How to make a lawn edging? A practical guide

When think­ing about the gar­den of our dreams, most of us see a per­fect divi­sion where every ele­ment has its place. Sounds great, does­n’t it? What, then, can be done to ensure that paths retain their shape through­out the sea­son? The answer is quite sim­ple — all it takes is the right edg­ing. It’s those incon­spic­u­ous bound­ary lines between the lawn and the rest of the gar­den that can make all the dif­fer­ence. They make the space look neat, pro­fes­sion­al and — most impor­tant­ly — much eas­i­er to main­tain. In this guide, we’ll show you how to make a lawn edg­ingThe design of the green space is a key ele­ment in the design of the green space, what to place it on and what types of struc­ture to choose in order to say good­bye to chaos in the green space once and for all.

How do you make a lawn edging? Step-by-step instructions

Mak­ing a lawn edg­ing is one of those tasks that seems com­pli­cat­ed. In fact, the process turns out to be quite sim­ple, and you can suc­cess­ful­ly do it your­self, for exam­ple at the week­end. All you need is the right mate­r­i­al, a lit­tle pre­ci­sion and some basic tools. Here is how to cre­ate a durable edg­ing step by step:

1. Plan the course of the struc­ture — start by mark­ing the line along which you want to lay the edges. You can use gar­den string, stakes or flex­i­ble hose for this; 
2. Dig the trench — its depth and width should be adapt­ed to the type of edg­ing cho­sen. For plas­tic or met­al mod­els, 10–15 cm is suf­fi­cient, while con­crete types require deep­er embed­ment; 
3. Pre­pare a sta­ble foun­da­tion — you won­der, what to set the edg­ing onso that they do not shift over time? A lay­er of sand, grav­el, and a cement-sand mix works best to pro­vide good sta­bil­i­sa­tion; 
4. Lay and fix the edg­ing — depend­ing on the mate­r­i­al cho­sen, use the appro­pri­ate instal­la­tion method. Plas­tic or met­al edg­ing is fixed with anchors, clips, while heav­ier con­crete ele­ments are best embed­ded in a thin lay­er of con­crete; 
5. Lev­el and then secure the edges — once the edg­ing has been fixed, back­fill the groove with earth or small stones, tamp the ground well and smooth the sur­face.

Which lawn edging will work best?

The choice of design depends on many fac­tors — the style of the gar­den, the type of soil, the func­tion of the instal­la­tion and the indi­vid­ual pref­er­ences of the own­er. Which lawn edg­ing worth con­sid­er­ing?

• Plas­tic — light­weight, flex­i­ble and durable. Works well for curved lines, plus they are easy to fit. Per­fect for begin­ner gar­den­ers. 
• Met­al — usu­al­ly made of gal­vanised steel or corten. Can prove to be an inter­est­ing addi­tion to min­i­mal­ist arrange­ments. 
• Con­crete — an extreme­ly durable, sta­ble type. Avail­able in a vari­ety of shapes and colours. Best for heav­i­ly used spaces. 
• Wood­en — nat­ur­al, aes­thet­i­cal­ly pleas­ing but less resis­tant to mois­ture. Requires reg­u­lar main­te­nance.

Which edging for the garden will be best?

Choos­ing the right gar­den edg­ing depends pri­mar­i­ly on where it is to be used and the func­tion it will serve. If you plan to sep­a­rate the lawn from the flower beds, high­er and dec­o­ra­tive edg­ing will work best. For lawns, it’s worth opt­ing for low, even solu­tions, as they won’t get in the way when you’re mow­ing, while also stop­ping the grass from grow­ing. For paths and dri­ve­ways, more load-bear­ing edg­ing is rec­om­mend­ed, such as con­crete or met­al mod­els that stand up well to inten­sive use. In uneven ter­rain or irreg­u­lar­ly shaped gar­dens, the flex­i­ble plas­tic coun­ter­parts work best, as they are easy to adapt to the nat­ur­al cur­va­ture of the ground.

What should the edging be set on to make it durable and stable?

Many gar­den­ers are ask­ing them­selves: what to set the edg­ing onso that they do not shift or warp after win­ter? Here are some tried and test­ed solu­tions:

• sand bal­last — good for light­weight struc­tures, easy to make; 
• grav­el — pro­vides addi­tion­al drainage and sta­bil­i­sa­tion; 
• Cement-sand mix — rec­om­mend­ed if you want dura­bil­i­ty; 
• con­crete lay­er — used under heavy con­crete edg­ing or in heav­i­ly used areas.

It’s worth remem­ber­ing that a well-pre­pared foun­da­tion is the foun­da­tion for dura­bil­i­ty — you’ll save your­self work in future sea­sons.

Summary

Well-planned and care­ful­ly exe­cut­ed gar­den edg­ing is a small detail that makes a huge dif­fer­ence. They give your gar­den a tidy look and make dai­ly main­te­nance much eas­i­er. If you are look­ing for proven edg­ing for your gar­den, take a look at sammler.com.co.uk. We offer you a wide range of prod­ucts — they will help you tidy up your space! Take a look at the range in our shop!