UPDATE: Coming from the other direction I was able to get about fifty more feet done, twenty-odd today until I ran into the sun, and like a Vampire had to turn away. It’s thick and tough going, and across the curbing is a lush paradise of rocks and weeds that require removal.
Hand edging is a little time-consuming, but this week the heat has lightened a bit and I can stay out there longer, at least long enough to get another forty or fifty feet done.
There’s a lot of crabgrass to snip-through, and a lot of dirt has washed down along with grass that has grown up. Cutting-back to the edging amounts to about four-inches wide of grass and a bunch of dirt too. Some of the sprinkler heads are at least two inches below the grass surface, sometimes they are down below the dirt-surface.
Along the entry walkway I also had to trim back the ground-cover that the hummingbirds love, but there’s plenty of it. The stuff was on sale at Home Depot recently. I tried looking it up up, but I the name I thought I saw and didn’t properly remember (“Island-Calendula or something?) didn’t come back with any hits — however a little Google-fu revealed: Epilobium canum ‘Silver Select’, Red flowering California Fuchsia with silver gray foliage.
Something like that anyhow. It’s hardy and takes the sun and heat well so I’ll see about getting some more of it for the embankment.
I would so be getting a pro string trim. Dad had a little electric one that I finally fried the motor of. Went and got a gas one like the pros use and it’s so much easier. They aren’t to bad price wise when you consider buying the shears… time and again.
Heck I’ve even done some minor trenching with the new one for sprinkler line when the ground was damp.
Love your Cali Fuchsia, excellent choice!
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I’m goign to be getting a Stihl Kombi-System tool, with a string head, a pole-saw attachment, and a powered edger – and maybe even the blower attachment = one motor to run them all!
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Interesting about the multi system. I hope you do a review of it after you have used it. Might be the way for me to go. The low maintenance landscaping around here is beating me up.
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I figure I only need one motor for various jobs since I can only do one thing at a time, not a different motor on each pole or stick!
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It’s much easier to edge with a string type weed-whacker held perpendicular to the ground. One with a wheel(s) would be easier than just hand-held, and might hold a straighter line. You would be able to do the entire property in one session.
Using any scissors type blades at ground level will destroy the cutting edges, sooner or later. All the dirt and other trash mixed in with the green stuff just chews them up.
I ruined a set of Fiskers hedge shears cutting very close to ground level. They are surface hardened, and you get one shot at sharpening them. I overdid the back angle, and when I re-did them correctly, the edge was so soft they were junk. No replacement blades available, had to replace the whole thing, at twice the original price from 20+ years ago. Very little use, and they are already going bad. Time to check on their warrantee, sigh…
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MY little string trimmer didn’t seem up to the task since the edging is over three inches deep in dirt along most portions, and I was willing to sacrifice the Fiskars scissors… I got one more sharp edge out of them with a file, but with no way to re-harden them I guess they’re gonna be toast when I get through!
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I truly hated those things back in the day… sigh… Doing sidewalks and driveways often took longer than mowing the yards did!
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Especially when you’re down on your knees, weeding at the same time! This thing is over-grown and filled-in with dirt too.
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