It seems that I am doing weekly trips to the not-so-local hardware and gardening stores. Today’s purchase included garden edging. I wanted something that could be:

1. easily removed (as the beds cannot be permanent);
2. either look good or be hidden; and,
3. would block grass and weed roots from creeping into the garden beds.

I ended up going with a lightweight black plastic edge that turned out to be excellent for all of the above and also great at going around the square corners of the patch.

The process was to sharply re-dig the edge of the patch, and lay out the edging with a minimal amount of plastic above the final soil surface. I back-filled with the soil as I went in order to keep the edging in place. Once again, a few tree roots had to be severed to ensure that the edging could be evenly laid. Once the edging is in place, the beds look much neater and it is easy to even out the soil in the beds.

The next step is to get the chicken wire fencing up- this is to act as both a support structure for growing climbing vegetables, as well as a tool to keep out our pooch, who finds digging in loose, fertilised soil particularly tempting. We are using really innovative steel posts that make attaching wire easy- all you have to do is loop and stretch the wire over the lugs (small hooks) that hold the wire in place. We are enclosing the vegetable patch on all sides, and will make some sort of gate at a later stage. For the moment, some extra chicken wire will suffice!

With the soil dug through, the edging in and the fencing up, it is really starting to look like a great space to grow vegetables!