Learn how to edge a flower bed for super cheap and make it look like the pros did it!
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There are lots of ways to edge a flower bed. You could buy a product to edge your flower bed, like stones or pavers. Those options are nice, but I like to edge my flower beds the old-fashioned way: with a shovel and some elbow grease.
Using a shovel to edge your bed does take a lot of effort, especially the first time and does require maintenance, but I personally prefer the look of a fresh cut grass edge rather than stones or pavers. Plus, it’s free to do if you once you have a shovel. You don’t need to buy any edging materials, which makes this a perfect, budget-friendly landscaping project to improve your curb appeal.
Perfectly landscaped garden edges reminds me of driving through a nice neighborhood…you know, where they pay for professional landscapers with HOA fees. The edging is always done so nicely and is usually just a well cut grass edge.
HOW TO EDGE A FLOWER BED CHEAPLY
Step 1: Gather your materials
The bare minimum you need for this landscaping project is yourself and a shovel.
I prefer using a half moon border edger shovel. I have an old school one, but it does the trick!
I also suggest using some garden gloves because it’s a lot of work on your hands.
Lastly, if you want really crisp lines, you can go over the grass line along your flower bed border with a grass trimmer. This will give a nice, crisp edge.
Step 2: Use your shovel to dig out a border
This step has a couple caveats. If you’re making a border for the first time, you’ll have a lot more work to do. If you have a border already made and you’re refreshing it, you can easily follow the overgrown border edge with your shovel.
In my backyard, I had to almost start from scratch.
Here’s a look at my little garden bed in the back (before). As you can see, there’s no flower bed outline.
I had to recreate the outline of it. I decided to just wing it, but you can definitely mark the grass with spray paint where you want to cut it out.
I even used my small garden shovel to scoop out some of the dirt because of the shape it was in.
Here’s a look at the edge after I was done with edging it. Such a difference!
In my front yard, I already had a line to follow so it was a lot easier to do. Here’s a look at the edges I made in my front flower bed.
The important part of edging is that you dig out a pretty deep amount of soil around the edge. You want it to be noticeable!
Step 3: Trim your grass edge
If you want a really sharp line, you can trim your grass edge with a trimmer. We didn’t but it would definitely have made the line even sharper!
Step 4: Mulch
New mulch makes such a difference! When you’re mulching a freshly edged flower bed, the key is to not over mulch.
When you’re spreading your mulch near the edge, don’t spread your mulch into the edge and fill it up to the grass line.
Instead, lightly add mulch over your flower bed so that the edge line still shows!
That’s it! You’re done!
Here’s a look at another flower garden I edged. Here is the before:
During:
Here is the after:
How to edge a flower bed TIPS:
- Use a half moon edger shovel if you can. You could also use a different type of shovel but I find the half moon is the easiest to use for this project and works best.
- When you add mulch, do not overfill the edge line you just created.
- Trim the grass with a grass trimmer if you want even better results.
