3 features to improve your garden

Are you doing all you can to ensure your garden stays lush and attractive as possible? These three additional features should do the trick.

• The simplest and most subtle borders that effectively separate your lawn from a garden are 10-centimetre-wide (four-inch-wide) strips of steel, aluminum or plastic.
• They all bend easily into smooth, graceful curves and stop the spread of grass roots. Plan to set the border with the top edge about one centimetre (1/2 inch) above the soil level to maintain the lawn/garden separation and keep roots from crossing over the top.
• This makes the border almost invisible and allows you to mow right over it. However, be aware that the thin top edge can hurt bare feet.
• Make sure you round off any sharp edges with a file.
• Cut a clean vertical edge along the grass with a square spade. Then you can lay the border tightly against the edge when you stake and backfill it.
• There's no rule for shaping the edge. Simply follow the edges of your lawn, making smooth, gradual curves.
• To make sharp curves, bend the edging around a circular form.
• Locate underground lines before you dig and install any edging.

• Both concrete and brick pavers make a simple, handsome border and work well as edging material too.
• Inexpensive concrete pavers are designed for rugged outdoor use. Brick pavers are too, but don't confuse them with house bricks, which are typically softer and more likely to break down when used as pavers.
• Set the pavers in a bed of sand for easier positioning and levelling.
• Paver borders work well for straight, formal gardens but even better for informal yards with gradual curves and varying slopes. They won't fit as well on tighter curves unless you alter the design and are willing to cut them to fit with a diamond blade saw.
• It's important to set the front edge of the pavers about one centimetre (1/2 inch) above the soil in the lawn so the lawn mower can cut the grass cleanly.

• A stone wall does more than make a clean border along your lawn. It's a handsome visual statement in itself, and a great way to add depth and texture to a flat, featureless yard.
• To reduce maintenance, between the wall and the lawn, add a 10-centimetre-deep (four-inch-deep) trench lined with plastic edging and filled with mulch. This project doesn't require any special skills, just a strong back.
• Besides a good shovel and a wheelbarrow, you'll need a cold chisel and maul for breaking stones and driving edging stakes.
• Generally it's best to keep the bottom row of stone 2.5 centimetres (one inch) or so below the original soil level, but this will vary if you keep the stones level and the yard isn't level.
• At some point, you may have to step the stones up or down or use thinner or thicker stones. There's no rule here.
• When you lay the stones, experiment to achieve the best appearance.
• Lay the stones that have the most irregular faces in the first row, placing the irregular face down in the gravel, levelling the top
• . Vary the sizes and colours for the best look.
• Chip off irregularities with the maul and chisel.
• Then add the second row. Make this row as stable as possible so the stones won't rock and fall off.
• As a last resort, stabilize the stones by shoving stone chips into the gaps.
• Lay landscape fabric against the back of the wall before backfilling to keep dirt from washing out through the stone.