Last week I tweeted excitedly that I was 'having my lawn edged' and suddenly realised that people might have thought I was getting a bikini wax. I wasn't ...I was actually having my lawn edged. This is something I should have done right at the beginning, when we first cut the new beds. Back then it was hard to imagine that the grass would creep as fast as it did, - everything looked so tidy and straight and neat. But that grass really has been testing me. It comes back in the middle do of the beds, from tiny morsels that have been left there as we dug over the soil, but it also did this sort of inward creep, threatening to obliterate everything altogether.
Actually, I didn't mind it very much, because it made the garden look full, and bedded in, and sort of comfy - there were no bare patches of earth. The problem was when I wielded the mower, and several times almost mowed over something precious like my erigeron or alchemilla - originally put there as edging, but which had sort of begun to 'mix' with the grass.
I started researching lawn edging, thinking I'd get someone to come and look after the babety and I'd ask the Hunk to help me one weekend...but soon realised that time was running away and I had to do something fast, so I called up my twitter friend Rob, who said he'd come and save the day by edging the lawn for me. I am SO glad I didn't try to do it myself because it ended up taking much longer than anticipated. The delightful Steve and Charlie from Rob's team worked like dawgs and just managed to get it done by working the whole day.
Now that my lawn has a wooden edging, it will be much easier to keep the creeping grass under control because there'll be a sort of 'no grow zone between the edge of the border and the grass...most excellent. Thank you Steve* and Charlie** - you were brilliant.
*Steve is originally from Australia but came over here to be near his daughter and grandchildren. He used to play tennis pretty seriously, and recommends Rosa 'Radio Times'
**Charlie is also from Australia. He likes coffee rather than tea (sorry, I'll remember that next time)