Mulch bed edging?

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Hammbone81
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Mulch bed edging?

Post by Hammbone81 » April 10th, 2022, 5:51 pm

What is the best method for edging between the lawn and mulch beds?

For years, my parents have just used a simple v-notch in the soil to hold the much back from the yard. I've been following their lead and have done that for the last 17yrs. However, every year it needs re-cut (not "too" bad of a job), but my bigger problems are that 1) grass aggressively creeps into the beds, and 2) I have a slight slope on my NW corner and the rainwater washes all of my mulch into the lawn every time there's a hard rain.

My last caveat is that I don't want to have to get the string trimmer out, so whatever I use, I want to be able to overhang slightly with the walk behind mower.

Thanks!
Hammbone

edslawn
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Re: Mulch bed edging?

Post by edslawn » April 11th, 2022, 12:52 pm

I have 2 acres and lots of beds, so I'm curious about what others do. Traditionally, I either use a shovel or just leave it sloppy. I was also looking at getting a bed definer to help out (link below).

https://www.echo-usa.com/bed-redefiners

Hammbone81
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Re: Mulch bed edging?

Post by Hammbone81 » April 12th, 2022, 12:48 pm

edslawn wrote:
April 11th, 2022, 12:52 pm
I have 2 acres and lots of beds, so I'm curious about what others do. Traditionally, I either use a shovel or just leave it sloppy. I was also looking at getting a bed definer to help out (link below).

https://www.echo-usa.com/bed-redefiners
edslawn,
My parents have a Stihl Kombi system and they have the edge re-definer attachment. It does a nice job and looks good for quite a while. However, it does need re-done every year, but it's not too bad of a job. I wouldn't mind to continue with it other than I have one spot where grass always creeps in and takes over the mulch, and a sloped spot where the rain water always washes the mulch into the yard.

I found some steel edging material, but they are EXPENSIVE! And I still wonder about them staying put with friction-frost-heaving in the winter.

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MorpheusPA
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Re: Mulch bed edging?

Post by MorpheusPA » April 12th, 2022, 5:22 pm

I like it fast and sloppy, the dirtier the better. Oh, you mean mulch beds? Well, that too. I actually don't really edge mine, except with RoundUp. I use them as donor grass for minor losses, particularly now when I rebuilt the entire front line where the Township "fixed" it by completely destroying the grade--I had a 1x80' section I reworked at variable depth and needed patches of grass to fill in here and there where it couldn't grow back through.

Olivia, the robot mower, dislikes differential grades at bed edges, so I leave it flat.

edslawn
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Re: Mulch bed edging?

Post by edslawn » April 12th, 2022, 11:15 pm

MorpheusPA wrote:
April 12th, 2022, 5:22 pm
Olivia, the robot mower, dislikes differential grades at bed edges, so I leave it flat.
Olivia, olivia it's always about Olivia with you! :rotfl:


edslawn
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Re: Mulch bed edging?

Post by edslawn » April 14th, 2022, 5:39 pm

edslawn wrote:
April 11th, 2022, 12:52 pm
I have 2 acres and lots of beds, so I'm curious about what others do. Traditionally, I either use a shovel or just leave it sloppy. I was also looking at getting a bed definer to help out (link below).

https://www.echo-usa.com/bed-redefiners
I ended up picking up the redefiner and also the power paddle while I was at it. I'll let everyone know how it works...

https://www.echo-usa.com/pro-attachment ... attachment

edslawn
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Re: Mulch bed edging?

Post by edslawn » April 21st, 2022, 1:12 pm

I got to try the bed redefiner this past weekend and it really worked well. I quickly ripped through a lot of beds...

Image

Image

bolson32
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Re: Mulch bed edging?

Post by bolson32 » April 25th, 2022, 9:13 pm

Is that just a power edger? Never heard the "redefiner" part before. I have the ego edger, is it different than that?

edslawn
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Re: Mulch bed edging?

Post by edslawn » April 25th, 2022, 10:21 pm

bolson32 wrote:
April 25th, 2022, 9:13 pm
Is that just a power edger? Never heard the "redefiner" part before. I have the ego edger, is it different than that?
Different. Here is the link...
https://www.echo-usa.com/bed-redefiners

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Re: Mulch bed edging?

Post by PhilWynn » May 12th, 2022, 5:24 am

The 'V' shape trench stops the spread of soil, seed, and mulch onto your lawn, and slows down grass getting into your garden bed. It's particularly effective against grass species like Kikuyu that won't cross the air barrier.

edslawn
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Re: Mulch bed edging?

Post by edslawn » May 16th, 2022, 8:01 am

PhilWynn wrote:
May 12th, 2022, 5:24 am
The 'V' shape trench stops the spread of soil, seed, and mulch onto your lawn, and slows down grass getting into your garden bed. It's particularly effective against grass species like Kikuyu that won't cross the air barrier.
It's still early in my use of this redefiner, but it does seem to be helping to define a nice grass edge and slow the spread of grass into the mulch. Plenty of rain and timely fertilizers from me seem to be making the grass and plants very happy, so that is also helping to make everything look nice.

The biggest issue with the redefiner is that it is heavy, and recent rains have made the soil heavy and sticking to the head. This can make for a bit of a rodeo ride when using it :)

Hammbone81
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Re: Mulch bed edging?

Post by Hammbone81 » May 25th, 2022, 1:03 pm

We just spent last Saturday re-edging our mulch beds. I did it all by hand with a spade and this new "Kwik Edge" tool I bought off Amazon. The Kwik Edge alone will not cut a new edge, but I think it'll be great at maintaining an edge throughout the lawn season.

I was about ready to buy a Stihl or Echo bed redefiner - but I'm not willing to spend the $620 for a once a year use.

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