Mark. Gooley wrote:

"Shiva" wrote:

I don't suppose you could use the "Zen edging" I'm using for my roses:
none. I take it that your mulch will not just taper off over a foot or two
of space around the edges, and remain more or less in place.

G Actually, I started out with "Zen edging" (great way to put it, I am
going to have to use that!) and found that too much mulch washes away
due to the fact that we are on a hill with little hills *on* it, or "up
on a hill down in a hole," as I once put it. Not a lot of level space.

Again, I
have space to burn, and you probably haven't.

This is a 1/3rd acre city lot--not cramped, but certainly not "space to burn."


If you live somewhere where a rot-resisting wood is available at
reasonable prices (whether it be new-growth redwood, Western
red-cedar, or new-growth baldcypress [as it is here in north Florida]),
you could buy that. Pound heavy stakes into the ground

Whoa, there, cowboy! It's just me here, and I'm not the stake-pounding
type, unless it comes to vampires.

and then nail
a couple of 1 by 8s, one atop the other, into them. Not that cheap,
but e.g. baldcypress weathers to a lovely gray. New-growth woods
are not completely rotproof, but they can take some years of ground
contact without apparent damage. (Interesting note: the mega-stores
like Lowe's and Home Depot stock pricey (here) Western redcedar
from British Columbia or wherever, but not second-growth cypress
cut 20 miles away from town: go figure. One has to go to local mills.)

Seriously, this all sounds good but I was hoping for something less
labor intensive. Wood borders could be very attractive, though.
Something to think about, and perhaps one day hire someone
to do.

[...] Which wood you get depends on
where you live: here, of course, it's southern pine.

I am in Raleigh, NC, so, you bet, it would be pine.

To reduce the ugliness, whitewash the treated wood. Yeah, real
whitewash: hydrated quicklime and water, as used by Tom Sawyer,
not the phony stuff sold to give a "whitewashed" look to furniture.

[snip other good ideas}

Mark., just my 2 cents worth, and perhaps not worth that


Thanks!