Categories: Gardening

Garden Edging

I have learned many things about garden edging in my thirty plus years as a gardener and what I thought would work well at first turned into a disaster. Wanting to have a beautiful garden I decided that I needed to look into garden edging as one way to accomplish this. I found some old railroad ties that were free for the taking so we loaded up as many as we could carry in our old pickup truck and brought them home. The next several weeks were taken up with laying out the ties in the order we wanted them and by the time we were finished we had done a pretty good job of garden edging. I have found out over the years that there are easier ways to handle edging around a garden or flower bed and here are three different methods I have used that work well.

Steel edging or metal landscape edging as some people like to call it works great and is easy to work with. Most do it yourself stores like Home Depot or Lowes carry steel edging. Even a beginner can work with this type of edging and finish the job looking like it was done by a professional. This type of edging comes in different lengths although 4′ seems to be a common length. It bends easily so you can add an artistic flair to your garden edging if you so desire. There are different colors to choose from and each section will come with locking connectors and anchoring hooks. Measure carefully how much you will need before heading to the store.

Concrete edging works great but costs more money so you will have to take that into consideration. You can do it yourself and save some money but there is quite a bit of work involved because of the trenching involved. If you can afford to have your concrete edging done professionally a quality company can have the work done in no time and leave you with a beautiful edging job that will make your garden really stand out. Some people like to mix pebbles and stones into the concrete to give it a more natural look.

Natural landscape edging will give you a more “natural look” but there is much work involved and you have to constantly keep at it. One of the benefits of this type of edging is that it costs next to nothing and is far and away the best type of edging for the environment. Natural landscape edging simply means that you work up the dirt between the different areas of your yard. An example would be edging the area between your garden and your yard or flower bed.

There are a number of different garden edging methods and the method you choose will depend on the money, time and effort you want to put into it. Environmental concerns may also be a factor in what material you decide to use. Whatever your final decision there is not doubt that edging around a garden, flower bed or yard will add instant beauty to your place and help to showcase all the effort you have put in to making the area around your home more beautiful.