Looking for a DIY project that can quickly improve the appearance of your current landscape? Here’s a sure fire idea. Install or improve your landscape edging to give your yard and planting beds a new crisp appearance.
Many products exist which will create that crisp clean appearance. You might choose brick or concrete pavers, fieldstone boulders, plastic edging, curbing or a simple hand spaded edge to give you the appearance you desire. The most popular is plastic edging. When choosing a plastic edging, select the heaviest plastic edging you can find that extends to a minimum of 6” deep. It should have numerous flanges or indentations and come with steel stacks to secure it firmly in place.
To install, begin by creating the bed shape you wish to create. Use a garden hose to visualize and create the shape you desire. When satisfied, spray paint the line on the ground to create a permanent outline to follow. With a garden spade, create a trench to hold the edging making sure that the depth will allow the top bead to be halfway below grade. Now drive the stakes through the bottom of the edging on a 45 degree angle towards the turf. One every ten feet should be adequate. Use more stakes in soft, sandy soils and in tightly curved areas. The most common mistake occurs when joining two sections of edging together. The trick is to cut off a 3-4 inch section of the round bead at the top of one of the edging pieces to be connected. Using the connector plug that should come with the edging, join the two sections overlapping the bottom portions. Finally drive another steel anchor stake on a 45 degree angle through the overlapped sections towards the turf or outside of the bed. Install two more stakes, one on each side of the overlapped section, approximately one foot from the stake. Backfill the trench as you go. If properly installed, you’ll now have a consistent clean edge that will not gap or heave in spring or be chewed up by the lawn mower.
