Time for a trim?

Manicuring the Grass Edges at my Farm

Visiting my 153-acre farm in Bedford, NY, one can see most of the property by hiking, riding, or driving along the four miles of carriage roads, which I had constructed by the very talented excavator, Bruce Corbett.  These carriage roads are topped with a gravel-like material, made from the recycled asphalt of old roadways, which provides an excellent surface for horses, horse-drawn vehicles, cars, and pedestrians.  Grass abuts a good deal of the roadway and my grounds' keepers are diligent in keeping the edges neat and tidy.  I thought it would be interesting for you to see just how it’s done.  Please, take a look.

The first step is to wet the surface of the carriage road to help keep the dust down.  Chhiring Sherpa then uses a blower to move the gravel away from the edges.

A string is laid down to help as a guide on the straight sections.

This machine is called a Little Wonder Edger.

As the Little Wonder moves along, its whirring blade cuts a neat edge.

Working in sections, Chhiring continues cutting.

Lhakpa Sherpa follows behind Chhiring, clearing the unwanted grass.

This little edging hoe does a great job pulling the grass out by its roots.

Once the edge is clean, the gravel is pulled back into place.

The back edge of this wide garden rake is perfect for this job.

Meanwhile, Gyurme is busy edging and weeding the stone and gravel walkway behind my house.  Again, he moves the gravel away from the edge.

He then uses these long-handled edging clippers to cut the unwanted grass.

A close up view - the long handles make this job a lot easier on the back.

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Comments

[Isle Dance]

Beautiful work. My edges are wild...the young bucks are eating them. :o)

[Susan]

Thank you for sharing! How in the world did you first learn of the way to do this?

[MMC in San Diego]

Four miles of carriage roads means a lot of edging! Quite a task! What a great place for an early-morning summer walk. . .

[Norbie K. of Las Vegas, NV]

Always interesting. I've always wondered how they keep the edges neat and tidy.

Thank you so much for posting

[Nan Ashby]

Tell the Sherpas they are great at their jobs. I would love to see you (Martha} on horseback riding these roads. By the way, how is the beautiful Martyn doing? I sure hope he has improved to full recovery.

[Paula]

Very nice! I'm waiting for "Martha Stewart fan appreciation Open House" :) Have a great day!!!

[Alpinst35]

I love the stone and gravel path. On our property, I have many stone and gravel paths, but I keep the alpine plants limited to the raised rock walls along the greenhouse and alpine house, and try to keep the gravel paths free of plants. But as a rock gardener and alpine plant grower, your walk inspires me to plant a few walks with alpines along the edges. Beautiful!.

[Sherey]

So lovely to look at when things are crisply edged and well manicured. Your staff do an excellent job of getting a huge task done properly. At our home, my crew consists of my husband and son to keep the garden beds well trimmed and edged. I always love how it looks. Right now the job is left to a nearby gardener who looks after things when we are away and he does a phenomenal job, too. Love coming back to a well-kept property. Will likely have some deadheading of flowers to do but i know i'll love getting in touch with my garden again as i make my way around on my ritual morning walk.

Enjoy your carriage rides!

[jamalystic]

Thanks for sharing!It makes a very beautiful and tidy scenery. How i had love to see you riding on a horse along this beautiful four-mile carriage road.

[jamalystic]

Hey Martha, cheers up for sharing such beautiful and tidy green scenery. Hope we can join you there for a ride someday!

[Paula M. :)]

Martha,
We use a grass edger also to cut the lawn away from the sidewalk in front of the house! Great little machine!
I love the grass angled clippers too. Have to hunt one of those down...where can you purchase one?
Thanks again for sharing. Great job landscapers!
Paula

[Barbara Nugent]

Hi Martha,
I drive past your incredible property on my way into work in Pound Ridge. Over the past couple of years, I've noticed that your gardeners have been planting
what looks like different grasses between the main road and the stone wall. They seem to be slow growers, I'm curious as to what they really are.

[patty]

Looking good MS.. My hubby does that all around our flowerbeds.. Those men you have are priceless``

[Jan Erickson]

Hi Martha, What an appropriate blog for today. I just came in from working in my yard and found your beautiful trimming blog. I only have a third of an acre and there are two of us trying to keep {get} the yard in shape. Can I borrow your yard guys?! I love how your carriage roads look and your guys really do a great job. Thanks again for sharing. Jan

[Kathy]

Hi, Martha,
What good work Chhiring Sherpa, Lhakpa Sherpa, and Gyurme do. Your carriage roads look wonderful.
Kathy

[tiffany]

hello Martha my name is Tiffany and I saw your show the other day that featured the rock crafts and jewelry.......well I create jewelry from all natural dry beans and id love for you to tell me what you think......id be so honored if you visited my site at stringbeansinc.etsy.com and view my work....thanks and love you lots Tif:)