Different Types of Garden Edging

If your garden needs a boost, perhaps it’s time to rethink your edges. Installing new edging is one of the easiest and fastest way to improve the overall appearance of your garden. Whether you want to dress up a swath of perennials, draw attention to a bench in the distance, or simply keep gravel in bounds, freshening up your edges often does the trick. You can install some materials such as metal and bender board or you may try to install concrete and boulders to challenge you to learn some new skills. Edgings are not limited to what you might find at your local garden center. Sometimes the prettiest edging is simply a conventional material used in an unconventional way.
 
You can look at the following low-maintenance options that we have listed. For function alone, they will keep your garden neat and tidy by holding back soil, defining beds, blocking the relentless march of invasive roots, and preventing mulch from migrating. But their aesthetic value is perhaps their greatest asset, ranging from nearly invisible to command performers.
 
 

• Brick
• offers a classic look, with new, red bricks standing up crisp and modern, and salvaged bricks lending a subtle, timeworn appearance. Brick’s weathered, low-profile surface recedes into the background, shifting your attention to the lawn and sweeps of flowering perennials.

Pros – Adapts easily to angles and straight runs also hosts lichen and moss
Cons – Intermediate masonry skills required for creating curves
Installation Tip
– When setting a single row of bricks, no mortar is necessary; you can simply put the bricks together. Dig a shallow trench and fill it with a 1- to 2-inch-thick layer of sand. Bury horizontal bricks at least ½ inch deep and vertical bricks 2 to 3 inches deep. If you stack several rows of bricks, however, you will need mortar to hold the bricks in place.
 

• Stones
• the most natural-looking edging options. Obtaining the stones is as simple as digging them up from another area of your yard or bringing home a load from a local supplier like Nice Backyard. Yet placing the individual stones can easily consume more than an afternoon as mimicking nature is surprisingly challenging.

Pros – Easy to source locally and pairs well with informal plantings
Cons – Time-consuming and tricky to imitate nature
Installation Tip

• Before placing any stones, determine how you want to mark the start and finish of the edging. You might select the two largest stones to stamp a definite beginning and end of a bed, or you could use a series of increasingly smaller stones that gradually disappear into the ground. Either way, roll each stone before placing it to find its best side.

• Concrete
• Poured concrete is fluid, at least during the installation phase. Any shape is possible, from the tightest curve to the flattest, longest run. Plus, you can vary its height, both above and below ground. You can personalize a concrete edge by imprinting shapes, such as fallen leaves; pressing in pebbles, shells, tiles, or decorative glass; or mixing in pigment for a dash of color.

Pros – Long lasting and infinitely customizable with shapes, pigments, and surface patterns
Cons – Time-consuming and complex installation and relatively permanent
Installation Tip

• The greatest challenge when installing concrete edging is properly setting up the forms—the temporary sides into which you’ll pour the concrete. Use rigid lumber, flexible hardboard siding, or bender board to build the forms. If you’re a beginner at pouring concrete, start with a simple, straight edge, rather than a series of intricate curves.

• Bender Board
• For smooth and sinuous curves, it’s tough to beat bender board. The pliable material flexes easily and is relatively inconspicuous, with its top barely visible above ground. In the past, the thin strips were typically made from rot-resistant wood, such as redwood or cedar; today, however, most bender board is composed of recycled or engineered plastic.

Pros – Curves effortlessly, lightweight and easily cuts with a handsaw or coping saw
Cons – Hard to create straight lines, splices can separate over time and not widely available in stores
Installation Tip

• The thinner the strip, the more easily it bends. Before installing, lay your bender board in the sun for a few hours to loosen it up. Dig a shallow trench, set the bender board in place, and level it. Finish by affixing matching plastic stakes with screws or wherever necessary to hold curves in place.

• Metal
• Metal Edgings becoming an increasingly popular option in home gardens. With its whisper-thin silhouette, it forms an inconspicuous, clean line between disparate elements. It is especially useful for creating a crisp separation between gravel and planted areas. Because of its ability to remain unflinchingly straight, it complements and reinforces strong geometry in modern designs. You can purchase at your local supplier like Nice Backyard Warehouse which they have metal edging from Straight Curve available.

Pros – Long lasting, subtle, accommodates straight runs and gentle curves
Cons – Requires a hacksaw to cut
Installation Tip

• Like plastic bender board, metal edging comes in long strips and in similar lengths, heights, widths, and colors. It’s either made of heavy-gauge aluminum, which does not rust, or weather-resistant steel. To install either type, check your soil first; if it’s relatively soft, there’s no need to dig a trench. To anchor the edging, pound in matching metal stakes on both sides. Some metal edgings make the anchoring process even easier: These products come with a series of horizontal metal straps attached to one side into which you insert the metal stakes.

• Timber Edging
• Timber edging like Pressure treated pine has an added benefit. It boasts a classic look that many people enjoy: natural wood grain. Nothing, except for real wood, looks like real natural authentic wood.

Pros – Inexpensive, easy to work with and rot-resistant wood
Cons – changes its color when exposed too much sunlight and causes crack and warp to the wood
 
 
Installation Tip

• Make wooden edging using treated pine wood and cutting it into random lengths, then placing the pieces in a shallow trench along the edge of the garden. Fill in the trench, and tamp the soil gently to settle the border in place.

 
Here are few creative options that you can use for Garden Edging too:

• Upside-down wine bottles arranged in a row
• Sparkly glass pebbles raked into a wide strip
• Stout, tall sticks of bamboo stuck vertically on the ground
• Slender logs or fallen wood laid end to end

Please click this link to see our Garden Edging & Accessories Products: https://nicebackyard.com/nice/product-category/accessories/