Tips For Power Edging
Power edging is more hardcore than manual edging and requires a little more caution. Follow these steps for a safe, successful experience:
How To Cut A Clean Edge
If your lawns edge is jagged, uneven and broken, then cutting a new edge is a fantastic way to neaten it up.
Spring is a great time of year to cut edging into your lawn: your grass is growing at a good rate and the soil hasnt dried out in the summer sun and heat .
The best tool with which to cut a clean edge into your lawn is a half-moon edging tool. These are designed for edging lawns and therefore cut through the earth effectively and cleanly. If youre going to be edging your lawn every spring for years to come, then it might be worth the small investment. Alternatively, you can use a spade. They can take a little more work, but they will also do the job!
Using Bricks For Lawn Edging
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Bricks can also be a good option when it comes to lawn edging. Theyre actually perfect for the flower beds and they can be used to create a clean border around them which also impacts the adjacent lawn. This border right here was created using concrete pavers. Check out gardeenworld for details.
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How To Edge A Lawn Without An Edger: You Can Trim It Manually With A Shovel
Dont know how to edge a lawn manually? You dont have to buy an edger to keep your lawn edges neat. Use these 3 ways to edge a lawn without an edger:
How amazing does this lawn look? Its edges are neat and well-defined. You, too, can achieve the same look with your lawn by following my step-by-step tutorials on how to edge a lawn without an edger.
You heard it right! You dont have to buy any fancy tools to keep lawn edges neat. Just your trusty old shovel!
I am all about being resourceful and finding new ways to use tools that I already own. I love giving my old equipment a new purpose. This allows me to maintain curb appeal on a budget.
I want to teach you how to trim edge of lawn manually so you, too, can have a picture-perfect lawn for less!
Lets get right to it!
Contents
Here are the steps on how you can edge your lawn using a shovel:
All that is left to do is clean up the excess dirt and tidy the edges of your lawn. Clean up the soil that got onto your driveway, pathway, and sidewalk using a broom and a bucket. And you dont have to throw the collected dirt away. Use it in your garden or flowerbed.
When To Edge Your Lawn
To establish an edge between a lawn and flower bed, late spring is a great time for the job because the ground will have dried out by then, making the soil easier to work with, and many people like to get their beds mulched before summer, when weeds grow most vigorously. Once you get your trench dug, you can apply mulch to the bed and achieve a clean look. If you reverse the process, you’ll inevitably spill some soil onto your mulch.
Rhizomes will bridge the trench and invade your bed at some point during the summer. At this point, you’ll have to remove the rhizomes and “touch up” your edge. Because doing so is messy, it’s hard to avoid getting some soil on your mulch, but try not to.
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Diy Guide For An Edgier Lawn
Imagine you have a beard. Then imagine that beard starts taking over your entire face, engulfing your eyes, mouth, and nose. Then it starts attaching itself to other peoples faces. Sounds like the plot of a bad horror movie, right? Well, having a monster beard is a lot like having an overgrown lawn without trenching the edges, it can not only ruin the appearance of your yard, but grass can leak onto other peoples property. Landscape edging is an easy way to clean up your lawn and keep it under control. So it doesnt turn into some low budget sci-fi film.
Tip #: Align The Edger Next To The Hard Surface
Align the cutting blade of the edger with the edge of the grass. Pull the trigger and the blade will start spinning. Start with the blade spinning in the grass at the edge of the concrete or hard surface. You will feel the blade cutting through the dirt. As its spinning, you can let it just touch the edge of the hard surface you are edging against. Stand on the left and start walking forward along the edge.
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Cutting Edge Tools You May Need
String Trimmer: A quality power edger is an investment, so do your research and dont skimp on this purchase. Gas trimmers are heavy but ideal for large yards, while electric trimmers are lighter and more eco-friendly. A straight shaft will give you a longer reach and better ability to cut curves than a curved shaft.
Manual Edging Tool: This tool looks a little bit like a shovel but has a flat, half-moon edger blade. For small yards or an aversion to power tools, this tool is the answer.
Manual Rotary Edger: This one looks like a stick with a spiky wheel at its end. The spikes are rotating blades that shear off grass in a line. Used to manually edge grass at the edge of sidewalks or other hardscape surfaces. Good for small lawns with thin-bladed grass varieties.
Hand Shears: For the finishing touches, trimming grass in hard-to-mow spots.
Garden Hose or Rope: Use to mark out the edge if you are making new garden beds and need a guide.
A Plank of Wood: Youll only need this if you are using a manual edger to do the job.
String Trimmers And The Role They Play In Lawn Edging
A trimmer doesnt have the power to cut through dirt, but they will maintain the clear, crisp edges by cutting the grass the mower cant reach. A manual trimmer, like edging shears, is perfect for smaller yards, but burdensome with bigger projects.
Investing in a string trimmer makes countless lawn maintenance tasks much more manageable. These trimmers are mechanical and powered by either gas or battery. They will quickly trim the edges of your lawn to keep them uniform.
Its best to use this after you finish mowing your lawn to clean up the edges your mower cant treat. Make sure the blade is facing the edge of the walkway, driveway, or garden bed prior to starting. Also, be careful for any obstacles you might encounter, like trees, shrubs, or rocks. They can damage the machine.
Your Options
Smaller stick edgers work very well in this capacity, since they trim cleaner edges and are more forgiving with their precision. A string trimmer requires care to keep the grass height uniform, and the string mechanism doesnt cut grass as cleanly. That said, they are priced more reasonably than stick edgers.
For both edgers and trimmers, the more complicated the mechanics, the higher cost. This is also true for the use of the machine. A gas-powered edger or trimmer will be louder, heavier, and produce smelly exhaust. That said, they have far more power and can cut through larger patches of weeds or finish edges more quickly on larger yards.
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How To Edge A Lawn By Hand
Edging your lawn has to one of the most high impact jobs to improve the appearance of your property. It really does catch peoples eye and gives your home a tidy appearance. Learn how today in this great article, how to edge a lawn by hand.
Edging a lawn is the process of leaving a sharp clean line around the perimeter of your grass lawn. This can be along a footpath, driveway or flower bed. It gives your garden a well cared for appearance, which doesnt take long to do if done regulary.
The usual process for in depth lawn care looks something like this:
You can edge your lawn with either a powered tool like a string trimmer or use a manual edging tool. I would interpret edging a lawn by hand refers to using a manual tool. This is what i will stick to in my article.
There are a number of manual hand tools available for you to choose from. I will go through them and discuss their roles in edging a lawn.
Benefits Of Doing Your Own Lawn Maintenance:
Learning to trim, edge and cleanup after as part of your lawn maintanence routine is the difference between an okay job mowing and a clean, beautiful yard. I asked my hubby to help tutor me in the ways of lawn maintenance. He had a lawn care business in college and worked for a service through high school, so hes got skills!
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How To Remove A Lawn From A Yard
- Working Time: 25 mins – 1 hr
- Total Time: 25 mins – 1 hr
- Yield: 9 square feet
- Skill Level: Beginner
- Estimated Cost: $0
Removing grass from your yard gets to be a pattern after a while with outdoor projects. It can happen frequently, whether you are installing a front pathway, digging a garden pond, laying cable for landscape path lights, installing a fence, or just about anything else.
Removing grass is to outdoor remodel projects is what priming is to painting: It’s labor-intensive and not all that creative, but it’s a necessary thing to do.
How To Cut Extremely Long Grass In 5 Easy Steps
If youve been away on a long summer vacation and returned to a garden that looks more like a meadow than a lawn, dont worry. Its happened to all of us.
Sometimes it doesnt even take a month-long vacation to face such a situation. All you need is a week-long rainfall and before you know it, your lawn is looks like the Amazon jungle!
Want to get tips on how to cut extremely long grass? Youve come to the right place. Ive put together everything you need to know and do to tame your wild lawn.
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Why Should You Edge Your Lawn
The truth is that it isnt necessary to edge your lawn. If youre mowing regularly, and following basic lawn care best practices youll have a beautiful lawn to enjoy.
But you should still edge your lawn.
We trim our edges for the same reason women trim their split ends. It changes how the finished product looks: fresh, crisp, and a better presentation.
This is the part of the yard work regimen that homeowners who have the best lawns follow. Edging your lawn periodically can make all the difference in how your yard looks.
Trimming the edges is the final touch to beautifying your yard and it can help to set your lawn apart and help it to stand out. I dont personally feel I have to dominate my neighbors by having a better lawn than they do .
For me its about the pride I feel when I come home from getting the groceries or a soccer game, or when I look outside and see my kids playing in a great lawn.
Weathered Steel Lawn Edging
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View in gallery
Weathered steel is another cool option. It can give your lawn and garden a contemporary look with an industrial vibe and its also easy to work with. Install steel edging around the flower beds or to create more structure in your backyard if for example you want to define different sections. The rusty, weathered look looks great out here because of the visual connection it establishes with the earth.
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How To Cut Grass Edges Without A Trimmer
If you dont have an edger or a string trimmer to cut the edges of your grass, there are a handful of other tools that you can use. Almost all of these tools run on muscle alone, but if youre willing to put in the work they will get the job done. For those of you wondering how to cut grass edges without a trimmer, Ill describe some of the pros and cons of each alternative below.
How To Edge A Lawn With A String Trimmer
What You Will Need
Lastly, try edging your lawn with a string trimmer using these steps:
The first thing you need to do is . You can outline your lawn with a string or spray paint, as I mentioned above. Run the string alongside straight edges of your lawn and mark curved sides with spray paint.Read the first step of the first tutorial for a detailed explanation.
Protect Yourself
Before you start your string trimmer, you need to protect yourself. Put on some non-slip gardening or construction boots that will protect your toes. Wear safety goggles to shield your eyes from flying grass clippings. We all know that gas string trimmers are pretty loud. Your neighbors sure know, anyway. All jokes aside, you should wear ear protection since prolonged exposure to loud noise leads to hearing loss.
Prep Your String Trimmer
The last thing you want is your string trimmer dying on you in the middle of the job. Before you start edging your lawn, fill up the tank with fresh gasoline. Give it a test run. If the trimmer is running smoothly, you can start working on your lawn.
Clean Up The Site
Once you are done using your string trimmer, you can start cleaning up the yard debris. Remove grass clippings and dirt from the lawn. Dont forget to sweep your driveway and other paved surfaces too! You want to define the new edge of your lawn and make it noticeable.
Dont throw the collected debris away! Add it to your garden bed or composting pile.
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Do I Need To Edge My Lawn
No, you dont need to edge your lawn. Edging isnt required to keep your grass healthy and lawns can still look great without well maintained edging. However, people choose to do it to improve the tidiness of their lawn and to create more distinct shapes in the garden. It can really help your garden to look great.
Pavers And Other Edging Ideas
Hardscapes edging, such as pavers, will give your entire landscape a finished look. Create a boundary along the border of your sidewalk and along mulched areas. Pavers come in a variety of colors and shapes to match the look of your home. You can set the pavers on top of the ground using a paver base. Or you can dig a trench and put the pavers in so they are level with the surrounding ground. Installing pavers this way makes it easier to mow. Maintain the look with routine edging with a string trimmer.
Hedges make great borders. Keep them maintained so you won’t have to remove large amounts of foliage at any one time. After you groom the perimeter, focus on any existing shrubs and bushes. Prune any excess foliage with hand shears or hedge trimmers, but make sure to work in small sections so you can keep the shapes even. For smaller yards, consider placing new shrubs along the front of your house, near the mailbox or down the walkway.
Tip: A compatible assortment of evergreen shrubbery is a great way to create edging for a lawn.
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Lawn Maintenance: Using Your Blower
Now that everything is done, blow all the dirt and grass clippings all the way back onto the lawn. Be careful to specifically clean off that brand new edge. If you only blow the trimmings into the new cut edges of the grass , the build up of soil and debris will allows the grass to grow onto the surface!
Now you can enjoy the beautiful clean look of your yard.
What tools do you like to use for your lawn maintenance?
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The Basics Of Edging A Lawn
Lawn edging is too delicate of a process to rely solely on your lawn mower. Mowers are too large and imprecise to make a clean edge, and anyone who has tried to edge along a defined garden bed with a push mower knows what Im talking about.
For regular upkeep, youll need to start off the year by re-edging every border of your lawn on your property. This can be a big project depending upon the size of your yard, but its worth doing in the spring. If you do, youll simply need to maintain that edge by trimming it through the summer.
Most lawn grass wants to spread out. Its a survival trait that many types of grass have, and so your lawn will naturally try to encroach on your walkways and garden beds throughout the season.
But youre in charge of your grass your grass isnt in charge of you. Youre the grass daddy or grass mommy, and like any good parent you need to set boundaries for your lawn.
Its a good idea to remove about a half-inch of grass edge from your garden bed at the beginning of the season using either a half-moon, manual edger or a motorized one. I personally like to do this task by hand as it gives me more control. I have used this flat spade from Fiskars for years and highly recommend it for the job.
After your spring edging work, maintenance throughout the balance of the season is easy with either a string or stick trimmer .
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