How to Edge Garden Beds The Easy Way
Tidying up the edges of your garden beds is a quick and easy way to improve the overall appearance of your entire landscape. All you need is a decent square-bladed garden spade—and a little elbow grease! If your spade hasn’t had any maintenance for a few years, you should take a little time to clean and sharpen it. A sharp spade will make the job so much easier!
When is the Best Time to Edge Garden Beds?
Edging garden beds can be done anytime, technically. But, similar to having a sharp spade, choosing the ideal time will make the job a lot easier and faster. The best time to edge beds is after it has rained.
It can be challenging to maintain a straight clean edge when the soil is dry because it may crumble unevenly or have tough lumps. When the soil is damp, the shovel blade slides easily and neatly into the ground exactly where you want it. It’s also much easier to make thin slices of sod, so you don’t accidentally end up making your beds much more extensive than they already are.
The length of your lawn can also affect edging. It’s easier to see and maintain your lines if the grass along is freshly mowed or weed-whacked, so you can see where the current edge is. You can still do your edging if the lawn is longer, but it will be a little more challenging.
How to Edge Garden Beds
When you’re just cleaning up existing edges, you don’t need to take off too much soil and grass to make a big difference. Positioning your shovel just a half-inch to an inch back into the grass from the existing edge is plenty.
Your first instinct might be to hold the shovel straight down and jump on it to send the blade straight down; this will work, but you’re likely to end up with the blade going too deep—and possibly slipping and hurting yourself. There’s a more efficient method.
Stand just behind and to the side of your shovel, then angle the blade slightly so that the sharp corner will dig in first. Put one foot on the shoulder of the shovel that’s angled toward you, and push down with your feet. Now, straighten the shovel so the whole blade goes down as you’re pushing. Once you’ve cut to the correct depth, move the shovel corner to the end of your last cut and make the next one. Using the corner to guide the next cut makes it much easier to slice through the rest of the grass.
Once you’ve done a whole section with this slicing method, you’ll want to remove the cut edge. The easiest way to do this is to go back along the line from the inside of the bed, angling the shovel blade underneath the area you just cut vertically. Back cutting like this makes it quick and easy to pick up the chunks of sod. You may not need to do this if you took thin slices; you may be able to pick them up.
It’s best to clean up the chunks of sod fairly quickly after doing the edging, so those chunks don’t start rooting in your beds.
How Deep Should You Edge Your Garden Beds
If you’re going to leave your garden bed edges au natural, they only need to be about an inch deep, so don’t push your spade too far down. If you’re going to add some edging material, like rocks, bricks, or plastic edging, you’ll need to go a little deeper and a little wider.
For bricks, you’ll need a flat channel, a little wider than your bricks, to lay them into so they’re even and aligned. You’ll also need a channel for natural rocks, but with some individual adjustments for larger or smaller stones. For plastic edging, dig a trench deep enough for the top of the edging to sit level with the top of the soil, and then you’ll backfill against the edging to hold it in place.
There are plenty of different materials you can use for edging your garden beds. There’s a wide variety of styles of plastic edging that are pretty easy to install. The ideas are endless—use river rock, lumber, or even metal edging! Stop by the garden center and see what’s in stock and get some inspiration.