Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Edging the Perennial Bed

Yesterday I spent about two hours in the garden fixing up the edging of my garden. The perennial border near the maple tree is slightly raised. The soil has been washing out, so I wanted to put something in that would hold it back. I only needed a few inches at one end, but the other end needed a much higher edge.

I thought about what to use. I could have used the tree trunks from my backyard like I often do to line my vegetable garden, but frankly it doesn't look that good. It is a bit too rustic for the front yard.

So instead I used two different materials. The first was rocks. These have been pulled out of my soil over the years. In fact while putting in part of the edging I found another large one I could use.

The rock edgers in front of a spot where some iris was removed a couple of weeks ago

For the rest I used some pavers that were formerly a path in the vegetable garden. I don't need them there. I'll just put down some straw. I finished the rock part, but the paver part is still in progress. I thought two hours of digging was sufficient for today. I'll have plenty more nice days this week to work. No reason to be achy tomorrow.

The pavers were put sideways into the bed. They will keep the grass from invading the daylilies as well as keeping the soil in the bed. Sadly the rocks are not so useful, just pretty. The grass will be able to sends its rhizomes right underneath and into the bed. I'll just have to be vigilant.

11 comments:

  1. Great job, Daphne! And how wise to stop after two hours. Hopefully you're not too achy today! When we're digging, we keep our rocks as well. Never know what use you'll find for them!

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  2. That looks very nice Daphne. I edge my beds with rock too and I like how it functions. Enjoy-

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  3. Phew, that's a lot of rocks! Looks great!
    As we dig up and sift our garden soil here, we're finding a lot of rocks too, tiny and huge. We're keeping three piles: big, medium, and small. It's fun for my three-year-old, who gets to ponder where the in-between ones go!

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  4. I love rock edging and every perennial bed as well as 100 feet of hedge are edges with them. I bet the pavers are much better from a maintenance perspective though.

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  5. What a great use for pavers! I'm also doing some edging - with overturned wine bottles... It seemed like such a great idea but the digging is not easy so I definitely sympathize with you!

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  6. I use lots of rocks at my AZ place, but there is not a rock to be found here in my WA yard, nor within miles that I know of. I love the rock walls I've built up down south. If I had those rocks here, my veggie beds would all be built of them. My front yard looks terrible...been too busy on the back!

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  7. Our Friend Ben, no pain at all. I can handle two hours of work. When I get above that I get into trouble.

    Heather, when I look at my beds, I so love that I have rocks. When I dig them not so much.

    Katrien, wow you sift your soil? I've never even done that for carrots.

    Dan, yeah the pavers don't look as good, but they work so well that I use them.

    JGH, I've never seen an edging with overturned wine bottles. That could be really pretty when the sun shines through.

    Annie's Granny, no rocks in Washington? That seems really weird to me. Where does your soil come from if not from rocks?

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  8. I really like the look of rock edging. I save the rocks I dig out too.

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  9. Daphne, I live real near the Columbia River. We have sand and lots of small river rock, but not nice big landscaping rock. Except for $$$ at the nursery!

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  10. Catherine, thanks.

    Annie's Granny, that is too bad, but at least the digging is easier.

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  11. Hi Daphne,

    I'm a first time reader but an avid gardner. I'm from Alaska and the snow is almost gone, I have about a month before I can put anything in the ground - but I find our ground is just as full of rocks. They usually end up edging something. I'm passing along a blogger award trophy - stop by my site to "pick" it up and please feel free to pass it along.

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