Without beautiful garden paths, a neat plot design is impossible to get. Clinker bricks, pavers, decorative tiles or concrete usually serve as the material for their creation. Sometimes more exotic and unusual elements are used: wood, grass, gravel, etc. To make the design of the track itself complete, borders are used. In most cases, this item is required. About what there are borders for paths, and we will talk further. Also, in all details, we will understand with what technologies this element of landscape design can be made.
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The garden border performs several functions at once:
- gives the track design a spectacular finished look;
- prevents the growth of lawn grass;
- strengthens the edges of the track;
- prevents melt water from entering the track.
Types of garden borders
This track element is made from a variety of materials: brick, concrete, wood, metal, plastic or even plants. It can look very beautiful both a finished border bought in a store, or assembled independently. In size, these elements are high and low, wide and narrow. The most important thing when choosing material is to try to make sure that the border harmoniously fits into the design of the track, as well as the entire site as a whole.
Brick usage
It’s very easy to assemble such curbs for tracks with your own hands. This material is usually used if the track itself is lined with stone or filled with concrete. Most often, for the installation of the curb, they choose not ordinary brick, but facing. Such material is characterized by increased strength and resistance to the effects of adverse environmental factors.
The technology for making brick borders is very simple. In most cases, this element is assembled before paving or filling the track itself. First, the contours of its passage are marked on the earth. Further, small trenches are excavated along them (about 2/3 of the depth of the brick). At the bottom you can pour a little sand or gravel. In this case, the trench should be dug deeper.
The bricks themselves are installed not vertically, but at an angle, so that the edge of the curb is “jagged”.
Wood application
Borders for tracks of this type fit very well in the design of sections in the style of Provence, country, Russian, Ukrainian, etc. Elements of this material are usually framed by tracks laid out with wood or gravel, or simply sown with low grass. Sometimes for the manufacture of such a border, a board is used, placed on the end in trenches dug along the edges, or a bar. However, such tracks do not look very solid. In addition, the board and even the timber are short-lived materials.
Much more spectacular and original look borders from the logs. The latter can be cut independently from thick branches or thin tree trunks or purchased ready-made material in the store. In purchased curbs, logs are wired and are already treated from rot and insects. Therefore, they are much easier to install.
As in the case of bricks, the block of logs is assembled before laying out the track itself. After marking, a trench is also excavated. Sawn logs are treated with an antiseptic. It’s very good to smear their edge, which will be in the ground, drying oil or used engine oil. Material prepared in this way is simply installed vertically in the trench.
In order to make such curbs for tracks with your own hands neat and attractive, you can cover the logs with wood oil. It is better not to use varnish for this purpose. Even imported products of this kind do not tolerate high humidity too well.
Concrete border
This is one of the most popular and durable species. The depth of the trench along the edges of the track under such a curb should be about 4 cm. The optimum height and width of concrete strips is 20 x 15 cm. It is not necessary to arrange a substrate of sand or gravel under such a curb. It will be enough just to level the bottom of the trench. You can lay it with some kind of waterproofing material, for example roofing material. Blocks or paving stones are installed in the trench closely.
You can also fill the curbs for the tracks with your own hands from concrete yourself. In this case, it will be necessary to make the formwork. For its manufacture, plywood or (if the track has bends) sheets of thick sheet are suitable. At the end of pouring, the top of the concrete curb is carefully leveled using a level.
How to prepare a concrete mix
The solution is prepared as follows:
- Pour sand and dry cement into a trough and mix thoroughly.
- Water is added so that the mixture is not too thick and not too liquid.
The proportion of sand / cement should be 4/1. Finished borders several times a day - at least during the week - should be watered with water from a hose or from a bucket. Otherwise, cracks will go along them.
Wicker elements
Such a border for the track in the country looks very beautiful and unusual. To make it, you need to cook:
- thin humps;
- many willow rods (of the same length);
- wooden hard sticks.
The logs dig along the path at a distance equal to the length of the willow twigs. Between them sticks stick. Next, willow twigs are braided . It is better to soak them first, then it will be more convenient to work. For weaving rods, several pieces are used (2-3). Each bundle is carried out behind the first stick, then before the second one, etc. The rods can be fastened together with a thin wire. After the first section is ready, proceed to weaving the second.
Plastic curbs for garden paths
This ready-made version can last a very long time and is installed elementarily. They are plastic curbs flexible wide tape, usually sold in baboons. To facilitate cutting, it needs to be unwound and laid out on a site under the sun. Further along the future path, a narrow groove approximately 8 cm deep is dug.
A plastic border is installed in it. For tracks, you can use a tape of any color. The main thing is that the shade harmoniously fit into the design of the site. Typically, these borders are green. But yellow, and gray, and any others can look beautiful. The installed tape is dug up with earth and compacted.
"Live" border
This is the most beautiful and most difficult version to perform. For the manufacture of a “living” border, it is best to use plants such as a horizontal cotoneaster or boxwood. In order to make the track harmonious, the width of the green ribbon should not exceed 30 cm. A border is built in this case simply by planting the plants at a short distance from each other. The grown bushes should subsequently close tightly.
Of course, unlike the usual, a "live" border for garden paths will require much more care. It will have to be cut and watered periodically (2-3 times per season). Borders are also very beautiful from ornamental grassy undersized plants. In this case, along the edges of the path, long narrow flowerbeds are simply arranged.
Metal border
It is also quite beautiful and at the same time very durable option. Such borders for tracks can be made of aluminum, copper, steel and are well suited for a site whose design is made in the style of minimalism. Purchased options for such ribbons can be decorated with embossing, have curly edges, that is, look very attractive. Installing a border of this type is an extremely simple procedure. The tape simply digs along the edges of the track in a strictly vertical position.
How to make a border for paths from bottles
Using this junk material, you can arrange a border even for the longest track in just a couple of hours. Of course, it will not be especially beautiful, but it will cost a penny. In order to make a border, the bottles are simply dug upside down in the ground. You can diversify the design of the tape using material of different colors. It is desirable to cut off the very neck of the bottles before digging. They need to be dug up to half the height.
The advantages of such borders for paths include not only low cost, but also durability. Plastic does not rot like wood, and does not rust like metal.
As you can see, making borders for a track is in most cases the simplest procedure. If you do everything in a hurry, you will get a very effective element of landscape design, durable and reliable.