Hello Teddybear, I would think there are a couple of things you could do with this space. Since you don't want to weed then putting flowers there is probably not a good idea. If you have a clumping kind of grass like a fescue then it won't invade the other side of your edging and you can just replant this dirt area. If your grass is a running grass like bermuda then you need to contain it by putting a barrier at least a foot deep under the edging and regularly cutting back the runners that will try to go over the top. I am kind of curious about why you don't seem to have a problem with weeds in the gravel. Maybe you could move your edging out to the new level of the grass and fill in more gravel but although gravel may discourage some weeds I've never seen it totally stop them. Pavers would do a better job stopping weeds but you would probably have to occasionally spray whatever comes up in between them. A picture would probably help you get more response here but you seemed to explain your problem Ok. Good Luck, Maria

Far as the berries it is easy to cover them when they are fruiting and unless you have a tree over your poll I doubt the droppings will be a problem. I would not put the blueberries anywhere they will get splashed with pool water.

since you hav ethe rock there, you will need to either continuously pull weeds out, or keep it sprayed with something like round up. as far as the border goes, use a weed eater next time. allow the grass to grow right up to the border, and trim it off level with the rest of the lawn instead of down to dirt. BTW, how wide of a dirt strip is it? mine is about 6 inches around my pool, but that is by design. i do not trust weeding close to the sides of the pool, so i spray a band aroudn the pool every month or so with round up. as long as it is uniform, it actually looks good.

I've thought about this all week and surfed the internet and this is what I have come up with: In the corner by the deck I'm going to put in a "pond in a box" -a wooden planter style pond. Then I'm going to lay down pebbles along the path with 16"x16" paver stones every 16" or so. Along the fence I will put an edger. In the far corner since it would be so much rock to fill in that space - I'm going to put in a corner garden with some some loving perennials. Wish me luck! I'll try to post pics along the way...I've now got no dig plastic edging put around the pool and landscape fabric down. I now have to find the rock without breaking the bank! I'm curious where other people buy rock for landscaping projects? I've looked at home depot but it seems rather dear to pay $4.00 a bag for rock (I'll need over 30 bags) but I know I can't get anything delivered for that price. Is there anywhere else to buy rock (other than Lowes-their prices are the same)???