Specializing in colorful, water-conserving gardens

Hardscape Edging

Joan Bolton,

I read your article on edging material in the latest edition of Fine Gardening and hope you can give some advice. I have tried several types of edging to separate planting beds from lawn, but have had unsatisfactory results. Currently I have a product from Home Depot that comes on rolls (recycled plastic), but it is too thin (about 1/8th inch) to stand up to being run over by over vigorous contract lawn mowers. The board bender product you show in your excellent article looks a bit thicker and sturdier, but I can’t find it locally. Do you know of any supplier of that product?

I would appreciate any help you can offer!

Dick Pollard
Melbourne, FL

Joan says:

Hi Dick,

Glad to hear that you read Fine Gardening!

Your best bet would be to check with a local landscape supply or irrigation supply store.

For instance, I just looked up “landscape supplies” for Melbourne, Florida, on switchboard.com and found Sodding Depot in Palm Bay: 1378 Malabar Rd SE, Palm Bay, FL, 32907, (321) 728-2766. Based on the listing, you should be able to buy (or order) thicker recycled plastic benderboard there.

Then I looked up “irrigation supplies,” and switchboard came back with a whopping three pages of listings.

If you do those same two searches, I’m confident you’ll find a supplier.

As for the actual thickness — suppliers here typically offer recycled plastic benderboard in 1″ and 2″ (and 4″ or 6″ tall and 20′-0″ long). The 1″ is a little more flexible, so better for curves; the 2″ is better for straighter lines.

Good luck!

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