Lawn border edging MSE style?

moneysaver1978

Looking at the different types of edging for the front garden (to separate the lawn and some gravel) and was surprised by the price of these things. Existing edging is one of these wood reels which we dislike as they seem to attract woodlice insects!

Which made me think of this forum, what edging have you done for your garden? Do you even bother with one? "MSE-style" methods welcome!

Cheapest option I could find is purchasing individual 1-metre stone bordering but that doesn't work for curves.

amanda1024

I used old bricks (but that’s between lawn and patio rather than gravel)

Dustyevsky

You can bend 100mm x 22mm tanalised board to some degree and secure it with pegs. It doesn't wreck the mower if it's hit. Lifespan is about 8 years or so on our soil.

twopenny

Neighbour has used new bricks set into the soil on the diagonal

https://www.bhg.com/gardening/yard/garden-care/garden-bed-edging-ideas/

I've used stones to the same effect but more casual, more variety in the edging.

I've also used painted slats for wood for a straight divide in the veg garden. Use garden paint.

-taff

Old roof tiles, the rectangular ones with the two holes at the top for nail bashing in. They were free.

moneysaver1978

Stones and old roof tiles - these are great and very "moneysaving"! Photos if possible?

-taff

there you go

-taff

moneysaver1978 said:

Looking at the different types of edging for the front garden (to separate the lawn and some gravel) and was surprised by the price of these things. Existing edging is one of these wood reels which we dislike as they seem to attract woodlice insects!

They attract woodlice because they are rotting. Woodlice are just one step on your garden eco system, very benign. They tidy up what something else has already munched or fallen leaves etc. I'd leave them alone or roll up that edging when you get rid of it and put it somewhere out of the way where you can't see it so they can have a feast and so can some beetles, you might even find it becomes a better bug hotel too.

moneysaver1978

Wonderful edging, @-taff!

CliveOfIndia

Firstly, I must agree with @-taff on the woodlice.  Please don't hurt them or make them homeless, they're wonderful little creatures !  I sound like a lefty-loony tree-hugger, which I most certainly ain't, but all these little critters are so vital, in their own little way, to our existence.  All our councils and politicians are begging us to recycle more, nature has been doing it for millions of years.

Aside from that, one almost-free option might be old pallets.  Depends where you live, but very often you'll find businesses that give away pallets for free (usually rough ones that they've had stuff delivered on, but that doesn't matter).  Takes a bit of time, but you can break a pallet down, cut each plank into short lengths with a point on top, and make a kind of teen-weeny miniature picket fence.

It can look quite nice - it won't last an awful long time, as the part that's buried in the ground will rot after after a few years ( more wood-lice food :-) ).  But given that it'll cost you nowt apart from a fair bit of time, it might be an idea?

Arthurian

I have seen empty wine bottles used as a garden edging, but haven't any experience of that personally, so not sure how much weeding you'd have to do around the bottles or if it would damage the lawnmower blade. Just a row of empty bottles turned upside down and pushed into the soil so all you see is the bottom of the bottle.