edging for beds

[EmmaLou]

Hi everyone!

I have decided to edge the beds I have dug, so I can put bark ect down as paths. I was just curious as to how the rest of you have gone about doing this? I was thinking about using scaffolding planks. What do you think is best? It needs to be cheap to do!

Thanks!

[EmmaLou]

[moonbells]

If you use scaffold boards, you need to make sure you get full and half length ones, or  have access to a jigsaw as they're very thick and are not easy to saw by hand...

I've recycled a few for my beds, but because scaffolders around here seem to be reticent about giving away their old ones, I've bought most of my bed wood.
I've seen various ways of fixing the corners: the usual one is to hammer large tanalised posts into the ground and nail the boards on. Boards can bend though; long screws are probably better as I found the warping timber pulls nails out...
I did it slightly differently (as usual!) Bought corner brackets and screwed them into the inside of the corners. This meant that I didn't have a huge lump of wood in the way and they definitely don't warp.

Reminds me, another picture post about to appear on how they turn out as I've finally finished mine!

moonbells

[supersprout]

I have decided to edge the beds I have dug, so I can put bark ect down as paths.

Hi emmalou, I have a mix of bark and earth paths and no edges :o 8)
That's about as cheap as it gets!

[tabbycat]

Hi Emmalou,

I'm using gravel boards to edge mine as they're not as thick as scaffold planks. If you go to the Crocus webb site - crocus.co.uk (sorry! not technical enough yet to put in a link!) and search for "no-dig bed", there's a whole construction guide - by Mr Titchmarsh himself.

I would agree with Moonbells about using screws rather than nails - they pull the timber together and resist it twisting.

Also from experience i would say that the posts you bang into the ground need to have points cut on the end and I screw mine to the longest boards first - it's no good trying to hammer them in & then fix the boards because they twist as you hit them and you can't get a nice vertical line to fix to.

Another thing - i losen up the ground first and poke around a bit with my metal-ended dibber - there's nothing worse than getting the board all lined up and then hitting a large stone!

Cheers,

Tabbycat