Not Brick, Not Pavers: The Garden Edging Alternative That'll Add A Rustic Touch

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If your home is in a rural setting, or you simply want to recreate that vibe in an urban garden, ditch the most common garden edging ideas, such as using pavers or bricks, and look for an alternative you'll absolutely adore. We're talking about river wood or driftwood. These gorgeous pieces of aged timber look beautifully weather-beaten and add a certain rustic charm, especially if you're trying to replicate a vintage farmhouse garden.

River wood can usually be found along riverbanks, lying around the edges of lakes, or on the sand anywhere near the ocean. Going out and finding the pieces on your own is probably the best way to gather enough driftwood to edge a garden bed as opposed to buying it. While online marketplaces, like eBay and Etsy, may have individual pieces for sale, these are going to be quite pricey and are more suited to specialist art or craft projects. 

Try to time your wood-sourcing expedition to occur just after a storm, as that's when you'll find new pieces that have washed up on the shore. Just make sure that you don't take any wood from private property, or from state parks without a permit. It's usually best to check with local authorities to make sure it's okay to collect some driftwood for your garden.

Once you've collected enough perfectly aged pieces of driftwood, give them a good clean with fresh water using your hose. You might even want to soak the wood in water for a few days to fully eliminate any remaining salt, so that it doesn't harm your plants. Before installing the driftwood edging, allow all the pieces to dry completely in a sunny location.

If you want to preserve the integrity of each piece and prevent further decay leading to possible ant invasions, you might like to paint the wood with a weatherproof varnish or a wood sealant, like the Seal It Green Garden Box Armor. When the river wood pieces are ready for use, play around with how you would like to position them around your garden beds to make the most impact. You might like to change the placement of the pieces a number of times until you're completely happy with the final result. You could layer some of the pieces for a slightly different aesthetic. Your landscaping will look even more effective if you also incorporate some large pebbles or river stones as a mulch alongside the driftwood. For larger pieces, you might like to dig a bit of a trench, as this will help keep them in place. Finally, if you have any interesting driftwood pieces left over, you might want to repurpose them to create a beautiful succulent garden.