The trickiest part of mowing a lawn is negotiating curves and comers, whether they are found at property boundaries, along a walkway or garden bed, or at the edge of a house, patio, or deck. Having to turn or back up the mower every few minutes makes the job slower and more tiring. Keep these mowing pitfalls in mind when deciding on a shape for your lawn and "design out" awkward spots.
You can sculpt your lawn into several practical and attractive shapes. Square or rectangular panels of grass are most commonly seen, but you can soften the sharp comers by drawing out the edges of adjoining foundation or garden beds into gentle curves. Doing so maintains a planned, orderly appearance, but also gives a lawn an informal and inviting appearance. The curves also create more space for lower-maintenance perennial plants and shrubs, reduces the square footage of the lawn, and eliminates tight angles that add time and effort to mowing.
Circular or oblong lawns do an amazing job of opening up small yards and allow lots of room out-
side the circle for shrubs and flowers. They are especially well suited to formal design schemes. An asymmetrical shape will also work, providing it has broad, flowing curves rather than tight squiggles. Such irregular shapes work best in large areas and can create a pleasing sense of movement.
To map out a new shape, you can use your mower to cut lines in an existing lawn. You can also lay down a board to serve as a straight edge when defining straight lines or a garden hose to plot the contours for curving ones. Spray the outline on the grass with a white or brightly colored paint or sprinkle flour to mark the shape as a guide when removing old turf or planting a new area.
Adding a Frame
There are several low-maintenance ways to keep lawn edges that abut mulched beds or patches of groundcover looking tidy without constant trimming and edging. A lasting solution is to install a mowing strip of bricks, flat stones, landscape timbers, or concrete pavers. This type of edging is set into the ground with the surface of the paving flush with the soil, so that the wheels of your mower roll over it. A mowing strip adds an attractive visual element to the landscape and lets you achieve a clean cut without the need to follow up with an edger or string trimmer.
For a less visible barrier, you can pound thin, hard plastic, rubber, or metal edging into the ground along the edge of the turf, leaving just the very top sticking above the soil. Some edging material requires you to dig a narrow trench or at least loosen the soil with a sharp spade. Others, however, are designed to penetrate the soil when pounded in with a rubber mallet. If the edging heaves out of die ground as the soil freezes and thaws in late winter, simply pound it back in when the soil is moist. These edgings are particularly useful in discouraging enthusiastic grasses with running stems, such as Bermuda or centipede grass, from creeping into adjoining beds, as well as preventing aggressive groundcovers or perennial plants from sneaking into the lawn.
Whether you choose a paver or the pound-in edging, be sure to leave a thin strip of mulch on the side opposite the grass. This bare area prevents damage to plantings from the mower.
In some lighting situations, you may not need any type of lawn edging. If the dividing line between the lawn and a flower bed or a patch of groundcover coincides with a break between sunlight and shade, the sun-loving lawn grass will naturally retreat from the shaded area, and the shade-tolerant perennial, annual, and groundcover plants won't send runners or young plants into the bright light.
Keeping the Edge
If you don't install a paved mowing strip or other type of barrier, you'll need to maintain the lawn edge by cutting into the soil. This usually needs to be done at least once a year, in spring.
It's easy with the proper tools. You can use a sharp spade or a special edging tool that has a half-moon blade with a flattened top and foot rest, where you press down with the ball of your foot. Keeping the tool vertical, use it to slice down into the soil to the top of the edger, or about 4 in (10.2 cm) deep if using a spade. Draw the blade straight up or rock it slightly side to side to keep from disturbing the soil and to leave a clean line.
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