Edging a sloping border of varying gradient

NaughtiusMaximus

We have a sloping back garden with a planted border down one side. I'm in the process of digging up the entire border and will replant with low flowering shrubs, and covering the soil with woodchip. I'd like to add some sort of raised edging between the lawn and border. The problem I have is the slope isn't constant, the gradient varies as you move down the slope so straight edging would look awful. 

Building a brick wall is out of the question, I've never laid a brick in my life so my confidence of not totally screwing it up is around 0%. The only other suggestion I've found online is digging a trench and arranging short lengths of railway sleeper vertically down the length of the slope, doable but quite a big job, especially as I have heavy clay soil.

Are there any simpler less labour intensive options which would work, the perfect solution would be some sort of flexible edging which can be bent horizontally as well as vertically but I doubt such a thing exists.

25_Years_On

Decking boards, well treated, and wooden pegs. These can be cut to varying lengths and you you'll get a variable step effect depending on the slope.

twopenny

There's plastic edging of all sorts that can be flexed and can be hidden against the turf but it's pricey. there are grey plastic pretend brick edgings that are quite cheap but not that beautiful.

There are log edgings that can be flexible.

Building suppliers have a crate somewhere on their yard where they throw brokend slabs and bricks.

Block paving can make a nice edging as can small rustic paving squares. Small enough to adjust to the heights and can be attractive with shrubs spilling over.

It depends on what sort of look you want. Rustic, modern, or.......

NaughtiusMaximus

25_Years_On said:

Decking boards, well treated, and wooden pegs. These can be cut to varying lengths and you you'll get a variable step effect depending on the slope.

That's an idea thanks, how many years do you think they'd last before they need to be replaced?

NaughtiusMaximus

twopenny said:

There's plastic edging of all sorts that can be flexed and can be hidden against the turf but it's pricey. there are grey plastic pretend brick edgings that are quite cheap but not that beautiful.

There are log edgings that can be flexible.

Building suppliers have a crate somewhere on their yard where they throw brokend slabs and bricks.

Block paving can make a nice edging as can small rustic paving squares. Small enough to adjust to the heights and can be attractive with shrubs spilling over.

It depends on what sort of look you want. Rustic, modern, or.......

I've seen lots of types of edging which can flex vertically (ie to move around curves) but none which can flex vertically to adjust for varying gradients, do you know of any like that? The gradient varies from around 1 in 10 at it's shallowest to around 1 in 3 at it's steepest.

Style wise I'm pretty flexible, the garden's a bit of a mishmash as it is anyway.

twopenny

Not as a  length of edging. If the ups and downs were so frequent using bricks would be one soloution, it's called Sawtooth design. My neighbours done that and it looked a bit stark at first then blended in as the plants grew now it looks great.

https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-brick-path-edging-in-a-sawtooth-design-bordering-a-lavender-bed-58850899.html

Or flat https://www.gardengatemagazine.com/articles/projects/all/how-to-install-brick-edging-in-your-garden/

Or a low box hedge.

Or Cobbles the paving ones. All these come in different colours to match the house walls or surrounding stone.

https://www.historiceuropeancobblestone.com/reclaimed-cobblestone-great-for-edging/

It's hard to tell - could you post a photo to show how frequent these dips are?

25_Years_On

NaughtiusMaximus said:

25_Years_On said:

Decking boards, well treated, and wooden pegs. These can be cut to varying lengths and you you'll get a variable step effect depending on the slope.

That's an idea thanks, how many years do you think they'd last before they need to be replaced?

It's hard to say. As an edge it will be fairly easy to retreat them in a couple of years. I've used them twice once to edge a new border (previously grass on a slope) and once to edge a gravel path along a border with a bit of a slope up. I wouldn't expect them to last for less time than log roll which is often used for edging. Treating before use with something really good will be important.