Been wanting to do this for a couple years now. Finally got around to it. Here are the initial pictures of the trench I've dug out. Took 2.5 hours to lay it out like I wanted. I don't have any before pics, so you'll have to use your imagination. This edge will be 52-53 feet long and 5 inches wide.

Sketchup Drawing:


From Front Door:


Down the front:

bet that was fun digging!

make sure you don't pile up mulch/dirt too high along your foundation when you're done.

Sounds like you are already set on your plans, but I'd like to make a suggestion. Instead of concrete put a level or two of stacked flagstone. Our landscaper talked us into it and the difference in aesthetics is unbelievable.

rlb28 said:

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Sounds like you are already set on your plans, but I'd like to make a suggestion. Instead of concrete put a level or two of stacked flagstone. Our landscaper talked us into it and the difference in aesthetics is unbelievable.

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I'm thinking about doing a small flagstone walkway in other areas. But that sounds expensive to do an edging with flagstone.

Tons of fun! Been humid as hell here relatively.

I'm staying just below that concrete slab line with the flower/shrub bed.

TwoMarksHand said:

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rlb28 said:

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Sounds like you are already set on your plans, but I'd like to make a suggestion. Instead of concrete put a level or two of stacked flagstone. Our landscaper talked us into it and the difference in aesthetics is unbelievable.

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I'm thinking about doing a small flagstone walkway in other areas. But that sounds expensive to do an edging with flagstone.

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I must confess that I don't know how much it would be. We found a huge landscaping/nursery in Houston going out of business and got them for pennies on the dollar.

Email sent... you can delete yours.

TwoMarksHand said:

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rlb28 said:

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Sounds like you are already set on your plans, but I'd like to make a suggestion. Instead of concrete put a level or two of stacked flagstone. Our landscaper talked us into it and the difference in aesthetics is unbelievable.

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I'm thinking about doing a small flagstone walkway in other areas. But that sounds expensive to do an edging with flagstone.

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Use dry stack. Lay down a sand or gravel bed, put down a level layer, then a second. You could also use tall chop block, like 6"-8" and bury 3"-4".

rlb28 said:

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Sounds like you are already set on your plans, but I'd like to make a suggestion. Instead of concrete put a level or two of stacked flagstone. Our landscaper talked us into it and the difference in aesthetics is unbelievable.

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This is the ticket. Use some type of natural stone, not concrete. I did this at a couple of different houses and it looked great. Go to a dirt/rock yard and find something that is roughly rectangular in shape, but not too uniform in size and shape. You have the makings of a great foundation there, nice and stable once poured. I'd get carried away sometimes when digging and the amount of concrete I ended up pouring for a base is going to truly impress someone when they try to dig it all up some day.

Since you need to mow the yard anyway, push the mower along the trenches and see how easy it is to maneuver around the curves. May need to shallow out the inside curves a little.

The mowing comment observation is spot on. Husband and I both mow and prior to redesigning a garden bed with some landscape stone we laid a hose curve out and pushed the mower (not running!) along it to see how difficult it would be for me to maneuver. We still have to weed trim somewhat but can get a lot closer with a gentle curve.

"Go to a dirt/rock yard and find something that is roughly rectangular in shape, but not too uniform in size and shape. "

That's it!

Helped my father a few years back with a similar project. He used the flexible form boards, but made one side a little higher than the other so the edging would have a sort of slope to it. Then we got some flagstone and mortared it on top. Turned out great, but it was a project. I think using concrete will be fine, maybe consider staining it for some aesthetic.

Also I should say, the flagstone wasn't really that expensive and they are pretty easy to cut with an angle grinder and diamond blade. It definitely will add to your workload though.

TwoMarksHand said:

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Well screw you guys I'm pouring concrete!

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Stone would look a lot better IMO, and it's not expensive. You also don't need to set forms, though it may require some cutting or breaking. You would likely need around 2000-3000 lbs depending on what you used and how high you wanted to go, but that will run you about $200-300. You don't need mortar or anything else either. Just dry stack it or use tall chop block. Could look something like below or you could go a little taller.




I did something similar around my deck in the back and around the patio. I have some 4x6 dry stack retaining walls that look really nice. I also have some chop block edging that looks good too. There's a thread somewhere on here about it. This was it before the flagstone was added. In the foreground and on the right you can see the chop block. The left and in the back is the dry stack.

Looks good

Aggietaco said:

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Looks good! Hopefully you threw some #3 bars in there before the pour.

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This. Hope you got some steel in that to prevent cracking. Concrete has no tensile strength, so any future ground movement has the potential to snap anything without reinforcement like a toothpick.

I'm in the planning stages of doing this, too. Thanks for posting.

ABATTBQ11 said:

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Aggietaco said:

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Looks good! Hopefully you threw some #3 bars in there before the pour.

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This. Hope you got some steel in that to prevent cracking. Concrete has no tensile strength, so any future ground movement has the potential to snap anything without reinforcement like a toothpick.

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Well maybe I ****ed this whole thing up then. I didn't put any rebar in the middle. I figured it not being load bearing (on top), and not too deep in the ground that I would be fine.

I will update in a year or so if it cracks and crumbles to *****

TwoMarksHand said:

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ABATTBQ11 said:

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Aggietaco said:

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Looks good! Hopefully you threw some #3 bars in there before the pour.

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This. Hope you got some steel in that to prevent cracking. Concrete has no tensile strength, so any future ground movement has the potential to snap anything without reinforcement like a toothpick.

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Well maybe I ****ed this whole thing up then. I didn't put any rebar in the middle. I figured it not being load bearing (on top), and not too deep in the ground that I would be fine.

I will update in a year or so if it cracks and crumbles to *****

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It may be fine. If you have no movement, you have no force to break it.

If worst comes to worst and it looks like crap eventually, it'll be easy to remove because it'll be easy to break up with no reinforcement. If you end up needing to redo it, a few blows from sledge hammer every couple of feet or so should split it up pretty easy. Then you pull up the chunks, haul them off, and start over. Just remember, concrete always needs steel unless it's in a post hole.

TwoMarksHand said:

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ABATTBQ11 said:

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Aggietaco said:

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Looks good! Hopefully you threw some #3 bars in there before the pour.

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This. Hope you got some steel in that to prevent cracking. Concrete has no tensile strength, so any future ground movement has the potential to snap anything without reinforcement like a toothpick.

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Well maybe I ****ed this whole thing up then. I didn't put any rebar in the middle. I figured it not being load bearing (on top), and not too deep in the ground that I would be fine.

I will update in a year or so if it cracks and crumbles to *****

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You should be fine with all the control joints you scribed across the pour. Any cracking should start at one of those. When you lay your rocks or bricks, don't lay a rock or brick directly across one of the joints, and don't butt up two pieces with a nice mortar joint directly on top of a joint. A little gap in the rocks between each section makes a crack in your poured concrete base at that point much less noticeable and, also important, provides a convenient way for excess water to drain - don't want to create a lake between the rock work and the house slab. This is where "dry laid" rock works well, where some mortar is used to stick everything together, but not so much that it is oozing out across all the forward facing joints that you then have to work and smooth like you would have to do with normal brick work. Dry laid looks good, and if something cracks in your dry laid mortar it's also not noticeable.

I also didn't see any trees, which is good, because tree roots will definitely screw things up over time. It's a flower bed, so it will probably be well watered, which will also help control any cracking from soil movement.

So, what were the bricks for?

We had a chance of rain that night, so I laid out bricks to prepare some tarps to keep it dry. It came a turd floater the next night. So bricks held down the tarps. Did a pretty good job. We got 2.8 inches of rain and the concrete and wood barely got wet.

I have a question about pouring concrete in long uninterrupted sections: why? And what do the scores do at the top?

Someone, before us, had poured a long walkway from the street to our front steps (side walk basically) and they did this with just scores at the top like that.

By now, our concrete path has cracked in 3 places clean across that are at various points. It seems like scores are useless, and that they should go all the way through with an expansion joint that's plastic or something that gives.

No water drains in the mini dam you created next to your foundation ?

evan_aggie said:

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I have a question about pouring concrete in long uninterrupted sections: why? And what do the scores do at the top?

Someone, before us, had poured a long walkway from the street to our front steps (side walk basically) and they did this with just scores at the top like that.

By now, our concrete path has cracked in 3 places clean across that are at various points. It seems like scores are useless, and that they should go all the way through with an expansion joint that's plastic or something that gives.

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You score the top to control cracking from shrinkage during drying. It's not to prevent or control cracks from settlement. Think about it. If you have two voids under consecutive joints, that puts pressure and leverage on the concrete between them. That's where you'll get a crack. The scores can't control for that because there's no way to tell where it'll happen.

You pour in long sections to avoid uneven settlement and because it's easier than pouring small sections. With a long pour, you just pour, screed, and go. You also don't need to worry about all of your sections settling differently and becoming uneven like crappily laid pavers. This assumes you laid down and compacted base though. If you pour concrete on uncompacted soil, you're going to get uneven settlement eventually, and that's where you get cracking of monolithic or large section pours.

JP76 said:

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No water drains in the mini dam you created next to your foundation ?

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Tough to tell by the pictures but it has a pretty good slope from the foundation. I plan on laying sheeting and filling it in with river rocks.

Would it be possible to pour a concrete trench like the original poster did and go about 8-12 in above ground then come back and face it with a stone veneer? Then cap with a flags stone or something similar? I think the would look fantastic if it can be done.

I was thinking stone veneer something like this (i.e the random different sized stone look, perhaps in a light shade more brown tan)
https://www.lowes.com/pd/M-Rock-Appalachian-Ledge-48-sq-ft-Brown-Manufactured-Stone-Veneer/3394934

I was wondering how it would work to get the stone veneer onto curved areas that were a bit sharper than the gentle curves in the OP's flower bed border.

don't they typically use cinder blocks rather than more concrete, and then you put the rocks onto the cinder blocks?

Picture 3 was my concern as the top of your concrete looks to be near the bottom of the brick but maybe it is an illusion. Good call on the rock because without drains and guttering your mulch can and would float off

Gotcha. The top of the edging is only an inch or so above the grass in that picture. I don't have any gutters. So that's why I'm going with the rock instead of wood mulch. Also the drainage will be better like you said.

Update. Knocked this out a couple days ago, and just getting around to posting an update. Removed the forms and back-filled the edges. Next up is to actually plant the flower bed plants and fill with river rock.