Which is the best lawn edging?
Table of Contents
- Which is the best lawn edging?
- Is lawn edging necessary?
- The best lawn edging solutions
- Lawn edging with sleepers
- Brick lawn edging
- Cheap lawn edging for curves
- Wooden lawn edging
- Steel lawn edging
- Stone lawn edging
- Picket fence edging
- Recycled rubber lawn edging
- Lawn edging for rockery
- Rope lawn edging with lighting
- Lawn Edging Guide
- Can you mow over lawn edging?
- Best Lawn Edging Ideas – Final Thoughts
Garden edging is used to clearly define the border of a lawn, creating a clear marker between different areas. This post covers the best lawn edging ideas available today.
Each will help keep your lawn from creeping over your flower beds and walkways, without having to manually edge the lawn with a spade, half-moon cutter, or strimmer.
These lawn edging products will help keep your garden tidy with minimal maintenance, and even add a unique touch.
Is lawn edging necessary?
Lawn edging is not strictly necessary, but it will add clean visual lines to your garden, and makes for easy mowing and maintenance. The best garden edging will even add character and function.
The best lawn edging solutions
There are literally thousands of options to choose from. You can use recycled materials, commercially available options, hedges as edges and even install mini fences!
To help you narrow it down, here are my 10 best lawn edging ideas, ranging from the traditional to the modern and everything in between.
Lawn edging with sleepers
Garden edging with sleepers has a long history, and will give your garden a very quality, traditional rustic feel.
Wooden boards are arguably the best garden edging for straight lines, and are well-suited to lawns with square geometry.
As they are big, heavy, and solid, you can use them to clearly demarcate areas of the lawn, and also for raised beds etc.
Lying in the soil, the wood will need to be treated to prevent wood rot. Modern treatments are designed to protect the wood and won’t release chemicals into your garden.
Sleepers are available in various different sizes, in both softwood and hardwood. If you are lucky you may be able to get some reclaimed sleepers from the railway lines, but make sure that they have not been treated with a chemical that might leech into your garden.
Image from Howarth Timber
Brick lawn edging
- Interlocking metal edging that follows the contour of your lawn, easy to fit in minutes. Reduces mowing time, no more strimming or shearing. Ideal for all lawn types – along flower beds, walls and fences. Available in 5 metre packs.
Another tried and true method of edging is to use bricks. They are weatherproof and tough and can also be oriented in various ways for different aesthetic appeal.
If you don’t have any bricks available, this edging design from Easy Edge is the next best thing. They look almost like real bricks, especially from afar, and make for great garden edging
Installing the bricks is easy, and they come with spacers which allow you to stretch around curves. They are robust enough to step on and can be mowed over assuming they are level with the lawn.
Of course, these bricks are not real and won’t take on that weathered look over time. If you want real brick edging for your lawn, try following this guide from the BBC.
Image from Easy Edge
Cheap lawn edging for curves
- Konrado-Garden Ribbonboard BLACK / GREEN / BROWN PLASTIC BORDER EDGING – made from flexible plastic, this garden border edging is the perfect solution to keep your lawn and flowerbeds looking organized with clean cut areas for a pleasing aesthetic look. An affordable alternative to metal edging, this border edging is easy to bend and manoeuvre into different shapes and sizes
- SIZING INFORMATION – our garden edging is available in a wide range of lengths for all your lawn design needs. Three colours are available too so your flower bed edging can easily blend into the colour scheme and style of your garden
- EASY TO USE LAWN EDGING – supplied in a roll, this pack of garden border edging will easily flatten out once unrolled so that it can be easily cut and shaped to your requirements. Easy to cut with a metal saw, simply cut to your required size and bend into shape when pegging it into your lawn or flowerbeds
This plastic edging from Ribbonboard is suitable for curved lawns. The edging is very flexible and can even be used to create a circle around trees.
It is 4cm high and can be affixed to the ground with spikes.(Make sure the ground is loose before you hammer in the spikes, as a few users have reported breaking the spikes by hammering them into hard earth.) The edging makes for easy mowing if it is driven sufficiently into the earth.
Wooden lawn edging
- ★Spiked design for easy fixing
- ★No need for fixing pegs
- ★Natural timber finish
This edging is available 10cm, 20cm and 30cm high, allowing you to specify the ideal height for your garden, and you also have several colours to choose from.
Higher heights are useful for preventing pets using your flower beds as a toilet and also give us more striking visual appeal, though they do cost more.
This is a decent quality border that will stand up to the weather, and is easy to install. Again, be careful not to drive the pegs into hard soil, or rocky soil, otherwise you risk breaking some off as you hammer them in.
Image from GLP
Steel lawn edging
- 5m roll of lawn edging, 16.5cm high
- Made from galvanised steel
- Rolled safety edge
This steel lawn edging does not come with spikes, and requires significant digging for installation.
Mark the area where you want to install the border, soften up the soil with water, then use a spade to cut a slot and insert the steel edging.
Be warned that if you try and mallet it into the ground it may break. As it is galvanised steel, this edging is very resistant to the elements and should last a lifetime under the soil.
Stone lawn edging
- ✔️ WEATHER RESISTANT - From spring right through to winter, give your garden a fantastic new look all year round and border your flower beds with the Pukkr Grey Stone Effect Lawn Edging.
- ✔️ STONE EFFECT - The overall look of this lawn edging is in the style of cobblestone so it is sure to look great in your garden as it separates the grass on your lawn from the plants on your flower beds.
- ✔️ EASY INSTALLATION - No digging or cutting required. Making sure the soil is soft and slightly damp, interlock the pieces together and insert into the ground. Make sure not to hammer the plastic edging into the soil, as this could cause damage to the product.
If you like the stone look but don’t want to splash out hundreds on real cobblestone edging, try these faux stones.
This edging provides a great visual appeal and super easy to install. Each piece slides into the adjacent piece for a smooth, continuous look. They also easily bend around corners and can meet the shape of almost any garden bed.
As with the other options, make sure you prepare the ground before hammering them in, otherwise you might end up snapping them in half – they are only made of plastic after all.
Image from Pukkr
Picket fence edging
- Pack of 4 x Wooden Panel Picket Fencing by Ruddings Wood
- Made from FSC certified timber from sustainable source. Pressure impregnated timber to protect from rot.
- Fixed picket panel ideal for borders, lawns, driveway and paths.
If you fancy the american suburban look you can decorate your borders with your very own picket fence, with these sturdy border fences made from FSC certified timber from a sustainable source.
Again, very easy to install by hammering the spike into the ground. Each panel is 28cm tall, so not only does it create a great look, but it will also deter any pesky neighborhood pets from fouling on your lawn!
If you want to go the whole hog, you could even paint it white!
Recycled rubber lawn edging
- Recycled Rubber Border
- Individual pieces slot together
- Easy to Install - DIY - No mess
This is a fantastic option for the eco-warriors out there. ECO GARDEN’s product is made from 100% recycled materials (mainly car tyres), this edging is super durable and will last for years regardless of what mother natures decides to throw at it.
One edge is curved, which allows you to follow bends in the lawn’s shape, and the other edge is squared, so you can do right angles too.
This is also arguably the easiest option to install. You simply water the ground where you want to install the edging, lay each rubber brick out, and give them a good stomping!
Lawn edging for rockery
- 14 STONES: Set of 14 stones to add a rockery effect to your lawn boarders, pond or flowerbed.
- DURABLE: Made from durable stone effect polyresin.
- STURDY: Under side metal spike keeps stones in place.
Another traditional look is rocks as edging. You can source some yourself, or go for faux stone to make things easy.
These faux stones from Burwell are very realistic and provide an ideal border for a rockery, garden bed or even a water feature.
Each stone is affixed to a spike that pushes into the earth for a firm base.
Rope lawn edging with lighting
- 【Malleable PVC Tube Cover】 This outdoor rope Light is with 33 feet copper wire, which is fully covered by clear PVC tubes, the tubing of the firefly lights is durable and flexible, but thin enough to wrap any which way to create a glowing character as snowman or super hero or unique wordings, adding extra fun to your outdoor or indoor events. 100 glowing Leds with steady 360 degree viewing angle they illuminate in every direction. Just ignite your imagination!
- 【Highly Quality Solar String Light】Our solar rope light with 100pcs low-heat-emission LED bulbs, up to 19% high energy conversion rate comparing to others’ 13%. They're environmental protection and energy inexhaustible; Durable and safe to use, the LEDs will not overheat after using many hours, you can see some firefly lights shining in your garden any time, make your yard charming. The super flexible wire can be easily bend and shaped around plants, signs, furniture and almost everything else.
- 【8 LIGHTING MODES to Create Lots Fun】Gorgeous 8 lighting modes including combination, fireflies flashing, waves, fading, chasing/flashing, fading slowly, twinkle/flashing and steady on, which can create different atmospheres for your life. Flexible wires can easily build the shapes you want; wrap around tree trunks or gazebos; in the dark, the wire fades to invisible, leaving only the bright lights. This decorative solar rope string lights make your house and garden charming and romantic.
Consider combining another edging product with a waterproof rope light to add some ambiance to your garden. These lights will plug into your mains and are flexible enough to curve around your lawn, whatever the shape.
Example effect of rope lighting
Lawn Edging Guide
Before clicking through to order some garden edging and rushing out to install it, consider these factors:
Budget
Costs can add up quickly when you are covering the whole circumference of your lawn. Consider your budget before you start and make sure you have the funds needed for your chosen edging solution.
Sleepers and other high-quality edges will cost significantly more than a simple plastic rim.
Materials
Plastic lawn edging is very common because it is so cheap and,and usually long-lasting. Watch out for flimsy spikes on lower quality products.
Rubber lawn edging is typically quite durable too, but lower quality products can stiffen over time.
Metal lawn edging is getting quite popular, particularly corten steel in uber modern designs. Be sure to opt for a stainless or galvanised option that won’t rust.
Wooden lawn edging is probably the most attractive option, but make sure it is treated properly to avoid it getting waterlogged and bloating or cracking, especially when it freezes in the winter.
Stone and brick lawn edging will weather well, just like wood, and should hold up for a lifetime if treated well. Be aware that dark stones can retain heat and damage the health of grass at the border.
Lawn edging for slopes
If your garden is sloping, then be sure to choose a solid edging option like stones, bricks, or sleepers, that will stay in place. Alternatively you could opt for a dig-in solution that will be secured inside a trench.
More severe slopes will require a retaining wall, or a system of terraces, but railways sleepers can work well in these cases.
Best lawn edging for sandy soil
If your soil is sandy, be sure to opt for an edging solution that sits deeply within the soil or is heavy enough to be securely anchored on the ground. Edging resting on spikes can suffer when light sandy soil erodes during heavy rain.
Best lawn edging for dogs
Garden edging with sharp edges can hurt the paws of cats and dogs. The best way to avoid this is by opting for lawn edging without any sharp edges.
Can you mow over lawn edging?
Unless your edging is flush with the earth, you would be well-advised to avoid mowing it. If you have raised edging that sits above the grass, consider creating a mowing strip to give yourself room to mow the lawn effectively.
Best Lawn Edging Ideas – Final Thoughts
There is no doubt that there is so much to choose from when it comes to garden edging. Look for something that is going to last, that provides a look that matches your garden and the aesthetic you’re going for, and something that fits your budget.
Don’t be afraid to use your imagination and be sure to be careful when installing your edging. Be careful of sharp edges if you have pets and children around, and consider how you will mow you lawn afterwards, creating a little extra room if necessary.
Have fun, and enjoy the results!
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