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As part of my garden makeover I'll be growing a small lawn ( :eek: ) which will be surrounded by Lilydale topping (crushed lime stone) paths.
Rather than lay down concrete edging/mowing strips between the lawn and paths I would like to put down edging/mowing strips made of treated pine sleepers. I would use 100 * 75mm H4 treated pine (cut from 200 * 75mm sleepers).
Has anyone used sleepers that way? If so please tell me your experiences. If not, why not?
Peter.
The only trouble is that grass that has runners go under the sleepers and invade the gardens. Deep concrete edging stops this.
Peter, I`ve successfully used sleepers to separate my lawn from the garden beds.
Lay grass that has above ground runners and you should be fine.
Peter, just a comment on ripping the sleepers, it would be a good idea to coat cut surfaces with Reseal from Protim Solignum or similar to maximise the protection against insects & decay.
Cheers..............Sean
Peter,
Coming from Melbourne you should be right with your grass selection
- non stolonipherous (phew) species such as rye. Even though you get the widest edge laying them flat I would lay them side up to avoid the sleeper warping or cupping - even then..I doubt that you can get seasoned treated pine. If you can get your hands on some old jarrah sleepers better still, clean them up & protect them - those buggers aren't going anywhere. However I'm not sure if you can still get them, if anyone knows let me know.
Cheers Tony
Thanks for the advice guys.
The area concerned is the last sloping section of our backyard and before laying the lawn I will level it using the cut and fill method.
I have already removed 200mm from the front high end (digging into solid clay is not my idea of fun :eek: even with a motorised tiller :D ) and now am getting onto the fill part of the job. I will have to bring in a truck load of soil and crushed rock to level this area by bring up the back about 300mm.
It will also allow me to dump the clay that I need to dig out from underneath the house to make room to change my DC and separator bin to a proper cyclone.
Because of the fill (and it's settling period) and the need to level the area the sleepers will be easier to work with and appears to be as cost effective as laying down concrete mowing strips. I will check my sleeper supplier about some seasoned redgum sleepers else I'll go with the treated pine sleepers.
Peter.
Peter, as far as the grass goes, having been a mowing contractor I wouldn't go past tall fescue for looks & drought tolerance.
Best looking & most practical lawn grass down here, I reckon.
Cheers..................Sean
The 100 * 75mm sleepers will buckle. Seriously consider placing in some posts at around 1200 gaps and double bolt the sleepers to the posts. And maybe even try 200 * 100mm sleepers
Also any kikuyu or couch and to a lesser degree buffalo will get in and under the sleepers and become a pest in the garden.
Anytime I put in ANY sort of garden edging I recommend that if the client is serious about keeping the lawn and the garden apart they consider something like Rye or Fescue.
And if you buy seed from a hardware store - have a close look at the mix - most of them include a couch or kikuyu mix in the seed.
A simple solution to the clay issue is to cover the clay with a fair bit of Gypsum and then tiller it........it will help to break it up and it wont hurt any future drainage issues.
Grass in the garden beds can be sprayed with a product called fusilade, it is quite exxy but completely safe to spray around shrubs as it is a grass killer only.
I did the edges of my previous house with jarrah sleepers and never had a problem tho these were laid on edge, i would be a bit worried about slip hazards if i was laying them flat.
Hope this helps
Steve
Bit off track but I like using bricks with the holes in them placed on thier side so that water can still seep through. I lay them on a bed of mortar and between each brick. You have a good thickness border and you can build the soil up to avoid the clay.