Keeping a lawn to path edge tidy

Dogmum

I'm in the process of laying out a design for our currently very straight line garden.  If I put a shaped lawn in that ran up to the edge of a path, as in the picture, how do you actually keep the lawn edge neat without getting down on the floor and cutting it with a pair of scissors?

Fairygirl

Edging shears. The lawn should also be high enough that you can run a mower over the paving edges without scalping the edges of the lawn itself. 

bédé

There are curvable metal edging available.  Or it could be approximated with bricks or half-bricks.

For trimming, there are long handled shears designed for the job.  Always worth buying a few up from cheapest.

JennyJ

Whatever edging you use, grass blades will tend to spread sideways over the adjacent surface and the mower won't get those even if the levels are correct. Like this - I cut it (high-ish) at the weekend but didn't trim the edges.

You can use one-hand shears or long-handled shears, or an electric clipper gadget. I find it easier to get down to it than to use long-handled tools (for now anyway while my knees are mostly OK). I use either a Bosch Isio which is nice and small and suit my small hands, or one-handed shears.

Dogmum

thanks @JennyJ that's the problem I had in my last garden, I was hoping I'd missed some easy way of taking care of it, hence the question.  I might need to rethink the shape of the join between the path and grass.

Fairygirl

I always use shears for the edges, and even if the grass doesn't really need cutting - perhaps earlier/later in the year, a wee trim of the edges with the shears makes it look smarter right away.
As @JennyJ says - you'll always get grass spreading across the adjacent surface, so it depends how fussy you are about the appearance as to how often you do edging. I usually do mine just before I cut the grass, so that the pieces get caught up by the mower  

I have long handled shears as I find those easiest. 

JennyJ

Dogmum said:

thanks @JennyJ that's the problem I had in my last garden, I was hoping I'd missed some easy way of taking care of it, hence the question.  I might need to rethink the shape of the join between the path and grass.

If you find an easier way, let me know

Plantminded

This may not appeal to everyone but I find that leaving a 4 to 6 inch gap of earth between the lawn and paving which is slightly lower than the other two surfaces helps.  It is then much easier to use long handled lawn shears on the lawn edge without having to deal with the ingress of grass over the paving on your knees!  I use a hoe to keep the gap free of weeds, it takes just a couple of minutes after trimming the edge.  The dark band of earth between the lawn and paving seems to give prominence to your neatly trimmed edge!

TheVanguard

I use a Flymo! 

The principle is the same as edging shears I guess….

I have a battery flymo strimmer, the model I have can rotate the cutting wire to 90 degrees and it has a wheel and you can just wheel it along cutting a neat edge.

I think they are called something like a trim and edge strimmer 

JennyJ

A gap (or any other lawn edge that doesn't have paving or edging to support it) doesn't work for me because the soil is sandy and the edge crumbles into the gap. I can see it working on a stickier clay-based soil that stays put when you cut a vertical(ish) edge.

Plantminded

My soil is sandy and the edge stays clean, but we may have more robust sand here, or the grass is tougher!  Do you have to use a block edging for your borders too @JennyJ?