Kind of created a little more work for yourself. Most guys would have just sprayed a strip along the fence. But it does sound nice looking. A stick edger will work. Practice will tell where the best path is. I would run the wheel on the steel tilted towards the grass. Just use the blower on low to ckean out any clippings.

 

Thanks for the reply. I'm going to give it a shot. Will be about 300' of edging so I'll have plenty of practice. Doing a pebbles around the foundation too, so there will another 100' to maintain. I'll buy the Stihl this week.

 

Gravel along and under the fence was a bad idea. Get rid of it. If a little uncut grass bothers you a lot it can be treated with chemicals and nothing would grow there any more.

 

You can edge over gravel with practice, you don't need the trimmer running full throttle to do it. The head can be moving slow enough to just toss a stone a foot or two and still be effective on thin grass.

There are 2 wheeled stick edgers that would be less likely to sink, but even if it's pea gravel a stick edger has a tendency to climb forward so it probably won't sink.

 

Regarding the idea of getting rid of the gravel, the fence is kind of unique. It is an iron fence and the posts are supported by iron rods that go out a few inches from the fence line. Hence the grass nightmare and string trimer nightmare that I've been living for 20 years. The gravel under the Victorian iron fence looks so beautiful that I'm willing to learn to care for it. If I used chemicals, the 10" strip of dead brown grass would look terrible. I'll try to get a picture to show you guys.

 

I agree the little extra upkeep is well worth it on a fence like that. Chain link, pvc, wood or masonry wouldnt be worth the effort.

 

Thanks. It is a nice fence, with even nicer corner posts and gates. The grass was really causing major rust issues and that was another reason I went with gravel. Grass just kept things wet too long. Anyway here is a shot. The place is a mess, but we are working on it.

I will put up an "after" picture when I get the edger.