Concrete Curbing Guide For Your Garden

When designing your landscape, not every decision revolves around plants and other soft features, like mulch. Some of your decisions will be with the hardscaping, such as concrete features, in the yard. One place where poured concrete can really shine is around your garden beds. Using poured concrete to create custom curbing creates a clean, unbroken line. The following guide can help you better understand the benefits of curbing compared to other options, as well as what the installation entails.

Borders create healthier gardens and lawns

Borders between garden beds are a major factor when it comes to creating a low maintenance planting site. The benefits include the following:

  • Reduced chances of grass encroaching on the flower bed.

  • Containment of some creeping garden plants so they don't get into the lawn.

  • Prevents mulch from spreading into the lawn.

  • Maintains a crisp edge.

  • Is durable and mowers and trimmers won't damage it.

Design styles and their basic requirements

There are first two main types of concrete curbing to consider – poured or block.

Block

Block curbing comes in pre-formed segments. These segments can measure as little as a few inches in length to a couple of feet long. There are a couple of concerns with the segments:

  • Gaps between segments can allow weed growth within the curbing.

  • It's more difficult to lay out curves, especially without gaps.

  • The curbing segments aren't set deeply into the soil, so the neighboring grass can spread roots under the edge and into the garden bed.

Despite these issues, concrete blocks are popular due to availability, cost, and the ease of doing it yourself. Generally, you just need to dig a trench a couple of inches deep and wide enough for the blocks. Then, set them in place and fill in the gaps between them with sand or soil.

Poured

Poured concrete is a more permanent solution. Although it can be removed, it isn't as simple to do so as it is with blocks. Other than that, there are few things to detract from poured concrete – it provides a continuous edge and its deeper footings prevent roots from growing underneath. Further, you can tint it to a different color if desired, or pour it to have a flat edge on the lawn side and the raised curb on the garden side, which means your mower wheel can roll right over it so you can cut the lawn right up to the curbing.

Installation is usually done by a professional. A trench is dug, usually several inches deep. Forms are then put in place to shape the concrete. The concrete is tinted and then poured. As it cures, the contractor will either shape it or stamp it to your custom specifications.

For more help with either type of border curbing, contact a concrete contractor such as Elizalde Construction.


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