How do I create an edge around my flowerbed?

[mac]

In March, we put in some loropetalums and ligustrums and a few other things around the perimeter of the house. The bed is raised, and covered in black stuff to prevent weeds (Typlar??) and mulch.

My problem is that there's no clear line dividing the edge of the bed and the yard. The mulch is falling into the grass, and the grass is creeping up into the bed. It looked so nice when it was first put in, but now it looks neglected. I pull up what grass I can, but there's still nothing separating the yard from the bed, and it seems like there should be. So, how do I create a clean edge?

I have seen products designed to do this, but don't know what is best. Even if I did know what product is best, I'm not sure I'd know how to use it once I got it. Am I going to need to get an edger to create a clean space between the mulch and the yard, or what?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[mac]

Here are a couple of pics.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1388/699474079_8dce583330.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1338/699474061_49a5b212c3.jpg

[mac]

Well, it was a foot or more. Now it's settled some.

[carsalesguy]

i personally would use either monkey grass like hawkeye suggested or use the black plastic edging material. you can sink the black plastic edging product deep enuf that you would not not see it from the road- it would be just a very small black line separating the mulch from the yard.

also, you may want to check into some other type of mulch besides wood chips. moisture+ wood = breeding and attracting ground for termites. they do make a wood-chip look alike made out of recycled tires and painted- or you would use pea gravel. just my opinion tho

[dollfus46]

Mac, your beds are very well built and nicely mulched. I really wouldn't put down any kind of 'thing' to hold the beds in. I hate to say but a little V-trenching would do wonders - then you could use a weed eater to keep the grass neatly edged. With a V-trench your mulch won't go into the grass and the edger will keep that nice line between the yard and the beds.

I'm not a very big fan of strips to hold the beds back unless you need something like a small retainer. For a house in a woodsy setting, I also like those bendable wood strips for beds.

Your yard is pretty.

I was going to suggest much the same thing. I like a natural barrier instead of a material one.

[mac]

...
also, you may want to check into some other type of mulch besides wood chips. moisture+ wood = breeding and attracting ground for termites. they do make a wood-chip look alike made out of recycled tires and painted- or you would use pea gravel. just my opinion tho

I have heard that about the wood chips, but now that they're down there I don't know how to get rid of them. Getting rid of all of it would be a monumental task. We DO have a guy who comes and checks and sprays or whatever for termites every year.

[Sister Golden Hair]

Mac- is the soil level raised or the height from the mulch mass? If the soil level is most of what is giving you your height, I would round-up a 5 or 6 inch border around the bed and do a shallow v-trench. The mulch will eventually settle in and you should be good to go.

If most of the mass is mulch, you may want to consider a physical barrier such as Liropie or Monkey grass( which can get away from you and you will still have to hoe it or something to keep the Liropie in check). As some of the othe members advised, there are a plethera of non-organic products on the market that will do the trick as well.

by the way-you did a great hob on designing your beds and your plant material looks great as well.

[pEtAl mIsFiT]

we just weed eat ours every other cutting, lot of work but it looks nicely.
I just got through trimming our bushes this weekend I too have loropetulums all over and love them. I think you will like yours as well. They grow fast. After trimming they will even fill out more and thicken up .

[Guru]

I use everything from landscaping timbers to railroad ties to big limestone rocks to polished river boulders to red bricks turned on edge or laying flat to stackable stone facings to curved adobe to tiller trenches to contain beds.
Most of the time I still incorporate the tiller trenches outside of what I border with because it allows a good catch for watering and provides a good weeded border to spray herbicide onto to give a more defined look.
Another note, and all may not agree with this but my termite guys have wavered over the years on the pine bark and other items attracting termites. The majority of them have told me that termites are there in a yard normally and that it does not attract what is already there.
My experience: The two houses and various garden houses, etc here are under a termite program and have never just had termites that were evident from bedding or borderings.
Something you should know, termites dine upon anything they can get in their mouths except brick and tar and metal. Makes no difference if it is pine bark or cypress mulch, cedar mulch, pine straw, etc. It's all on their diet and they even love copper treated landscaping timbers, creosote railroad ties and eventually diesel impregnated posts if you use them. If you aren't under a termite program you should be.
Ps: Don't waste your money on Round Up. Of all the off the shelf just-for-grass-or-weeds-or-vines herbicides that I have used, Walmart sells a product called Eliminator. It comes in a white plastic little jug with a black 4 ounce cap that is used for measuring. The chemical base for grass killers is normally Glycophosate. Eliminator is a standard 40% by chemical volumn versus 18-28-38% of varying jugs of Round Up and costs you only about 60% of what Round Up costs. You are paying for a big name there using the same chemical.
For your beds in the pictures you will save yourself a lot of money to go to Walmart and buy the red adobe bricks and turn them on edge. You will need to till a trench and lay them in the pocket and tamp them in. The bricks will cost you $.72/each.

[Hermione]

Guru thinks we keep him around because he's cute, but now we see the real reason . . . ;)