laying mowing strip -- worth the trouble?

[wrathkeg]

Hi all,

The edges of my lawns (about 60m) are always untidy. I don't mind cutting the grass (with a push mower, which I like using) but we never seem to get round to doing the edging properly, and instead work on other bits of the garden (veg, flowers, loafing etc).

So I am thinking of laying a mowing strip out of blocks all the way round. Something like the top four pictures on here:

http://www.ppsr.co.uk/pandrpropertyservices/Blockwork.html

Has anyone on here done, or got, such a thing? If so, does it really mean just using the mower, and no more edging (or lawn creeping into the borders). I am trying to work out if it is worth the trouble (and cost of the materials) to put in the strip. I don't mind the work involved as long as it would make things easier in the long run.

Thanks,

wrathkeg

 

[r896neo]

Yes i do it regularly for people and as a man who also cuts grass in a professional context i can tell you on a small lawn like yours it will almost half the time when you consider having to get the strimmer out etc etc.

The material cost is pretty low but of course its relatively slow work. The only thing you need to do apart from mowing is to spray weedkiller on it once a year to stop the grass creeping on to it just like you see councils doing to kerb tops.

 

[wrathkeg]

that's excellent -- thanks. do you lay it so the top of the blocks are flush with the height of a freshly cut lawn? also, what size of strip do you think works best? I was thinking of 200mm x 100mm blocks, but obviously I could lay them either way round. the advantages of having the long side next to the grass would be time and cost (half as many blocks to buy and lay), but the main priority would be to make the cutting of the grass more efficient in the long run, so if 200mm would work better then so be it.

 

[r896neo]

Anything over 3 inches wide is fine so you can lay them with the 200 parallel to lawn.

I am often laying them on new lawns so tend to set them a fraction below the bare earth as lawns will settle a bit but in your case i would lay it level with the base of the grass as remember you will be running the wheel of your mower along it.

 

[wrathkeg]

thanks again. and do you do that with sand (or a dry mix), or go the whole hog and use a wet mix of some kind?

 

[r896neo]

Its like laying a kerb so bed them on a lean concrete quite dry so you can tap them into it.

Something like

4 stone(10mm)
3 sand
1 cement.

Then haunch with the same mix but wet.