower bed. This trench is usually about 6 or 7 inches deep. I push the soil up on a slight slope to keep it from falling back into my trench. This trench will help keep the grass from creeping back into your flowers. It also acts as a ready-made drainage ditch for heavy rainfall or a sprinkler left on too long.

When it comes time to mow the grass...I use my weed-whacker. I go all the way around each flower bed, trimming the grass on the top of the edge of my flower bed. After that has been finished, I will go back around the bed again, only this time I flip my weed-whacker upside down and do a vertical trimming of any grass that is hanging over the edge of my trench, or that has decided to sprout on the inside edges of it.

I just mowed this grass this morning. I did the edging and it is nice and clean. Some people may not like the trimmings in the flower beds, but I could care less...if the trench fills up a little with grass clippings, I just scoop them out and mow them up with the lawn mower. Once and a while you will have a weed or two sprout in the trench...or a blade or two of grass will pop up...simply pull them.

I have used the commercial edging that lays flat into the grass in the past, as well as those borders that you can pound in and are decorative. I did not find them as stress free or as easy to keep up as this method. I have been doing my beds like this for about 5 or 6 years now, and never had to do a lot to maintain them. Once each year at best. The best part of all ...it is absolutely FREE!

This method also worked wonderfully for having a rock edging in one of the beds at a house we lived in before we moved here...the large rocks fit nicely into the trenches and were not always filled with tall grass that the mower or trimmer could not get at.

Get dirty and love every minute of it!