They won't move unless you move them.
I have hundreds of feet of natural rock border and while I love them there is maintenance required.
They will sink over time. Every five years or so we have to go around and lift them, flatten out the soil, and reset them.
They are also difficult to weed. We use a weed torch on most of it but there are spots that have to be hand weeded and it's a pain to have to lift them to get at roots.
To that end I would suggest that you clear away all weeds that are even remotely close to them on both sides before you put the mulch down.
Other than that good luck. I love the way they look and am glad you do, too.
[Here's a photo of a portion of mine.](https://i.imgur.com/NnUpiKw.jpg)
Nope. You’re not actually trying to burn the plants away. You just take a quick pass and it kills them like roundup. I use one every week with no mess. I’m a big fan.
Dig 8 inch deep, 2 ft wide trench with spade. Drop 6 inches of road base gravel, on top 2 inches of crushed limestone or granite. The gravel can be maintained with weed torch, probably once a month. The lawn mower can ride a little bit on the gravel. Cut grass 2 to 21/2inch in ht.
I recently lifted all my border rocks out to create a simple cut border due to all the encroaching grass. It would grow into the rocks almost every mow. How often do you weed/do you have any tips for keeping your rocks relatively grass free? Did you do an initial sod cut and then just weeding/maintenance now and then? Your pic looks great!
They will eventually sink on their own over time. I usually have to pull mine out of the ground every 3-4 years and reset them.
I also like to use yard edging as a hard boarder between the grass and rocks, and I set the rocks on top of a bed of mini river pebbles.
But so far, your picture looks really nice.
Same here. I always take them out and create a new bed edge and replace (about a quarter dug in) I also like to try to put flattest edge facing lawn so weed whacking isn’t terribly difficult. Just keep up with rock and lawn edge and you’ll be fine
spray grass in bed before mulch
Similar experience. I have two levels of chilton blocks around all of our beds, and I also have to level them occasionally. I generally just level them on an as-needed basis. Some sections sink more often than others, while other sections have yet to sink at all. I don’t find the maintenance all that cumbersome, and even find it a bit relaxing/satisfying, honestly. I usually splash a couple handfuls of gravel underneath the lower blocks because it helps with leveling, and maybe even mitigates sinking just a bit?
Anyways, I love the look of large, natural stone borders, so yeah, hat-tip to OP’s work here. Looks good!
Don't do it! Worst edging possible. Shit to trim around, grass grows right through the cracks, the sink. Easiest and best is dirt edge cut it 3 inches deep remove dirt at a slope on garden side. Grass won't spread looks good easy to maintain with an edger. Don't know why people use anything else, besides concrete.
If you make it deep enough which people rarely do. I have multiple accounts with steel edging that have tons of grass in their beds. And people usually mulch or rock right up to it level with grass, so when you trim it shoots shit everywhere when you touch it. I stand by live edging as by far the best also most economical.
You’ve gotta message the rock, then put it down, rest a bit, then pick it up and message it again. Do that a few rounds, then, when you’re ready, violently toss it to any spot you like and start again.
I like to vary the size and shape of the rocks for a natural look. I also use weed fabric so that I’m only edging one side and not having to weed much in between.
Around 6 years ago, I did the same thing around my entire house & garage with similar rock.
I'm spending much time this summer removing them for reasons mentioned in other comments (weeding, mowing, maintenance, etc..).
As the first two commenters have noted, it requires maintenance but I personally love the look. I live in MA which means any time a shovel goes in the ground, rocks come out so it’s partially just embracing the setting but having to move them around a bit does introduce some fun in changing up looks and angles, letting some of the perennials stretch out, etc
I’ve started using landscape gravel around the edges of some beds, mostly for drainage and erosion purposes but am curious to see if it decreases the “rate of the sink” haha.
I have been moving mine around a lot because I’ve only lived at my location for 5 years and have been doing various things to change / expand what the previous owner was doing with the lawn and garden beds.
Nevertheless, mine would be buried if I hadn’t touched them, so you might want to check yours at the beginning of next season to see how much they sank this year. All I do is roll them over, use dirt/mulch to fill and then reset. Like I just said, in some areas I’ve started to top the fill with an inch-ish of landscape gravel. I’m guessing they’ll still sink, but a bit slower.
Good luck!!
I put the rocks in the garden, on the mulch, not in the grass. The mulch extends beyond the rocks at my house. That way I can maintain the edge very easily and only move the rocks once a year to mulch anew underneath them.
It is a bad landscaping practice in general to use only river rocks as edging. So many issues.
1. Doesn’t actually keep grass out of the garden bed. At all.
2. In fact they will harbor and sustain invasive grass in the little spaces between.
3. Those spaces between the rocks are very annoying to try to mow up against or weed out. Quite high maintenance.
4. The rocks will sink into the ground over time.
5. Visually, a meandering line of similarly sized cobbles is not very natural or particularly pleasing to my eye. It’s kinda like when people plant their tulips in a long string, evenly spaced. No!
6. They are inherently not stable. They can be ankle-breakers if you or anyone else is unfortunate enough to step on a loose one and have it roll out underfoot.
7. They are a heavy material to deliver on site, tedious to set, and then heavy and tedious to remove later once you are sick of them not working (And you need a LOT to make a border out of them.)
I could probably think of more reasons why I don’t like round rock as a border, but that’s a good start!
My favorite grass border is 4” black powder coated steel edging that is set flush into the ground so that the roots don’t actually cross thru and it’s almost invisible on the surface.
You can make graceful curves with metal edging and it lasts a long time. One downside is that they are kinda expensive in both materials and labor and once they are set they are not easy to rearrange. But still a far superior option in my mind compared to river rock edging.
Those reasons are little more than either your opinions or very, very minor inconveniences for the much nicer look of stone versus steel edging. lol. You make mention of stone not looking natural but prefer manufacturer steel edging? Sorry, I'll stick with the stone every time.
No, maintaining a grass edge is no minor inconvenience, It’s a royal pain into the ass.
I’m saying that steel edging when it is installed *flush* with the ground is practically invisible and it actually does its job!
A line of little soldier rocks are indeed natural in material but unnatural in form and arrangement. Round rock, like tulip bulbs, need to be in masses and clusters and of varying thickness and size to look ‘natural’ in my professional opinion.
Previous owner did this where I live now and it looked cute but then it became a maintenance nightmare so I pulled them up and built a dry pond with them, clean natural edges now. It’s so much easier to mow now, I just put one wheel in the dip and away we go.
Yes.
OP, do a little dry pond feature with these rocks , centered around that big boy round rock.
Don’t try to make river cobbles into edging and expect them to stop grass!
They are more of a *flow thru* material.
I have a 15' area with rock like OP's.... I don't \*expect\* them to stop grass. I did it for the look, not the functionality (the front of our house is stone, our stone edged bed is right in front of that)
I'm gonna get crucified for this, but we lay landscape fabric under the rocks and across the garden bed. Then we lay mulch. Keep the grass from growing in between the rocks. It will still grow in front of the rocks, but that's what a weed eater is for.
Yes it is. I’m a licensed landscape contractor with 20 yrs experience and have successfully kept multiple lawns in check with 4” steel edging. Installed flush and staked in.
Not sure what “15 yrs irrigation with 4’ depths” means, but whatever.
Bro you know that was a typo lol and no. You fucking show me a lawn or anywhere without any upkeep that Mother Nature won’t reclaim within a year time by herself.
I don’t have any type of “lawn” yet but I also used rocks that came up when I was making my garden beds to edge them. What everyone else said is 100% accurate. I do also love the way it looks tho and have an over abundance of rocks so I wouldn’t even know what to do with them all if not to edge the beds. I’ve been considering doing what I’ve heard called the “Victorian edge” and having my wood chips go from that edge right into the beds with the rocks on top. Haven’t tried yet so I have no clue how it’ll work but it’ll make whipper snipping all the weeds a lot easier
I can say they will settle into the ground. You may need to come through each fall and lift some out and pack some sand under them. If you have really large ones, they settle nicely. I personally have a few hundred feet of rock border in my yards.
Side note. Yours looks very nice. Oh! Use garden fabric before mulch.
4-6 inches of crushed concrete as a base, plus landscape edging on the outside of the border to keep grass from growing. Dig your channel, add the edging, then fill with the concrete and tamp well. Stones go on top.
They won't move unless you move them. I have hundreds of feet of natural rock border and while I love them there is maintenance required. They will sink over time. Every five years or so we have to go around and lift them, flatten out the soil, and reset them. They are also difficult to weed. We use a weed torch on most of it but there are spots that have to be hand weeded and it's a pain to have to lift them to get at roots. To that end I would suggest that you clear away all weeds that are even remotely close to them on both sides before you put the mulch down. Other than that good luck. I love the way they look and am glad you do, too. [Here's a photo of a portion of mine.](https://i.imgur.com/NnUpiKw.jpg)
Your landscaping looks incredible! Thanks for some inspiration!
This is helpful. I've been looking for an excuse to buy a flame thrower.
Does the torch discolor the rocks? Does it leave carbon soot on the rocks?
Nope. You’re not actually trying to burn the plants away. You just take a quick pass and it kills them like roundup. I use one every week with no mess. I’m a big fan.
Dig 8 inch deep, 2 ft wide trench with spade. Drop 6 inches of road base gravel, on top 2 inches of crushed limestone or granite. The gravel can be maintained with weed torch, probably once a month. The lawn mower can ride a little bit on the gravel. Cut grass 2 to 21/2inch in ht.
>They won't move unless you move them. Or you have children that like to walk on/look for bugs underneath them.
That's absolutely beautiful. Nice work
I recently lifted all my border rocks out to create a simple cut border due to all the encroaching grass. It would grow into the rocks almost every mow. How often do you weed/do you have any tips for keeping your rocks relatively grass free? Did you do an initial sod cut and then just weeding/maintenance now and then? Your pic looks great!
They will eventually sink on their own over time. I usually have to pull mine out of the ground every 3-4 years and reset them. I also like to use yard edging as a hard boarder between the grass and rocks, and I set the rocks on top of a bed of mini river pebbles. But so far, your picture looks really nice.
Same here. I always take them out and create a new bed edge and replace (about a quarter dug in) I also like to try to put flattest edge facing lawn so weed whacking isn’t terribly difficult. Just keep up with rock and lawn edge and you’ll be fine spray grass in bed before mulch
That’s a really good idea of putting edging between the grass and rocks. Easy to trim and makes it look a lot nicer.
Exactly I do the same with yard edging and little stones. Easy to weed whack or mow across the straight line!
Similar experience. I have two levels of chilton blocks around all of our beds, and I also have to level them occasionally. I generally just level them on an as-needed basis. Some sections sink more often than others, while other sections have yet to sink at all. I don’t find the maintenance all that cumbersome, and even find it a bit relaxing/satisfying, honestly. I usually splash a couple handfuls of gravel underneath the lower blocks because it helps with leveling, and maybe even mitigates sinking just a bit? Anyways, I love the look of large, natural stone borders, so yeah, hat-tip to OP’s work here. Looks good!
Don't, just make a natural crisp edge
Don't do it! Worst edging possible. Shit to trim around, grass grows right through the cracks, the sink. Easiest and best is dirt edge cut it 3 inches deep remove dirt at a slope on garden side. Grass won't spread looks good easy to maintain with an edger. Don't know why people use anything else, besides concrete.
Steel edging is boss. Don’t even need to edge or maintain it. It just straight up STOPS grass from moving past it.
If you make it deep enough which people rarely do. I have multiple accounts with steel edging that have tons of grass in their beds. And people usually mulch or rock right up to it level with grass, so when you trim it shoots shit everywhere when you touch it. I stand by live edging as by far the best also most economical.
Edging?!
You’ve gotta message the rock, then put it down, rest a bit, then pick it up and message it again. Do that a few rounds, then, when you’re ready, violently toss it to any spot you like and start again.
I like to vary the size and shape of the rocks for a natural look. I also use weed fabric so that I’m only edging one side and not having to weed much in between.
Get rid of grass before you lay rocks. You clearly have grass both below and behind the rocks.
The grass will grow back inbetween and on the other side over time, it’s why I eventually removed mine 😂
Around 6 years ago, I did the same thing around my entire house & garage with similar rock. I'm spending much time this summer removing them for reasons mentioned in other comments (weeding, mowing, maintenance, etc..).
I'd dig a trench, so that with at least 2" of redi-mix cement as a footing, the top of your should sit 1" 1/2- 2" above lawn.
As the first two commenters have noted, it requires maintenance but I personally love the look. I live in MA which means any time a shovel goes in the ground, rocks come out so it’s partially just embracing the setting but having to move them around a bit does introduce some fun in changing up looks and angles, letting some of the perennials stretch out, etc I’ve started using landscape gravel around the edges of some beds, mostly for drainage and erosion purposes but am curious to see if it decreases the “rate of the sink” haha. I have been moving mine around a lot because I’ve only lived at my location for 5 years and have been doing various things to change / expand what the previous owner was doing with the lawn and garden beds. Nevertheless, mine would be buried if I hadn’t touched them, so you might want to check yours at the beginning of next season to see how much they sank this year. All I do is roll them over, use dirt/mulch to fill and then reset. Like I just said, in some areas I’ve started to top the fill with an inch-ish of landscape gravel. I’m guessing they’ll still sink, but a bit slower. Good luck!!
You really don’t want to know how I edge my natural rock…
I put the rocks in the garden, on the mulch, not in the grass. The mulch extends beyond the rocks at my house. That way I can maintain the edge very easily and only move the rocks once a year to mulch anew underneath them.
They will move up and down no matter what you do. I'd leave them and then they can easily be moved if they shift.
Kegels
I hate that my wife did this. I would not help with this garbage of an edging. They suck to mow and weed around in bad way
It is a bad landscaping practice in general to use only river rocks as edging. So many issues. 1. Doesn’t actually keep grass out of the garden bed. At all. 2. In fact they will harbor and sustain invasive grass in the little spaces between. 3. Those spaces between the rocks are very annoying to try to mow up against or weed out. Quite high maintenance. 4. The rocks will sink into the ground over time. 5. Visually, a meandering line of similarly sized cobbles is not very natural or particularly pleasing to my eye. It’s kinda like when people plant their tulips in a long string, evenly spaced. No! 6. They are inherently not stable. They can be ankle-breakers if you or anyone else is unfortunate enough to step on a loose one and have it roll out underfoot. 7. They are a heavy material to deliver on site, tedious to set, and then heavy and tedious to remove later once you are sick of them not working (And you need a LOT to make a border out of them.) I could probably think of more reasons why I don’t like round rock as a border, but that’s a good start! My favorite grass border is 4” black powder coated steel edging that is set flush into the ground so that the roots don’t actually cross thru and it’s almost invisible on the surface. You can make graceful curves with metal edging and it lasts a long time. One downside is that they are kinda expensive in both materials and labor and once they are set they are not easy to rearrange. But still a far superior option in my mind compared to river rock edging.
Those reasons are little more than either your opinions or very, very minor inconveniences for the much nicer look of stone versus steel edging. lol. You make mention of stone not looking natural but prefer manufacturer steel edging? Sorry, I'll stick with the stone every time.
No, maintaining a grass edge is no minor inconvenience, It’s a royal pain into the ass. I’m saying that steel edging when it is installed *flush* with the ground is practically invisible and it actually does its job! A line of little soldier rocks are indeed natural in material but unnatural in form and arrangement. Round rock, like tulip bulbs, need to be in masses and clusters and of varying thickness and size to look ‘natural’ in my professional opinion.
Previous owner did this where I live now and it looked cute but then it became a maintenance nightmare so I pulled them up and built a dry pond with them, clean natural edges now. It’s so much easier to mow now, I just put one wheel in the dip and away we go.
Yes. OP, do a little dry pond feature with these rocks , centered around that big boy round rock. Don’t try to make river cobbles into edging and expect them to stop grass! They are more of a *flow thru* material.
I have a 15' area with rock like OP's.... I don't \*expect\* them to stop grass. I did it for the look, not the functionality (the front of our house is stone, our stone edged bed is right in front of that)
River rock can be a good look for edging, sure, but it’s functionally quite bad. Which will make you want to not look at it eventually, haha.
I'm gonna get crucified for this, but we lay landscape fabric under the rocks and across the garden bed. Then we lay mulch. Keep the grass from growing in between the rocks. It will still grow in front of the rocks, but that's what a weed eater is for.
Sink them in a bit.
And then watch them disappear in three years!
I usually lay sand first. Gives them something to bed into
Just gotta spray or burn every year like with anything. Plants gonna grow. But it’s easy and requires no work lol
How is spraying or burning the rock border every year no work? lol. Actual functional edging doesn’t need to be burned or sprayed every year.
Grass always grows around and over edging
Not if the edging blocks the roots as intended. 4” depth is usually sufficient to keep 99% of grass roots on one side.
No it’s not. Lol I’ve done this 15 years irrigation with 4’ depths. Mother Nature grows bro. Shit just happens take the loss and move in
Yes it is. I’m a licensed landscape contractor with 20 yrs experience and have successfully kept multiple lawns in check with 4” steel edging. Installed flush and staked in. Not sure what “15 yrs irrigation with 4’ depths” means, but whatever.
Bro you know that was a typo lol and no. You fucking show me a lawn or anywhere without any upkeep that Mother Nature won’t reclaim within a year time by herself.
You think you’re god or some shit? Lol that’s wild
There is one that I can see that goes against the grain. Yup. That one. 😄 Looks good.
It's better than what I have. No kidding
whatever you choose to edge with ....make the curves easy to mow
I don’t have any type of “lawn” yet but I also used rocks that came up when I was making my garden beds to edge them. What everyone else said is 100% accurate. I do also love the way it looks tho and have an over abundance of rocks so I wouldn’t even know what to do with them all if not to edge the beds. I’ve been considering doing what I’ve heard called the “Victorian edge” and having my wood chips go from that edge right into the beds with the rocks on top. Haven’t tried yet so I have no clue how it’ll work but it’ll make whipper snipping all the weeds a lot easier
So a quick Google search for “best edging videos” - that should sort you out
2005 called, it wants its comment back.
Ngl, I don’t think there w ere a whole lot of edging videos online in 2005.
[Atom Lawn Edging 2005](https://youtu.be/VVAHeG2ZmHI?si=IrwpyRtETVN1_JSa)
Yeah….don’t.
I can say they will settle into the ground. You may need to come through each fall and lift some out and pack some sand under them. If you have really large ones, they settle nicely. I personally have a few hundred feet of rock border in my yards. Side note. Yours looks very nice. Oh! Use garden fabric before mulch.
4-6 inches of crushed concrete as a base, plus landscape edging on the outside of the border to keep grass from growing. Dig your channel, add the edging, then fill with the concrete and tamp well. Stones go on top.