Keeping your edge. Sounds like a mantra often heard in the business world. Well, not only is keeping your edge-or an edge-important in the business world, it is important in the garden as well.
Sharp, well defined edges are the frosting on the cake in a well maintained landscape. What is an edge? An edge is that place in the garden where textures change. A garden bed to the lawn or house or hardscaping, the lawn to the driveway or sidewalk or patio, a swimming pool to the garden, a garden to the deck. All of these individual areas have edges. How you define your edge is totally up to you, but it is important to have a well defined, neat edge.
In the garden, I have found trenching the beds alongside the lawn works best. You see, I have a confession, I don't like to weedeat! I have yet to meet anyone who does, but I really have an aversion to it. But, I do like to dig with my shovel. Therefore, making trenches around my beds gives me the best of all worlds. I can dig (only about three times per year), and I don't have to weedeat around hardscaping. Where there is hardscaping in my garden, I do weedeat. Sometimes I try to put gardens in around the hardscaping as an 'edging' garden to reduce the weedeating. Unfortunately, it really doesn't make sense to put gardens around gardens where there is a hardscape edge, nor does it make sense to put a garden around my driveway since we so often drive on the lawn. I do have to weedeat.
The garden in the picture in the foreground is a foundation garden with a trenched edge around it. But directly across from this garden, is a raised bed surrounded by broken concrete. I have to weedeat around this bed. I also have to weedeat around the driveway, part of the vegetable garden, and around part of the pool garden. All in all, this is not too much weedeating considering I have many more gardens I don't have to weedeat around.
The next time you are in the garden, consider your edges and try to keep a sharp and neat edge-in all you do.
in the garden....
