Plan well, build simple

Like with any job, garden or not, its best to plan before you begin. How do you want your edging to look, what materials are you planning to use and do you have a time limit? These are all questions to ask yourself before you start. It’s a good idea to measure out your garden and create a visual plan for what your edging will look like once complete. This will also help you to know how much material you need so you don’t waste any.


Sourcing the right materials

Choosing the right garden edging is a personal choice, you may love the look of glass pebbles, slate chipping or more rustic railway sleeper posts. Whatever your choice make sure you have enough material for the job, there’s plenty to choose from.

Often you can save large amounts of money and time trying to find the best material for your garden edging by recycling materials you have lying around, or that someone you know would be willing to part with.

Keep an eye out for these items. They all make great garden edging and can usually be acquired for little or no cost:

  • Excess building materials – Often left over from from building works; breeze blocks, bricks and tiles make excellent, hard wearing garden edging.
  • Unused timber – Logs and planks are also easily found and make for a beautiful natural feel if used correctly.

Another simple way to edge your garden is simple to create curves in your grass edge. With a little bit of planning and perseverance, this cost-free method can produce great results.


Straight line edging

If you’re planning on having simple straight lines for your garden edging, you’ll need to mark out the area. String often works best for this to begin with, using non-toxic grass marking paint to create a guide after that. This will help you to stay on course and ensure a beautifully straight finish.


Curved edging

Curved edges more your thing? Whilst a little trickier to pull off, you don’t need to be a professional to create one. Firstly using your plan as a guide, set tangent points. These are the shallowest and deepest parts of your curved lines. Next, take a malleable material such as a garden hose and make out the curves within your tangent points then create your finished guide using grass marking paint.


Choosing the right tools

Finally, make sure you have the right tools for the job. If you’re creating a straight edge with no complicated materials, a spade may do the trick. However, to get the best results when completing more difficult edging work, such as curves you may want to invest in specialised tools. To save on cost you can always use plant and tool hire.


Other considerations

If your garden is prone to having standing water when its been raining heavily, you likely have a drainage issue. Garden edging can be a good remedy to this, however, you will need to invest in gravel or another form of permeable material that can sit beneath your edging to allow water to soak into the ground. Remember not to seal off these drainage areas.

If you’re looking to create beautiful garden edging, why not check out our brochure. Or talk to one of our expert staff, in-store or on the phone. We’re always happy to help.