As anyone who’s mowed a lawn can tell you, the edges are the toughest part to keep trim. Flower bed plantings often spill out onto lawns, making it difficult to get a fine edge without inflicting damage on adjacent plants. And if you’ve got one of the more aggressive grasses in your lawn (like St. Augustine grass or Bermuda grass), they can invade your beds over time, making keeping your yard tidy even harder – unless the grass is stopped by the hard edge of a mow strip.
Mow strips not only make cutting your grass easier, they protect your plantings from becoming accidental victims of mower blades.
Photo Credit: ©2000 Dolezal Publishing/Image Point
What’s a mow strip? It’s sort of a demilitarized zone between your lawn and your beds, where a mower can traverse safely to cut the lawn’s edge without mowing down and chopping up half of your annuals and perennials.
Mow strips can be made of many materials of varying durability, including concrete, brick, pavers, vinyl or wood benderboard, vinyl, aluminum, recycled plastic or ironwork, and they make lawn care infinitely easier. They also provide a finishing touch that can greatly add to your garden’s appearance and even enhance a certain garden style like an English country border or a Mediterranean garden. No matter which mow strip materials you use, they’re all installed in roughly the same manner.
Installing benderboard is less labor-intensive than masonry, but it still creates a visual break between beds and lawn. These borders are less protective of your plants since no real “mowing zone” is created, but the benefit is that they’re not as permanent: If you want to change the shape of your lawn or planting bed, all you need to do is tear out the benderboard and put it in a new location. The drawback of benderboard is that the materials tend to warp and deteriorate over time with exposure to the elements – even if they’re made of recycled plastic.
The attractive mow strip shown here is constructed by building a simple benderboard form, filling it with concrete and finishing it with a fitted-block motif. Once it’s in place, only the decorative top surface and a bit of the sides are visible, framing your lawn. Mow strips for an entire front yard can be completed in a single weekend. Assemble the necessary materials and follow the simple steps shown in the pictures and described in the captions for best results.
No matter which type of mow strip or border you choose to install, you can count on the fact your mowing chore will get easier – and you’ll be adding an attractive feature to your garden.
Installing Mow Strips - Step 1
Excavate a trench 6-8 inches deep and 8 inches wide. Using flexible benderboard, build 6-inch-wide side forms, drive stakes at bends, and nail the boards to them. Blocks keep the form spaced evenly parallel.
Photo Credit: ©2000 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard
Installing Mow Strips - Step 2
Fill the form with concrete to the desired depth. Float the top surface smooth, and use a curved finishing tool to strike each edge from the form.
Photo Credit: ©2000 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard
Installing Mow Strips - Step 3
Allow the concrete to set. Water of formation will emerge as it starts to set up, then will begin to be absorbed; at this point, use the float to score random-length decorative “block junctions” into the stiff cement.
Photo Credit: ©2000 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard
Installing Mow Strips - Step 4
After the concrete has hardened, carefully take off the forms, taking care not to damage the green concrete. Allow your mow strip to cure for at least 48 hours before working around it on the site.
Photo Credit: ©2000 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard
