Lawn edging question

We would like to have some edging around our lawn, but we would prefer to be able to mow right up to the edge of the lawn instead of having to use the strimmer. We have seen these which look okay but our concern is installation and our long it will last.
Another way we have looked at it is to perhaps lay bricks length wise. The lawn has a gentle slope. The total border length is approximately 14 metres give or take an few centimetres. Height needs to be about 4 inches i guess.
What alternatives are available to us?

 

Hya surfer.
How about a brick edging, just below the turf height?

 

We were thinking on that as it may work out cheaper in the long run.

 

I had a similar problem. Last year I laid three brick circles around an almond tree and two acers to make mowing easier. But I still had a problem with the border as I had to edge it and when you do this, the border tends to "creep in" over the years.



So earlier this year I laid these brick pavers to edge my lawn. I used ready-mixed fine concrete on top of a few bits of rock as hard core and pointed up between the bricks with mortar with an added bit of cement dye to get rid of the greyness. The pointing stops the problem of grass, which would otherwise grow between the bricks,( when you can't get it to grow anywhere else!)
I can run my flymo down the line, half on the bricks and half on the grass to achieve a good finish. The bricks also stop the border from creeping into the lawn.

I took these photos the day after I finished them so they look a bit bright, but after a couple of months they "dulled down" so aren't so noticeable.




You can see where after finishing the job I "earthed up" to the edge with some spare compost.




These are a year old and now aren't so noticeable.









If you've not done this before...

If you have..."Look away now."

They're easy to lay if you don't make the concrete much more than "damp." The lime in the concrete should not then leech into the border and affect any roots of shrubs before it goes off.
You need a "straight edge" to place over at least three bricks to keep them level and then stand and look down the line after laying a couople of bricks to make sure you've got it straight. Remember to do this frequently, it's easy to forget and then you find you went wrong by a quarter of an inch nine bricks back!
Use the same bit of wood placed crossways between the bricks and the grass to make sure you've got the bricks level with the soil below the level of the grass. If the bricks are too proud, they'll ruin your mower blade if you hit them.

Before you start, make sure there's a channel between the edge of the grass and the border of about four or five inches deep, using a spade to keep the edge verticle and in the position you want it, as you'll be laying the bricks up to this edge.
Finish the concrete flush with edge on the grass side, but make it about three or four inches wider than the width of the pavers on the border side and after laying the pavers smooth it up into a "ramp" to half way up the bricks. This will stop them moving if you stand on them at a later date.
Don't attempt to point them on the same day you lay them. You can later rake the soil back up to the base of the bricks and you then won't see the concrete.

 

Thanks I will look into that. Your garden looks very nice. We had to start ours from before scratch as it was horribly overgrown when we moved in.
I get the gist of most of what you have said but I am not sure what you mean by "point" them etc as i don't think you are referring to direction.

 

Hi,
What I meant was once the concrete has dried, I used mortar to fill in the gaps between the bricks. The bricks only "sit" in the concrete, half of each should be proud of the mix. I should have mentioned that with an only damp concrete mix, I always wet just the underside of each brick with a spounge to get better adhesion.
If you look at the bricks round the big acer you can see that the mortar is flush with the tops of the bricks.
Again, use just a damp slightly powdery mortar mix with a pointing trowel. Scrap off any surplus (towards the border) and any residue on the surface of the bricks remove with a brush. Don't get any water on the bricks as you'll stain them.
I also use a frostproofer additive when I do this sort of job.