Learn How It’s Done From a Landscaping Contractor
Making improvements to your lawn, garden, or other outdoor residential spaces can be difficult without the proper expertise. If you are a Nashville homeowner who would prefer a more defined exterior landscape, our landscaping contractors are here to help you learn how landscape edging can be used to create a more appealing outdoor environment for your home.
What is Landscape Edging?
If you want a crisp, cleanly designed outdoor environment, landscape edging can help you achieve your goal. Landscape edging is used to create solid lines that serve as transition points between the different areas of your lawn and garden. Landscaping services typically employ expert landscapers who can install edging on your property with minimal hassle, although some homeowners prefer to install their edging themselves.
What is landscape edging
If you want an inexpensive, natural look for your residential landscape edging, you can dig trenches along the border of your lawn or garden bed and fill it with mulch, rocks, or flowers. Although natural landscape edging may be easy and inexpensive to install, maintaining a crisp look with natural edging often requires frequent maintenance.
If the all-natural approach doesn’t fit your landscaping goals, you can also opt to use a manufactured material to create landscape edge barriers. There are many materials available for this purpose, including plastic, rubber, metal, concrete, and brick. While these materials may require less upkeep than natural alternatives, you will likely be faced with a higher upfront cost.
Landscape edging basic steps, step 1 dig a trench, step 2 prep the space, step 3 insert edging materials, step 4 refill the trench
What are the Benefits of Landscape Edging?
Many homeowners choose to install landscape edging due to their decorative nature. However, our landscaping contractors recommend landscape edging because it can also be a functional addition to your lawn and garden. These are some noteworthy benefits of landscape edging:
- Well-maintained edging can be used to create beautiful paths that guide people through your property, protecting your plants from being trampled.
- If you have a landscape feature or specific focal point that you are proud of, edging can be used to draw more attention to it.
- Edging can also be used to keep mulch contained in a flower bed, promoting a clean-cut look when properly maintained.
- Some edging materials may help keep invasive weeds from migrating into your flowerbeds.
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Landscape Edging Installation
When homeowners or landscaping contractors install landscape edging, the process they follow slightly varies based on the materials used for the project. Here are some quick steps you can follow to correctly install several common types of landscape edging.
Plastic or Metal Landscape Edging
The first step is to dig a trench along the border of your lawn or garden bed, then insert the edging firmly into the trench. After the edging is placed properly, trim the edging to fit into the space. If necessary, join the plastic or metal strips together using couplers. After the entire edging path is laid out, anchor all of the edging down using stakes. Once you are done, refill the trench with soil while forcing the edging up against the wall of the trench.
Stone Landscape Edging
To start, define the shape and path of your edging by creating a trench along the border of your lawn or garden bed. Once the soil is removed, line the trench with an inch of sand, then place the stones into the trench one at a time. If the stones are not level, use a rubber mallet to even them out, then refill the trench with soil.
Concrete Landscape Edging
As with the other edging materials, start by digging a trench along the border of your lawn or garden bed. Next, you need to set up temporary sides in the trench that will be used to shape the concrete you are pouring in. Rigid lumber or hardboard siding are easy to find and are a good option for containing poured concrete. Ensure that the sides are level and parallel, then fill the trench with gravel to pack down the soil. Now, pour in the concrete. Use a flat object to smooth the surface of the edging, or imprint any shapes you would like included in the design. Once the concrete dries, you may need to cure it according to the instructions listed on the concrete packaging. Finally, remove the temporary sides and fill in the gaps with soil.
Landscape Edging Installation Tips
The material you choose for your landscape edging will not only define how easy it is to maintain a crisp finish, it will also determine the longevity of your edging installation. For example, if you intend to install wood edging, you should choose a type of wood that is least likely to warp, decay, or change color over time. While metal may stay intact the longest, some metals may rust under particular weather conditions, so be cautious with your choice. Likewise, if you are installing a concrete edge, you should be aware that concrete may crack as the ground underneath and around it shifts.
Don’t Have Time?
Hire a Landscaping Contractor in Nashville
Whether you’re a landscaping contractor or DIY homeowner, installing residential landscape edging requires a high level of effort. The process involves digging, measuring, and lifting for hours at a time. While some homeowners take pride in their ability to develop their own landscaping installations, we understand that not everyone has the time or energy to handle such a project on their own.
If you live in the greater Nashville area and want landscape edging installed on your residential property, we will gladly handle the project for you. The Greenway Difference is what sets Greenway of Nashville apart from our competitors, so contact us now to start planning your next landscaping project.
