The Brew Cabin

I have cleared my back garden of lawn plants weeds etc. I now want to lay edging ( probably a type of cobble) Marshalls driveset or similar as a border to my lawn and pathways, the ground is quite firm, can I lay the concrete mix (as described on your website) straight onto the ground after a little leveling here and there and set the cobbles into this or do I have to dig a channel out for the concrete, I cant see a reason to dig a channel. what you think?

Cheers Nev

You only need to dig a 'channel' if the ground level demands it. If there's enough room to lay at least 50mm of concrete bedding and then the chosen edging, then there's no need for a channel.

It all depends on your ground levels i how much upstand, if any, will you need with the chosen edging? For a mowing strip around a lawn, no upstand is required, and so the top of the edging has to be level with the lawn, which usually reaquires a channel to be dug to accommodate the bedding and the mowing strip unit itself. However, for a path, you might want, say, 75mm of upstand, and so, if you were using a 150mm deep unit with a 50mm bed, then the 'channel' at the edge of the path would need to be 75 + 50 = 125mm deep.

Does that make sense to you?

Thanks Tony

Thats great, I understand what you mean about the upstand, My main concern was is it ok to lay the edging and concrete straight onto the ground which you have answered. I plan to have the top of the edging level all around the garden and the paving and lawn level with this but because there will be a circle of lawn and a circle of paving then squares of garden and pathways all edge with the cobbles Im going to lay the edging first all around the garden and level then backfill each section to the required height. eg the lawn I will fill with topsoil and lightly compress then turf so its just above the cobbles, the paths I thought to fill with hardcore and wack down then cover with sand cement mix 10:1 and pave so again its level with the cobbles already in place. this way I can get everything level by "lifting the garden up a couple of inches" and then I know my oip soil in the garden bits etc will be also new and decent quality for planting, what you think about my plan does it sound ok to you

Thanks again Nev

That would seem to be the logical way to work, Nev. Don't forget to allow for fall on the hard-paved areas, so that water can drain away.