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Edging
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Posted by
vic447 (
My Page) on
Sat, Sep 20, 14 at 10:50
I would like a nice sharp edge around my garden beds. Every year I cut a new edge in the spring ( the beds just keep getting larger....lol) but the grass grows into the edge and over the edge making it difficult to cut.
What has worked for you ? Do you have any tricks or favorite products ? If you are cutting a straight edge how often do you re cut it and how do you maintain it in between ? Thanks for sharing :) |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Edging
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| have you ever tried.. sharpening your shovel ... it took me about 10 years preWWW to figure that out ... and once i did.. the job was easier... faster... and the beds quit growing larger due to the ability to SLICE smaller pieces ... i trust you are using a straight edging shovel also???? and lastly ... the straight deep edge.. should be 3 to 4 inches deep ..... just below the grass root zone area .... to make the edge last longer ... are you doing that??? ken |
RE: Edging
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| Thanks Ken for your reply, I am going the 3 to 4 inches deep and using a straight edge shovel , but you raise a good point, it could definitely use sharpening. How often do have to cut your edges Ken ? Do you weed whack the edges separately or does your mower do a good enough job ? |
RE: Edging
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| I edge once thoroughly in spring, with a spade, but then need to re-edge bits several times afterwards (for instance, if grass has begun to growing into the flowerbed or I've stepped or spilled soil on an edge). A depth of 3 or 4 inches works well with our lawn and our soil. I'd only mark off a bed (stakes and long nails) when it's first dug. Subsequent edging is just by eyeball, which seems to work. Sharpened - yes: In my case, I find my spade gets sharpened simply by heavy digging in other situations. Edging advice, in summary: Trust Ken!
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RE: Edging
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| Crossed. As per us: my meticulous spouse mows the lawn manually, weed-wacks the edge and further weeds along the edge. |
RE: Edging
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| Rather weed whacking, edging shears will keep the cut edge clean. A half moon edging iron, rather than a shovel or spade, will cut the edge vertical and sharp. |
RE: Edging
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| Argument I've heard against half-moon edgers is that the flange (to step on) doesn't allow the edger to go down far enough. Also, it may be easier to get a straight line with some half-moons, but I'd suspect that in terms of the transmission of the force applied by the foot, (foot to blade) a traditional (English-type) spade, with it's weight and straight sides, may be more efficient and long-term an easier tool to use for edging. |
RE: Edging
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Sunny Border Lucky you for having a meticulous spouse #alittlejealous
Floral I just looked at Edging Shears on Amazon, very neat, does it take very long ? I have A LOT of edges |
RE: Edging
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| Where do you get your shovel sharpened ? I think I need that too. |
RE: Edging
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| SunnyBorders - an English spade has straight sides but the blade is slightly dished so doesn't make a flat cut. I use mine on the allotment where the edges don't have to be perfect but I wouldn't use one on a proper lawn. A half moon seems to have worked fine over here for a long time but possibly the lawn grasses used here are easier to maintain and don't need such a deep edge. Edging shears don't take long and they are a good upper arm work out ;-) |
RE: Edging
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| True re spade's contouring, Floral. The issue about different lawn grasses (could add soil types) would be interesting to pursue. In my case, a spade for edging boils down to simple efficiency. We only have a total of about 150 foot of edging in our own little garden. Several of my recent customers (small retirement perennial gardening business) have had me install and maintain perennial beds resulting in sizeably more edging than 150 foot. Even when lawn maintenance companies do the subsequent edging, their work requires remediation. We've had various sorts of gardening tools in the past, some of which clearly did more for the person who sold them than for us. However, I find a traditional (English-style) spade, as a multi-purpose gardening tool, so easy to use. That's presumably because it has acquired its overall size, shape and weighting through generations of successful usage. |
RE: Edging
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| I use a half moon edger in the spring and again in the fall if I have time or am ambitious. In between times I a use a hand hoe for any errant grass. The mower cuts the grass along the edges with only an occasional whacking needed. |
RE: Edging
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| Very helpful information everyone, thank you! |
RE: Edging
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| We cut the edges once a year, then maintain them by weed whacking every other mow with the weed whacker held side ways so the strings are cutting vertically giving the edge a nice clean cut. This works well especially if you have a lot of edges. |
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