If you want to be able to take the mower straight across the grass and over the bricks then the soil, hopefully not 'mud', needs to be that bit lower so that when the turf is laid it is level with the brickwork. You'll need to prepare the soil so that it is completely flat and level before you lay the turf. Others can give you better guidance than me.

I think that those in the know about your question would like to know how this brick edging is going to be laid down. Is it going to be laid down upon a proper and firm base with the bricks joined securely with mortar or are the bricks going to be laid next to each other loose without taking into account settling and upheaval due to weather and temperature changes. If you get settling or erosion (which you might not see due to the height of the grass) anywhere along the line you might break a blade slicing into the brick. There are landscapers on this site who I hope will give you an experienced answer taking the thickness of the turf into account when placed against hard edging as you intend to place it. Best Regards To You!

I agree, the edge would look cleaner as per Moon growe. Be sure to double check the height of the lawn mower blade so it clears the bricks or don't mow over the bricks all. Maybe a strimmer or hand shears would give you more control.

I can't help wondering why if this is effective lots of other people haven't done it. Also depending on the kind of turf you are buying you may find that some grasses send out horizontal shoots so the edges still need trimming. (This happens with our lawn anyway)

At work, we've always told our customers that they need to finish the soil level an inch below any surrounding pavement before laying turf. The soil should be smooth, with any slopes or hills gentle and smoothly contoured, and small bumps leveled off. Absolutely level isn't essential, but flat lawns are far easier to take care of than steep slopes and hills and swales. As for the mud, if the soil has any percentage of clay, the process of laying turf on saturated soil will form a layer of hard pan which will impede drainage. Better to let it dry a few days before installing, if possible. Adding organic matter and some form of calcium, such as lime or gypsum, will reduce the problem. I've always said that every dollar that you spend on improving the soil before laying the turf will save you 10 dollars in maintenance and disease treatment over the next 2 years.

Stera, no idea why other folk don't do but it works, at least so long as the brickwork/paving/whatever is no higher than the turf once laid or even slightly lower. I've seen it doe a lot.

The brick or stone edge to a lawn should be fixed, either by mortaring or cementing into place. It's actually better done after the lawn has been laid, but if you've done it already, its not the end of the world, just a bit more difficult. You need to make a judgement about the soil level, because you need to allow room for the thickness of a turf on top, and it should be only just level with the top of the brick edge, just fractionally below flush with it. That's the hard bit, trying to get the soil level right and leaving just the right amount of room (which is why its easier to do the brick edging after turfing).

Ongoing, the reason the brick edge needs to be fixed and firm is this - every spring, you will need to take a half moon edger, insert it inside the bricks, quarter to half an inch into the turf, push down and lift out the soil/turf all the way round to a sufficient depth that will accommodate edging shears, the 90deg. ones. If your brick edging is not firmly fixed, all the bricks will move when you do this. After this narrow bit of soil has been removed, use the edging shears to make the edge neat, and clip the edges with those when you cut the lawn. If you don't do this, the grass will start to grow over the top of the brick edge and cover it completely, I'm afraid. Many's the neglected garden I've taken on and discovered a completely invisible edging to the lawn, because its grown over the top and, in many cases, started growing in the border the other side. In one case, the lawn had covered over slabs a foot wide and grown into the border...

In short, trimming the edges with 90 deg. shears is not a job you can avoid even if you have an edging on the lawn, I'm afraid, though having the lawn level with the bricks at least means you can mow easily, right to the edges by going over onto the bricks (with a hover mower, not a cylinder), avoiding the need for 45deg shears as well.

This was my point really - that which ever way you go you can't get out of trimming the edges.

If you hire an experienced gardener, then make him a pitcher of ice cold lemonade, he'll do a very good job with straight edges and everything.

That's a laugh round here. Gold dust is easier to find.

Lol Steragram its the same here and if you find a gardener they charge the earth.

That's funny. Over here, they are a 'dime a dozen!'

Hmph....Maybe it's different in New York. Here in Arizona, "mow blow and go" guys are a dime a dozen, but finding a true gardener is like finding a T. rex skeleton! Sometimes their supervisor has some gardening experience, but he or she is too often focused on getting the job done fast, rather than necessarily right.

Well that's true and I had to teach them quite a bit - like don't spray my butterfly garden with Roundup & stop using the leaf blower on my tulips - flattening them. ...and not every green leaf is a weed.

After getting some of those basics down, they'll start to get the idea - just keep making lemonade. Lemonade is now a universal language.

Same here Tug - plenty of inexpensive people offering to do 'gardening' who know nothing, and plenty of companies offering maintenance, who'd be the equivalent of your mow blow and go guys, but whoever they are, they all want tea...

Over the years I've had a couple of jobbers who after their work was done deserved a nice big frosty glass of the Jonestown variety of cool-aid and certainly not lemonade.

Funny isn't it - in the UK, if there's any workmen, builders, gardeners or otherwise coming in to do a job, I lay in a stock of 'builder's tea' which just means not Earl Grey (which is what I drink) but an ordinary brew, because that's what they want, even if its baking hot... including me as a gardener on a hot or a cold day! Although, when I used to do a pub garden, they'd send out a non alcoholic ginger beer with lime juice and ice in it, now that's a great thing to drink when its roasting hot.

Mmm...sounds like a nice accent to the quarts and quarts of water that I now drink. I'd have to make mine diet, though! :)