Common ways of edging a garden is simply to cut an edge into the turf where the garden begins. There have also been suggestions of using stone, brick, or some other building materials.
If you grow raspberries, then you already have a unique form of edging material on hand that would otherwise be thrown out – the raspberry cane.
A nice, clean edge.
If you grow raspberries then you know that to prepare them for next season you have to prune out the old wood. This needs to be done because the fruit grows out of new wood every growing season. So what do you do with the discarded cane?
Here is how to make garden edging using the cane.
Materials you need for this project include:
· A bunch of pruned raspberry canes
· Bamboo cut into 18-inch segments
· Hacksaw
· Hammer
The first step of this project is to gather the raspberry cane. This is achieved when you do your regular pruning every year. You will need to cut down the raspberry plant to the ground because the fruit that appears the next season needs new wood from which to grow.
The best time to do the pruning is in winter when the raspberries are dormant. The canes are still alive even though they appear withered and dead. Once the cane is pruned away, discard the soggy, brittle or disease looking samples.
When you actually prune it the cane is flexible and strong. However, over time they harden and lose the ability to bend. They also lose some of their strength. So they need a support that can be wound around that help them stay in place. The ideal material for this assignment is bamboo cane.
Use the hacksaw to cut 18-inch segments of bamboo cane. Run a string along the area where you want to build the edging to serve as a guide. Press the bamboo into the ground at 12-inch to 18-inch intervals. This will serve as the edging support.
Next, weave the raspberry cane around the bamboo canes. Begin at one end and weave one raspberry cane at a time in and around the bamboo pegs and push it all the way to the ground. Weave the next raspberry cane from the opposite direction and keep going with this process until the edging is constructed.
When you have built up the edging to your desired height, take the hammer and gently knock the bamboo pegs deeper into the ground. Bang the bamboo down so that the tops are flush with each other and just above the top of the raspberry canes.
Viola! You have your garden edge.
Rock garden. (Courtesy: Cheryl of flickr.com)
