Just buy an edging shovel and start digging. It's quite a bit of work in the spring but it stays fairly well. I only do it once a year although twice or three times would be lovely. My best friend comes over and we do my house and her house as a team - lots more fun that way, even though quite a job. The good thing is that I never have to use a trimmer around any of my beds all year.

Hi Susan, Thanks...the "rocks" were actually quite easy to make, just time consumming. That border that you see there will eventually be a patio of them. I am also working with the lay of the land and not grading anything. My intent is really to cover that area of sand since NOTHING seems to grow in it. I use a cement admix with gravel. They run around 3.99 a bag. I think you get 21 "rocks" out of one bag. I cut the bag open into an old wheelbarrel and then add about half of a gallon sized nursery pot of peat and mix really well with a garden hoe. I add water to make it the consistency of I guess a brownie mix. Its thick. I had some plastic gallon water jugs left over from wintersowing and I cut the plastic jug in the middle, essentially cutting off the spout and most of the top. Wearing thick rubber gloves I just scoop the cement mixture into the "jug" form and with a fist or the flat of my hand tamp it down to get rid of any air bubbles, bring it to where I want the rock and then invert it on the ground. I sometimes form them by hand into shapes or sometimes push out a section in the middle to make a place to plant sedums. I've even put faces in some. It usually takes me a little over an hour to mix and plop one bag. They are usually hard enough to walk on the next day. I am planning on bordering all my beds with them. Cement seems to be a very forgiving medium, the way I am using it anyway. I am not very scientific with the mixing and just seem to go by feel. Try one bag and see how it goes. Adele

kitamiman, I have used Pebble-Tec and Quartzscapes on negitive edge pools. Most manufacturers don't like to have their product used where it is not covered with water. I prefer to use tile or stone on these surfaces if I can. Your coment about 4" gunite walls with only 30% of the pool in ground does raise some red flags. Hopefully, any supporting material is key-cut and compacted to 95%. The edge wall should be engineered as a freestanding wall. This usually means using #4(1/2") and/or #5(5/8") rebar or larger depending on thickness and type of concrete. Good luck.

LOVE your idea to create an area of perennials grasses and flowering plants! Yes I think lawn edging is a good idea. How about this one? It will separate your garden from your neighbors with a nice neat edge and it’s not too obtrusive, so the focus will be on the plants. To prepare the soil, I suggest you take a soil sample to your local Cornell Cooperative Extension office or local garden center for a soil analysis test. This will tell you excatly what amendments to add to the soil. Healthy soil requires less water and is a great foundation for new plants and grasses. When it comes to deciding what to plant, include a least a few native plants. That is, plants that are indigenous to your area. There’s a list of native plants for northern CA here. The advantages of native plants are: They provide habitat for birds and insects, they are more tolerant of climate extremes including drought, they need less fertilizer and TLC. In addition you may be preserving plants that are becoming rare in the wild.