Check with fencing contractors; they often throw away short sections of cedar or redwood boards

Also check with a local siding company - they would probably be glad to get rid of some of the old siding they are replacing!!

If you can spare the space, you can try digging a small "trench" around your garden. It doesn't have to be very deep or wide, but the idea is to keep the roots of the surrounding grass and weeds at bay. Grass roots, especially, don't usually go very deep, so I've found that it works pretty well for a season. I usually re-edge my perennial gardens every spring, but I don't mind, because it gives me an excuse to enlarge them, and I use the sod that I remove to build up low areas in my yard.

I converted to trenching this year. Before, I used concrete edging, but I had a more pressing use for it elsewhere. On the bed side of the trench I laid scrap wood for the mower wheels, lightly covered with mulch. Seems to work. an added benefit is to transport rain water from the gutters.

Melissa...I thoroughly enjoyed visiting your webpage and seeing all of your beautiful photographs! You are truly talented, as well as your daughter...
keep up the inspiration and thanks for telling such beautiful tales :)
Trish

Oh dear Mary, I thought mine was bad! I'm working with around 4-5 acres here and letting the rest go to pot so to speak. lol It has pines and all kinds of weeds and such in it. The grass is mega high as well! I don't like it like that but I don't have a tractor :( so I can't bush hog it. DH asked his brother to do it for him a few years back and he said when he got time he would and he's never got time I don't guess. :( So it's snakey and undisturbed. lol
I have wanted some ideas on edging as well and I do use the ditch, trench method but with sandy soil it doesn't last long and you have to till it up again and rake the soil back up.

I need ideas and help with this also! My yard was destroyed by Katrina and a lot of trees and plants didn't survive. I have to totally start over with any flowerbeds, etc. and not sure where to start!! Grass has taken over the yard so guess the first step will be to remove it in the areas I want to plant.

My problem is that where I have planted a few things, I can't keep the grass out of it. I removed the grass, put down a layer of newspaper and mulched heavily but grass still spreads into it and looks awful. I pull grass out almost daily. Trenching sounds like a possibility to help stop it.........any other suggestions?

Thanks!
Jeani

Just a lurker...but I have a suggestion.I am boadering my front bed this week for free.I got a tip from the contractor at my work. I called a local cement delivery company, seems they have to expell a log of cement for every load to check it.The logs are all the same size 15 inches long and 6 across the center of the circle.Can be layered to make a wall, stood up in the soil for a fence look or layed end to end.Every town must have a cement delivery company with a few miles.
Just a thought

Create a Key West edger...very simple! My wife got the idea on a last trip down to the Keys. I use empty wine bottles of various colors and turn them upside down into the ground.

It helps if you're a wine lover!

OK old posting but for those still following . . I use on 1 bed plates and platters. Can get them on freecycle, rummage sales...broken or chipped you still have to bury them so they stand up but they are very pretty and yes very unique!! Pull them out in the fall and stick them back in the ground at spring time. Can go a multi theme or a same color theme. Mine is pink!