Structural Elements: Garden Edging
Edging plays an important role of setting boundaries for specific parts of the garden. Not only does it provide a clear visual edge to different garden spaces, it keeps the lawn out of the flowerbeds and the peppermint out of the edible beds. Edging can be made of all sorts of things, from concrete and bricks, to metal or wood or a simple edge cut with a shovel. My mom’s neighbor uses cinder blocks for her raised beds in her edible garden.
I like edging my flowerbeds with stone. I have plenty of those in the garden and I think they help tidy up the edges. I have a few spots that I need to redo the edging because I want to expand the flower beds. Since our lot slopes fairly steeply towards the street, these work perfectly to keep the soil in the bed where it belongs. I like to cut a crisp in the grass in 3-4 inches in front of the stone edging because it looks nice and it makes mowing much easier.
This spring I need to add a row of large rocks along the lower side of my driveway. Since it slopes down towards the street and to one side, the gravel has a tendency to migrate into the flowerbed on the lower side. It’s quite annoying when I want to work in that flowerbed and have to spend half my time picking gravel out of the soil. It will also help with erosion control in the lower flowerbed as it will slow the water running off the driveway. I already have a pile of rocks that I’ve been collecting just for this purpose. Since it is the driveway, I’ll need to use larger rocks so they don’t get pushed out of the way easily. I should be able to collect enough large rocks from the various piles I’ve made around the gardens for this purpose.
If I didn’t have rocks all over my property I would consider using bricks as edging. I love the look of red brick like this beautiful edging around the kitchen garden at Ash Lawn Highland. I also love brick walkways as well, there’s something very classic about them.
I’ll stick with stone in my garden since it’s free and it looks really nice with my cottage gardens.
How do you edge your flowerbeds? What kind would you use in your dream garden?
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Structural Elements in the Garden
I’m currently reading Smith & Hawken Garden Structures by Linda Joan Smith and really enjoying it. This is the time of year in the north, structural elements are important in the garden. Since most plants have no leaves, there isn’t much left in the garden. If you don’t have shrubs, obelisks, fences or walls, you’re left with a flat expanse of snow.
Structural elements bring beauty and interest to the garden all year long, even when the plants are dormant. They can range from a simple path of native stone to grand fountains and everything in between.
Structural elements need not be hardscaping, they can be benches, obelisks, sculptures and even shrubs or trees. Potted plants can become structural elements in the garden if used properly and arranged in an artful manner. Of course these have to protected in cold northern climates and generally can’t be left in the garden during winter.
This is one area I really need to work on in the gardens at Chiot’s Run, my gardens are in need of more winter interest. I’ve been putting it off for a variety of reasons; time, lack of inspiration, the cost and I’ve been focusing on improving the soil above all other garden tasks. My goal this winter is to finalize a few plans for trellises, arbors, fences, walkways and other structural elements that I can incorporate over the next couple years.
If money was not an issue, I would have a big glass conservatory in my garden. A place to spend cold winter days, growing citrus trees and tropical plants. I may have a small greenhouse in my garden someday, but I’ll never have something as grand as what’s at Stan Hywet or Longwood Gardens. I’d also love to have tall stone walls surrounding a perennial garden with a reflecting pool, like this one at Stan Hywet.
If money weren’t an issue, what kind of structural element would you incorporate into your garden?
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Moving Plants
One of the things I love about gardening is how easy it is to move things around if you’re not happy with the placement of a plant or if a plant is not doing well in it’s current location. I often move plants, especially hostas. I have a shady flowerbed at the side of the house that is a hosta farm. I plants hosta seedlings there that pop up around the garden. I let them grow for a year or two and then I move them to a more permanent location.
I also move plants that are not doing well in their current location, perhaps the soil is too rich, too poor, too wet, too dry, or maybe it’s too sunny or too shady. Most plants seem to be happy with a move, they may be wilted for a few days, but most bounce back quickly (with the exception to peonies that don’t like being moved).
Do you ever move plants around?
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Planning My 2010 Garden
Earlier this week I sat down to figure out what seeds I needed to buy for the coming gardening season. A cup of coffee and a few seed catalogs is a great way to spend a winter afternoon. I have a lot of seeds left from last season that are still viable, but some seeds like onions, beans & peas don’t germinate as well the second year. I really want to grow a lot of onions and peas in my mom’s garden plot this year, she doubled the size of her garden so I could have space for these items. I’m hoping the full sun will produce bigger onions that I can grow in my shady gardens. That means I’ll be buying some pea seeds and some new onion seeds.
I decided I’m going to focus on growing things that are difficult to find or more expensive to buy at the farmer’s market. Things I can get easily I won’t be growing (like popcorn and maybe squash). I’d like to grow some shelling peas for the freezer and I’d love to grow a nice batch of carrots. I definitely want to grow some pickling cucumbers, we’re really enjoying all the different pickles I canned. I want to grow a bunch of potatoes, perhaps try a few interesting varieties. I’m definitely going to grow Principe Borghese and San Marzano tomatoes again this summer and I want to try a few new varieties as well.
Are you growing anything new and interesting this year?
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Playing in the Dirt
Gardening is a matter of your enthusiasm holding up
until your back gets used to it.
~Author Unknown
This past week I’ve been putting in a new flowerbed in the front yard. I’m liberating about 100 square feet of lawn along with part of the woods on the side of the property. This bed is going to be about 8-10 feet wide by about 30 feet long. It’s going to be a beneficial border of native plants and flowers for the bees and humming birds. I’m also hoping to have a few spots to tuck in some herbs and veggies.
It sure is hard work digging up sapplings and tree roots along the edge of the woods. I don’t mind though, one of the things I like most about gardening is the manual labor. I like that I don’t have to worry about going to the gym to get my exercise, I get it in the front yard while doing something constructive. It feels good knowing that all of my hard work will have a beautiful reward later this summer.
Do you like the manual labor of gardening? Or do you prefer the easier tasks?
