Mowing Strip

This weekend was a productive one, which is good. The busier I can be with my hands, the better I am in my head.

This weekend’s project was to install a mowing strip. Here’s the description of a mowing strip because somehow, when I try to explain, it comes out like “there’s a strip and you mow over it and there’s grass and it’s nice” which really doesn’t explain it.

“A mowing strip refers to a hard surface such as brick or concrete installed at level with the lawn at the edge between the lawn and a flower bed. The tires of the lawn mower can ride on the mowing strip, allowing you to mow close to the edge of the bed and hopefully reduce the amount of trimming or weeding required to maintain a neat appearance.”

In my case, it’s to differentiate the grass from the green in my raised beds (which I hope to someday have).

Click on the photos to scroll through and read captions (they’re so exciting!)

This was my car Saturday morning. I bought a fraction of stone that I would need because I just wanted to try it out before really committing. If for some reason, it ended up being a disaster, I really didn’t want all that stone!

I dug a trench along the raised bed, and made a mortar mixture – one part cement, which I had already, and three parts sand, which I bought (and oh boy was that bag of sand back-breaking heavy!)

I placed the stone down on top of a thin layer of the mortar, and made sure each stone was lined up with it’s neighbor, sitting flat. After they were all laid down, I painstakingly put dry mortar mixture in the cracks and sprayed it down with water. As always, Harlow is always very helpful.

Then Maureen came over Saturday night for some good food, good company, and belly rubs.

Sunday morning I went back out for the rest of the stone. I had to get the stone at one store, then drive miles to get mulch at another store. I have already laid mulch down in part of one section of the raised bed and realized that if I didn’t buy the same brand, the color REALLY wouldn’t match! {sigh}. My poor VW was huffing and puffing “I think I can, I think I can!” all over town

Laying the remaining stone was hard but rewarding work! In the brutal 85 degree heat, I would lay some down, then go inside to rest for a bit and cool down, watch some of The Handmaid’s Tale, eat a popsicle, then come back out and lay some more.

Here’s how it looks watered down. After putting the sand/cement mixture int he cracks, it needs to be brushed down. Having the sand/cement mixture left behind ON the stone would be problematic.

Not too bad!