We are having trouble with the not growing at the curb of our lawn. It is very sandy and of course the ants like the sand. It has been an on going problem for years. We are now thing about putting a 15″ border of ground cover along the curb. Do you have any suggestion of plants we should use. Thanks.
Thank you for contacting the Toronto Master Gardeners for help with this common problem. The strip of land immediately adjacent to the curb is often a problem, as you say the soil is poor, not much other than weeds and ants thrive there. One of the worst culprits for this issue is road salt. This is why most likely you have not had luck with your turf grass. I am sorry to say that unless you do some serious remediation anything you plant in this area will meet the same fate as your lawn. You will have to amend the soil and put down a proper planting bed and most importantly choose plants that can tolerate salt. I am including some links for you that address this issue, but beware many groundcovers that are recommend online and in garden centers turn out to be highly invasive and will become more of a problem than a solution, so I am also including a link to “Grow me instead” this guide will suggest groundcovers that will be a “well behaved” addition to your garden. Good luck with this.
https://www.torontomastergardeners.ca/askagardener/road-salt-resistant-plants/