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How to Make Timber Edged Borders
It's not just in vegetable gardens that you can make use of raised timber edged beds. They can help overcome problems such as poor soil and bad drainage. This method enables you to sow, plant, care, harvest and cut both crops and flowers without trampling on the soil, if you make your borders a maximum width of 1.5 m. You can make timber edged beds any shape, and their edges will help to contain gravel paths. It's worth taking time to draw up a plan so that you can use the space you have to best advantage. A formal design, with beds symmetrically arranged around a central feature suits herb and vegetable gardens. Mixed borders and flower gardens can look good either with straight edged beds arranged asymmetrically or using organic , curving shapes and circles - this is described in Step 4. You can also add timber edging to existing beds, as shown in Step 5.
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A clear site; sand, paint or pegs and garden line to mark out beds and borders; spade; wheelbarrow; rake; spirit level; pressure treated timber planks 2.5 cm x 15 cm x length to suit requirements; treated timber pegs 2.5 cm x 2.5 cm x 30 cm - enough to use at 1 m intervals around the beds; galvanised nails; saw; hammer; lump hammer or mallet; garden gloves (wood is unplaned); topsoil; garden compost.
Optional: stain or paint to match other garden timber features.
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Rake the site roughly before you start and remove large stones and clods of soil. Mark out the beds. If you intend to make paths around, remove the topsoil from pathways and pile up on one side.
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At one corner of the first bed, hammer a peg into the ground leaving half its height above ground - 15 cm. Do the same in the opposite corner. Take a timber plank and settle it into position, with one end up against the first corner peg. Nail the top and bottom of the end of the board to the first peg.
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Pegs should be spaced about every metre. Hammer into the ground as many pegs as you need to support the plank along the whole side. Fit the timber board to each peg, and check that it is level. Check that the tops of both pegs and the board match for a neat finish. Nail the plank to the pegs to secure it. Saw timber to fit and put the next plank into position before you fix into place. Butt joints together tightly, fixing adjoining planks to the same peg for a neater finish. Continue until you have edged all your beds.
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To make curved edges, mark out your curved beds. Cut notches about half to three quarters of the thickness of the timber planks at intervals along the length. At the start of the curve hammer a peg half way into the ground. Put the plank into place, with the notches on the soil side. Gently fit the plank into the curve by bending it into place. Work along the curve, adding more pegs as you need them to form the plank into a curve edge. You may need another persons' help to do this!
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To add timber edging to an existing border, dig out along the edge of an existing border to a depth of 16 cm to make a small trench . Scatter a small amount of sand evenly along the bottom. Put the first piece of timber into place, placing it vertically along the channel you've just dug. Settle it into place, removing any stones if necessary. Check the level of the top, the timber should finish just beneath the normal height of grass, so that your mower will run over it without catching it on the blades. Adjust the level using sand or soil. Hammer a peg into the ground at one end of the first plank, on the opposite side to the lawn. Peg tops should finish at the same height as the timber edging strip. Nail the peg to the plank at both top and bottom. Space more pegs about 1 m along the plank. Put the next plank into position before you fix each second end. Continue until finished and then rake the soil back against the new edge.
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Mark out new borders with pegs and string |
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Fix the timber edging to the pegs |
Plant up the new borders |
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