Unless you have a natural edge on your landscape beds, you most likely have a landscape edging product installed between your bed and your grass.  Most beds have metal, plastic, paver or natural landscape edging products installed.  Personal preference is the biggest factor when choosing which landscape edging product to use for your landscape project.  We usually install black plastic edging or concrete bullet edgers unless a customer requests the use of another product.

Black plastic edging is probably the most inexpensive landscape edging product available.  Its flexibility allows the installer to create curves with ease.  If plastic edging is installed correctly, it can last for many years.  If this product is installed incorrectly it may last for a matter of months.

Starting your landscape edging.

To start your installation, mark out the desired landscape bed with marking paint.  This will allow you to view what the job will look like before installation.  You now have the flexibility to change your design before you even break ground.  Once you have settled on a design, it is now time to break ground.  This can be done manually with a shovel if you do not have an edging machine.  After the first couple of feet with a shovel, you will probably go to the nearest rental center and rent an edging machine.  Once you have your edging machine, trench your edge approx 4-6 inches deep (this will give you room to work with the product).  Edging machines should come with different blade attachments.  When installing plastic edging you should ask for the “V” attachment.  If you trench your edge with a “V” attachment, you will set up the trench so that your product can be installed correctly.

You should run you edging machine so that the dirt displaced by the machine is thrown on the area where with the littlest amount of impact.  If you are creating a new bed you would not want to throw the dirt on your grass, you would want to throw it back into the bed.  If you have a rock bed and don’t want to move the rock, throw it on your grass so that you do not contaminate your rock.  This can be accomplished by starting the machine at one end of your project or the other depending on where you want the dirt to fall.