Look after the edges.................

[veggiechicken]

When I first had an allotment, one of my plot neighbours was a little lady, who always wore a frock and an apron, and whose plot was immaculate. I asked her what the secret was and she said:-

"Look after the edges and the middle will look after itself."

I took that to mean that, if you kept the edges trimmed and neat, your plot would look okay, whilst untidy edges would make the plot look uncared for.

These words of wisdom came back to me yesterday as I wandered around the garden and noticed that I couldn't see any of the fences or walls between me and the neighbours. In some ways, that's a good thing but in reality, I was looking at a tangle of brambles, nettles and undergrowth. My usable garden has shrunk by 6-8' on all sides. I am guilty of not looking after the edges.

What do you think about the little lady's advice? Was she right or was she pulling my leg?
Do you mow the lawn but not edge it? Just curious.

[Small pumpkin]

I'm a do some edges and other are left for wildlife.
I think you're old plot neighbor was a very wise lady

[bramble]

I agree with your old lady neighbour.
The edges give a bit of neatness and structure.
Having said that, we are all different.
Whatever suits, go with the flow.

[Nicos]

Mow and strim. ( checking for wildlife of course before strimming)
I do also have specific large areas of uncut grasses and wildflowers too both at the edges and in the middle.

[Baldy]

The front facing edges of my corner plot are quite good thanks...


the other two... less so...

[burnie]

I edge where edibles are if I can as the slugs and snails hide in there, but the outer edges are more wild with wild flowers so not trimmed, but this is a garden not a lottie.

[Thelma Sanders]

The way things are with my back - my plot is lucky if the paths get strimmed, never mind worrying about the edges

[rary]

I don't have any soil edges with my raised beds and last year I made my flower borders with the grass into raised beds then run decking round the edge and put it flush with the grass so that I can cut the grass edge with the lawnmower and it looks tidy

[greenishfing]

Mine is a mess! Edges and middle! But a productive mess. I wish I could be neat and tidy sometimes.

[DannyK]

I got tired of dead grass under overhanging plants so I spent ages laying some spare 6 inch slabs to make mowing easier. The wife then put her potted fuchsias on them!

[Tripmeup]

Generally try and keep the edges cleaned up to some degree but probably not tended to as often as lawns are mowed to be honest..
My veg beds are bordered so not an issue really..

[Snadger]

I have got rid of my internal path edges at the allotment and just hoe everything that isn't planted.
I only have a central paving flag path and I plant right up to it.

At home I cut the lawn sometimes weekly but only sort the edges when I am working on the borders.
I had a similar situation to VC at the end of my house garden where a wire netting fence had fallen over and was matted with weeds. I had lost about five feet of garden so I found the original line of the fence, dug the netting up and pushed it out then built a 6 foot close boarded fence on the perimeter fence line. This has tidied the boundary fence, and reclaimed some land which I have now seeded with grass seed. This looks a lot better and hopefully will stop my dogs escaping.

[SarrissUK]

I don't have borders at home in the garden, as the growing area is walled, and there are no paths, just one stepping stone. The rest is in raised bags

On the allotment, I do have paths that are covered in woodchip. I occasionally have to hoe those to keep the bloody bindweed out.

The beds are so big that there's not a lot else, but I absolutely agree with the old lady's advice, VC, especially after today.

I've not finished the paths on the new plot, so the grass has been growing very tall. The grass on the next plot is as tall as me, and hanging over my bed.

The site rep came for a chat the other week and he lent me his spare petrol strimmer. I got that working today, and my god what a difference it's made to have attacked the grass all over, trimming down thistles and nettles. It all looks really quite tidy.

The beds are tidy too, despite not having been touched for two weeks as I hurt my back, but needed only a couple of hours of handweeding which isn't bad considering how everything else is growing like mad.

So yes, looking at my plot as I had finished for the day (six hours of hard work), I definitely agree - tidy edges make the beds look tidy too and everything looks tidy

[Mikey]

I cut the edges of my lawn with a pair of scissors, I used to have a strimmer but, when it broke down about 5 years ago I simply used scissors. I don't cut every mow but generally every 2 to 3 dependant on how dry it has been.

Not sure if that makes me odd?

[veggiechicken]

Trimming your edges with scissors is one of the more sensible things you do.