How should I separate my small garden from my grass?

No experience with gardening!! I just bought a house with a small (4' x 3') garden in the backyard. Right now the garden is empty but I hope to get some flowers %26amp; bushes in soon. Do I need to separate the garden from the surrounding grass with some sort of barrier so they don't grow into each other? Or will the roots of the plants keep each other from overgrowing? Secondly, I am looking for a hardy ground-covering type plant that grows with minimal care and perhaps has some nice flowers. Any suggestions?

How should I separate my small garden from my grass?
If it was me I'd want to put in a barrier to prevent the grass from constantly encroaching on the garden. The ditch and landscape timbers can work, but more effective barriers would be:



1) tear off the sod around the garden spot (about a foot width) and a little deeper than just the sod. Then line with plastic (heavy duty plastic garbage bags work just fine, make sure to do a good job of overlapping the plastic. Then fill with rock...I find that works really well for many years



2) find a good edging... find something that will go down into the ground about 8inches. Don't get the 4" stuff...it's just not enough. Find any kind of edging or material that will let you put a wall down into the ground about 8" and that should prevent things from going into your garden.



As another poster said, 4' x 3' is a very small garden...you will not be able to do much with it. Most plants get big fast! :)



Have fun!
Reply:If it is a small garden you may want to consider landscaping timbers. They give a neat an attractive appearance.
Reply:You can just edge it by taking a straight edge shovel and digging straight down at the edge creating a little trough of sorts to keep the grass where it belongs - just trim with the string trimmer when you mow and it will stay nice all year! Cheap and it looks great!
Reply:The trough idea is a good one. You may also think about a decorative edging. 4' x 3' is a very small area. Where do you want to grow the ground cover? Sun? Shade? Wet? Dry? How large of an area? Vinca and pachysandra does well in shade with moisture. Lirope does well in shade, where it is dry. Sunny areas you have many more choices. Check out your local nursery for hardy plants in your area. Good Luck. A garden is a beautiful experiment:)

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