Bender Board and Lawn Mower

[Tube Audio]

I have an established lawn. The outer edge is brick and the inner edge is wood. The wood is at ground level but over time the wood gets covered with dirt.

The other side of the wood border is a flowerbed. The grass and weeds tend to crossover into the flowerbed and there is no distinct edge or boundary do to the wood being so low.

It seems like over time the wood has sunken, however I think that the ground and grass has just grown over it.

I am thinking of installing BenderBoard that is 5/16" x 3 7/16" x 12'

My worry is if I will have problems mowing the lawn. Currently since the wood edge is so low I can push the mower wherever I wish, it's as if there is nothing there. I would like to be able to mow as close as possible to the edge as possible. However the edge where the bender board will go is not a straight line.

I guess my worry boils down to how high should I install the bender board? High enough to have a distinct edge and low enough to pass a mower over?

Any ideas?

Is the 5/16" x 3 7/16" Fibertech BenderBoard the material I should be looking at or is there something else that will work for my application.

I just bought all the stuff tonight and plan to do it next weekend, however I cold always return the material.

[Persephone]

Use an edger for close to the bender board.

Persephone

[Persephone]

Afterthought: Are you wedded to the bender board idea, or would you consider the heavy-duty rubber(or is it plastic) edging that can be buried as deep as you like, and can take a beating from an edger that maybe bender board cannot. The rubber/plastic edging also has a bulbous top edge that would discourage a mower from running over (if yours can get that close). I don't *know* about the bender board, as I use the other kind of edging; just conjecturing that it might be more fragile. Of course it IS more aesthetic!

HTH

Persephone

[Sheldon]

"Tube Audio" wrote:

Your problem is that you have your lawn growing right up to your edging material and you're using double border material, and you're setting them too deeply... choose one or the other. Regardless which type you choose every time you mow you need to edge trim your lawn side with a string trimmer. Since you already have the bricks simply level and tighten them up to minimize growth between the bricks, then edge trim the lawn side at an angle to create a pleasing bevel with your string trimmer by flipping it 180 degrees and holding at the correct angle... it will take a few times to develop the knack and a nice looking edge... don't try to cut in all at once, give the grass a chance to grow into a neat raised beveled edge with a bare border of about a three inch swarth, there should be no grass growing up to the border material. And forget all about adding another course of border material abutting the other, that's just plain silly... do it yourself centers push both on those with more dollars than brain cells... using two border materials will create exactly the problems you're experiencing. Use mulch to prevent weeds on your bed side. There's never any reason to mow over any kind of border material... a rotary mower blade always extends a couple-three inches past the mower wheels... there are specialized landscaper's rotary mowers with the front right wheel inset even more than the others, to add a little extra reach at sharp corners, but I doubt you need that in your situation. And naturally set your mower height appropriately... if you're regularly mowing over your border material you probably have your mower set so low that you're scalping your lawn. When your bricks are set to a proper depth you should be able to mow the edge with your mower wheels rolling directly on the bricks the first pass and then on the lawn the second pass, never down into the trimmed bevel. I don't recommend using a power edger on bricks, that can prove quite dangerous (always use proper eye protection when using power lawn tools), use an edging spade or a hand roller edger where needed... power edgers are reserved for straight sided concrete pavement... it's not necessary to use an edger more than 2-3 times per growing season, but borders must be edge trimmed every time you mow.

[Tube Audio]

I must have not been clear.

I am not using double border material.

On the North edge of the lawn there is brick, on the south end is this rotton wooden strip that I am thinking of replacing with bender board.

The distance between the brick and the wood is about 6 feet with grass inbetween

"Sheldon" wrote in message news: [e-mail]... "Tube Audio" wrote:

Your problem is that you have your lawn growing right up to your edging material and you're using double border material, and you're setting them too deeply... choose one or the other. Regardless which type you choose every time you mow you need to edge trim your lawn side with a string trimmer. Since you already have the bricks simply level and tighten them up to minimize growth between the bricks, then edge trim the lawn side at an angle to create a pleasing bevel with your string trimmer by flipping it 180 degrees and holding at the correct angle... it will take a few times to develop the knack and a nice looking edge... don't try to cut in all at once, give the grass a chance to grow into a neat raised beveled edge with a bare border of about a three inch swarth, there should be no grass growing up to the border material. And forget all about adding another course of border material abutting the other, that's just plain silly... do it yourself centers push both on those with more dollars than brain cells... using two border materials will create exactly the problems you're experiencing. Use mulch to prevent weeds on your bed side. There's never any reason to mow over any kind of border material... a rotary mower blade always extends a couple-three inches past the mower wheels... there are specialized landscaper's rotary mowers with the front right wheel inset even more than the others, to add a little extra reach at sharp corners, but I doubt you need that in your situation. And naturally set your mower height appropriately... if you're regularly mowing over your border material you probably have your mower set so low that you're scalping your lawn. When your bricks are set to a proper depth you should be able to mow the edge with your mower wheels rolling directly on the bricks the first pass and then on the lawn the second pass, never down into the trimmed bevel. I don't recommend using a power edger on bricks, that can prove quite dangerous (always use proper eye protection when using power lawn tools), use an edging spade or a hand roller edger where needed... power edgers are reserved for straight sided concrete pavement... it's not necessary to use an edger more than 2-3 times per growing season, but borders must be edge trimmed every time you mow.

[Sheldon]

Matters not... proper edge trimming will solve your problem.

You're welcome.