Even if they are often not immediately obvious: Bedding edging is indispensable in almost all gardens. In DIY stores, plant shops and on the Internet, they are offered in a huge selection. But which material fits where? And what kind of work is best for which purpose? The most important information around the topic bed border read here.

Not only setting growth limits

bed borderen meet a variety of purposes in the garden. Often, as in the famous Japanese gardens, they are supposed to give structure to the area as purely optical elements. This is mainly served by attractive materials such as unhardened natural stones, but also here and there also logs and other original looking finds from nature. Especially stones such as granite or basalt, which can score with their weather resistance, offer themselves as an easy-care permanent solution. Wood and similarly quickly rotting natural materials, however, are easier to handle by their lower weight and well suited for those garden lovers who like to vary the shape of their surfaces more often. For lawn edges, numerous variants are offered in which there are some pitfalls to be considered in terms of resilience, appearance and last but not least the effort in setting the limits. For example, metal lawn borders are extremely durable, but not all models offer complete protection against spreading grasses. Plastics are similarly robust, but they often suffer from the appearance and elasticity of a few frozen frosts. The same applies to both materials as for grass stones: When buying one should always remember that only one mowed up to the edge racereally well-kept acts. The models should therefore be designed so that you can pass the mower close to it. As a border for perennial beds or as a delimitation of barbecue areas against too lush vegetation are particularly larger, uniformly hewn or cast stones that are best buried partially to protect against tipping over. They can also be used as practical storage or even seating, which makes them especially popular with families and barbecue enthusiasts. With some colorful upholstery pillows, they are transformed in a jiffy to a cozy party seating area. Should one bed border On the other hand, if the road is restricted or drivable, then flat, newly built stones and, depending on the nature of the terrain, a stable concrete background must be used.

Also for special purposes

Since the trend towards Urban Gardening the raised bedOnce again, hobby gardeners are increasingly looking for suitable frames for this special application. Finished raised wooden curbs, even if this is to be made more durable by impregnation or other methods, garden lovers often enjoy only a few summers. Therefore, more and more durable frame structures made of natural stone, brick or sandstone have recently been seen for these easy-care beds. If beds are located on the edge of land, they are often used as decorative boundary walls to the outside. Whatever material you choose, they all protect the beds from the rain earthausschwemmt. Therefore, even more often you can see cemeteries, on which numerous graves bordered with flower beds from the plant specialist market. Visitors are less likely to have to carry heavy sacks of earth and the roads will stay clean.
However, quite different materials are used when it comes to the droll-looking, honest vegetable and Obstgärtner but almost desperate driving snails. Only recently has a practical test of different methods of control at the WDR service time show clearly that specially shaped metal fences may not be beauties, but still provide the most effective protection against the crawling wolverines. Hardly any animal was able to overcome the edgy metal barrier – salads and strawberries actually remained healthy.
Particularly popular in large gardens are bamboo species, many of which are spreading faster than many landowners would like. The so-called rhizomes, subterranean root systems, grow through huge areas and not infrequently emerge suddenly undesirable in the neighbor’s garden. Reliable control of such plants can only be achieved with rhizome barriers made of robust HDPE (high-pressure polyethylene); Unfortunately, these teichfolienartigen, black tarpaulins are visually unattractive. So what lies nearer than the edge protruding from the earth behind one bed border to hide from attractive material? For this purpose, rather high, close to each other standing blocks of stone or appropriately sawn into sections tree trunks are very good. They should be sunk in a low trench outside the plant boundary around the plantation to be stable.

Think carefully

In addition to the durability and visual aspects, there is a lot more to consider when buying bed borderen. For most hobby gardeners, large price differences in the many commercially available models are an important factor. This is understandable, because in the face of mostly several meters long transfer routes quickly come together high sums. But if you think about longer periods of time, this bill relativizes again. Durable materials can easily last for decades, while wood and other degradable building materials need to be replaced several times during this span. If you only want to use them in a leased garden, this property can be reversed again to the advantage: then you have invested only a little money, if you should give the property back a little later. This example shows that personal decisions are always important when making a purchase decision. In the same way, only everyone can decide for themselves what visually appeals to them most. However, the choice of material for bed borders always depends on the existing design of the surroundings. If a state-of-the-art house is close by, hardly anyone will want to combine a rustic pinewood border in Black Forest style. In support of this, material samples can be tried in advance at the intended installation location; Style breaks are revealed so quickly. It can also be tested whether the soil is suitable for the planned anchoring of the border on site; After all, nobody wants to have heavy clay soil with them for weeks pickaxehave to dig out. In addition, one should also note whether the individual elements of the border can be combined as necessary. Only dense barriers keep soil and vigorous plants in their place for a long time.

New ideas implemented

Throughout history, people in horticulture and agriculture have used numerous building materials as boundary elements. With ambitious hobby gardeners in the course of the do-it-yourself movement, one can now increasingly observe the use of historically transmitted ideas. In addition to the popular dry stone walls, which are not mortared and provide a home between many of their stones in many gaps in rare animal species, original walls are built from unusual materials. An example of this are slope walls from old newspapers. When stacked in large quantities using a traditional technique, they rapidly combine to form an astonishingly durable barrier in changing weather conditions, providing low-cost access to gardens with terrain inclination. Especially in the countries around the Mediterranean, there is still the tradition of putting empty wine bottles upside down in order to limit beds. However, the method has probably proven to be better in these relatively rain-poor regions than in the GDR, where it was also used for a long time due to the persistent lack of building materials. As a true all-rounder, however, old roof tiles and slate shingles have proven themselves. Especially the dark variants heat up when exposed to sunlight and release growth-promoting heat to their surroundings. When recycling old building materials, however, care should always be
taken that they are not contaminated with environmentally hazardous toxins such as asbestos. Shopping at the retailer, however, offers a safe choice even for organic gardeners.