this is the easy living yards podcast

I’m you’re edgy host Ben Hale let’s jump

in and learn how to have a healthy

beautiful yard with less work so you can

enjoy more time doing what you love

[Music]

what’s up and welcome to episode 28 of

the easy living yards podcast today we

will be talking about lawn edging and

garden edging ideas hey welcome to

today’s show if you’re new to the show

thank you for coming by I hope you

enjoyed this episode and other episodes

that you might discover here on the easy

living yards podcast we talk all about

how to save time in your landscape so

you can spend more time with your family

and doing the things you love so today

with lawn edging and garden edging ideas

it’s gonna be a little bit of a shorter

episodes in some of the previous ones

but this is in itself is actually a very

valuable piece of having a

low-maintenance landscape so if you’re

looking at your garden areas or if

you’re looking to design a new space

having the proper appropriate edging

that’s durable and that actually

provides a good barrier to prevent

growth and and spreading of certain

plants is very important so let’s just

jump into it today and start learning

about lawn edging and garden edging and

how this is important for us so the

benefits of garden edging are there are

a couple that I think of one is that it

reduces maintenance so when you have

edging across your garden beds or in

between your lawn and a garden bed or

something like that

what it does is it provides a barrier to

weed growth or creep of your lawn or

creep of your garden plants and it helps

just kind of keep the right things in

the right space and so the primary ways

this reduces maintenance is through the

reduction of weeding in the reduction of

trimming and of course here we might

have weed growth that comes in but also

weeding

I’m just referring to not the right

plant in the right place so if you have

some garden plants that maybe escaped

your garden into your lawn that you

would prefer not to be there or vice

versa if you have your lawn plants that

start creeping into your garden beds

while having an appropriate barrier with

a good border or edge really reduces

this need for weeding and likewise it

reduces your need for trimming if you

have the right kind of edging okay the

other benefit of garden edging or lawn

edging is that it provides some design

benefits so it actually just by having a

good edge or a good garden border you’re

providing clean lines in your design

across your yard and these clean lines

can be very crisp and a nice looking for

the right kind of designs and these

clear borders that you put in your

landscape with good garden borders it

benefits many types of designs and most

common designs that you see in yards and

landscapes so you have a reduction of

maintenance benefit as well as the

design benefit so let’s get into the

different types of edging that I prefer

and the benefits and drawbacks of each

type of edging and what might be right

for you in your yard I’m not really

gonna get into how to install edging

because there’s a lot of differences

based on the type of edging even within

these various categories that I’m

talking about

and so those specific more specific

installation topics will be highly based

on what type of edging you end up

getting for your landscape so the first

type of edging that’s highly durable is

metal edging and so the benefits for

metal edging are that it’s one durable

and to low visibility or it can be low

visibility so generally what you get

with metal edging is it’s kind of like a

thin sheet of metal that you insert

vertically into the ground at the border

of your garden or your lawn and this

metal edging border provides a very

strong endure

a barrier between your two spaces that

you’re providing an edge on and it

withstands the test of time generally

speaking and so this is a pretty thin

sheet of metal and so it is low

visibility and that is highly desired in

a lot of designs so it’s almost like a

like an invisible border now of course

when you’re close up to it you do see it

but but from a distance it’s it almost

looks like just a a self-made border if

that makes sense so some cautions with

metal edging first if you have steel

edging it can rust so if you have like a

thicker steel edging this actually may

be a an appealing look to have like

slightly patina or surface rusted edging

and so if that’s desired make sure you

have the right type of steel edging to

do that but if if not you know it might

actually degrade your edging especially

if you have a thinner metal edging like

I was mentioning previously if you have

a thicker metal edge this actually may

be desired and you get surface rusting

and that’s different than then deep

rusting and pitting so so the stuff we

want to avoid is the stuff that might

corrode over time and eventually degrade

to where you have to replace it

likewise steel edging can degrade in

salty regions so if you’re especially if

your soil has a high salt level first of

all that’s probably a it could be a

problem if you have salted soil you

might have issues with plants growing in

the first place but aside from that it

can also corrode your edges so just make

sure your soil isn’t high in salt

concentration to where it’s going to

actually degrade your edging now

alternatively aluminum edging is also

fairly common and aluminum edging is

fairly durable when it comes to

corrosion in your landscape so so this

can be a good choice the flipside is

that it’s not as strong if it is

somewhere you’re actually it’s going to

be getting a lot of direct contact with

hard surfaces or whatever impact I guess

is the the right term

so it’s it’s more flimsy basically but

it’s durable more durable to corrosion

and so this is something to considered

based on your specific need in general

the thinner metal edging it can be a cut

hazard if especially if you have

yourself or others walking around

barefoot or if you have pets that might

be stepping on this edging you just got

to be careful with the metal edging

especially the thinner stuff because it

can be an issue with cuts or just it can

be painful to step on so make sure you

can consider that also generally

speaking you want to avoid this in

high-traffic areas for some of the

previously mentioned reasons so if it’s

aluminum edging in a high-traffic area

could be prone to bending or cracking

eventually or the thinner edging also is

just it can be painful to step on and

generally speaking you just don’t want

it to be in a space where it’s actually

going to be walked on top of and so if

it’s at that the far edge of a path that

might be okay depending upon what path

you have but if it’s somewhere where

you’re going to be actually crossing it

or somebody will be crossing it on a

routine basis you might want to avoid

metal edging likewise a metal edging can

sometimes be difficult to find at

nurseries or various stores especially

your bigger box stores they generally

don’t carry the this more durable edging

and so you might have to search for it

some specialty nurseries or some large

supplier nurseries for that generally

supply like commercial use or you can

also find this stuff online so stuff to

consider there now if you find it online

shipping can be expensive for this stuff

because generally it’s sold in like

eight to ten foot lengths and so that

might be difficult but if you’re

purchasing enough of it it might be

worth it

so just something to consider there okay

let’s move on away from metal edging

which is again very nice it can be low

visibility and highly durable what about

stone edging so stone edging is the

benefits of stone edging is that it’s

it’s very durable if installed properly

and also can be very decorative at the

same time so in and of itself just the

edging itself

can be a nice accent to your garden or

to your lawn as a nice visual piece by

itself as a stone edging now some of the

cautions with stone edging is that you

got to make sure you install this stuff

properly and especially with a proper

underlayment generally speaking they

they recommend a small excavation

underneath the edging where you’re going

to install it so you dig down a few

inches below the bottom of your stone

and you install an underlayment usually

of either with a weed barrier fabric as

well as some gravel or sand as a base

for your edging and then you install

your stone edging on top of that so make

sure you you properly research whatever

you’re installing on how to properly do

it for the longest durability and also

for good weed prevention that is a good

segue into the next caution which weeds

can become a problem with stone edging

because it’s not a impenetrable barrier

like your metal edging but you have you

know gaps in between your stones if it’s

not especially if it’s not installed

properly or eventually over time you may

get weeds creeping into between the

cracks of your stones so something to

consider there okay with pavers pavers

can be very similar to stone edging but

they also offer some interesting

benefits and differences that I wanted

to break out compared to stone so like

stone edging paver edging can be highly

durable it can also be very decorative

in its own way so it generally has a

more uniform structure generally

speaking than your stone edging if you

use if you’re comparing two natural

stone the the alternative is that

generally speaking again your paver

edging is less expensive than stone and

so because stone is by itself a natural

material the larger the size you get

with your stones the higher the price

with pavers it’s something that can be

manufactured to various shapes and

sizes and it’s usually highly accessible

and you have a lot of options of size

shape color and texture with your paver

edging so the versatility of paver

edging along with the cost of it can be

something that’s very appealing okay

now like stone edging paver edging also

requires the proprietary

foundation and likewise can have the

same weed problems that we talked about

with stone edging okay

now aside from these durable borders

that I just talked about I want to talk

about two other options

the first option is actually something I

really like and that is a mulched border

now this someone is generally speaking a

little bit higher maintenance than these

other options we just talked about but

it can also in in its own right can

still be a pretty low maintenance option

and also a very low cost option so if

this is something where you just want to

have for now you want to get a good

border in that you might end up changing

in a couple years or something this is a

great option and that is a mulched

border so with a mulched border

basically what you do is you you dig out

a small shallow trench or ditch along

the edge of your garden bed and so

you’re talking about a few inches deep

and it provides a break between your

lawn and your garden or whatever two

edges you’re talking about and you fill

this this shallow ditch or trench with

mulch that you’ve acquired so you can

get you know your various types of mulch

that you would like to fill it with and

this mulch basically provides somewhat

of a barrier between the two spaces and

so this can be a kind of a quick fix

that you you will have to kind of take a

look at it won’t be the same amount of

work every year but you know after a

year you want to go back and make sure

you’re not getting any sort of weed

growth in between that mulched area you

might have to dig out certain parts and

then you refill it or top it off with

some fresh mulch because over time your

mulch will degrade and you could do this

with stone or gravel as well

if you wanted to but the reality is that

that space when you have it with stone

you’ll require the same types of work

where you’ll have to kind of slowly dig

it out to replace some of the stone and

the difficulty with stone compared to

mulch is that eventually the cavities

between the your gravel pieces or your

stone pieces will fill in with soil or

or material that can promote weed growth

and so that’s why I actually like a wood

mulch border over something like a

gravel border because over the long term

it can actually be a little bit less of

a hassle and especially a few years out

and so with this mulch the border some

of the benefits are that it’s easy it’s

attractive if if you do it properly and

it’s highly affordable now some of the

cautions like I mentioned is it can it

requires yearly maintenance and it also

can be messy in high-traffic areas so if

this is something like if you’re doing

this right on the edge of say a driveway

or a walkway where it might get some

traffic you might get some mulch

scattered across your pathways or your

driveway that you might not want so

that’s just something to consider is

this is the right border for the right

type of place and it might not be the

right border for other types of places

okay now on to the next and last option

which I would recommend and and this one

I kind of I’m a bit cautious about and

that is plastic edging so this one is

one of the most common edging options

out there and so why am i cautious about

it well first let’s talk about the

benefits of it first and then we’ll talk

about some of the potential issues so

the benefits are that it’s easy to

install generally speaking it’s

affordable and it’s also highly

versatile so you can shape it generally

speaking you can so you can get nice

curves you can also get pretty sharp

corners if you want

so it’ll it allows a lot of versatility

to whatever your needs are and that’s

very convenient in its own right it’s

also very easy to find a lot of stores

carry it so it’s something that you can

pick up quickly you can get to work on

it and and that has a huge benefit to it

as well

just the

unions of access now what are the

cautions for plastic edging well for one

plastic edging can degrade over time

especially if you’re talking somewhere

and that gets direct sunlight a lot of

times sunlight can degrade a lot of

plastics and so you’ll end up with a

brittle or weathered plastic over time

where you might get discoloring or

breakage and and that can be an issue

that you end up having to reinstall this

every couple years as it degrades

likewise

generally speaking the cheap options

that you can find there are a lot more

work based on the aforementioned reason

that it’s not very durable so you might

end up if it gets stepped on or if a

mower wheel not even blade but the mower

wheel goes over the top of it and might

crack likewise if you’re using a weed

trimmer next to it it might it might

break the plastic edging and so these

can end up too to be very unsightly

issues that you didn’t anticipate it

also can just in general it can be

unsightly or cheap-looking

if you don’t install it right or if you

don’t get a nicer type of plastic edging

so you have to determine what fits for

you does this does the benefit of access

and cost and versatility outweigh the

potential negatives and what is the

actual negative for the specific type of

plastic edging you have because there’s

all sorts of types of plastic edging

some of them come in very short lengths

some come in rolls and some of them work

at different depths and so understanding

what type of edging you’re looking at

and how it actually fits into your

landscape and both functionally and

aesthetically is very important okay so

let’s talk about some of the landscape

edging problems that you might have and

and after that we’ll kind of wrap up and

and again you know these edges are very

important actually in preventing long

term maintenance on your landscape so

that’s why this stuff is actually so

important to get the right edging for

your needs that looks right as well as

functions properly so one of the really

common problems especially with the

stone

and paver edging is frost heaving

in these in the northern parts that you

actually get frost or freezing of the

soil and if you live in the South you

might understand what I’m talking about

well when the soil freezes just like

water you know if you know ice cubes how

it expands and so if you took a milk jug

and you filled it with water and threw

it in the freezer your your milk jug

would actually kind of balloon out

somewhat may even crack if it as it

freezes and that’s because water expands

well when your soil your ground freezes

in the northern areas your your soil

does the same thing so the moisture

content in your soil actually expands

and and you get an expansion of the soil

and there’s a lot of pressure changes as

that happens and along with that

anything that’s submerged into the soil

can can be shifted or moved and and so a

lot of times that’s why you hear when

people are digging a foundation for say

a deck or a shed or even a mailbox that

you want to make sure you dig below

what’s called the frost line so the

depth that normally gets frozen you want

to dig below that so you don’t deal with

this frost heaving issue now of course

here in southern Ohio we actually have a

about a 36 inch frost line so when you

dig a foundation for something like our

shed that we built a few years ago I had

to dig down below 36 inches in order to

sink the footers for the shed and of

course when you’re doing a garden edge

with a maybe a stone border you don’t

actually want to dig down 36 inches just

to put in an appropriate underlayment

for your your stones that are just gonna

sit on top of the soil soil but what you

want to do is ensure that it has the

best foundation to prevent heaving and

so how do you do that so that’s kind of

what we talking about here is frost

heaving is when it’s very common in

stone pathways around here where over

time some of the stones will start to

shift up or down or settle or whatever

and some of that’s due to frost heaving

some of us due to just general settling

and so how do you prevent

that well one making sure you have a

deep enough foundation or underlayment

to prevent some of this issue from

happening especially using like gravel

gravel is very good at preventing the

effects of frost heaving on what’s

sitting on top of it

and also just making sure you have the

right underlayment to begin with so

gravel sand weed barrier fabric as well

just to prevent sitting and pooling of

water underneath your your edging as

well it’s very important okay

what about weeds growing between pavers

that’s another very common issue

especially if you have like a patio or a

path or just some sort of edge that’s

made with pavers how do you keep weeds

from going in the cracks well again this

this goes to back to making sure you

have a proper weed barrier underneath

and you see in the stores how they have

various grades you want to get the

highest grade possible you can afford

because I don’t mean it lasts longer in

your landscape now generally I actually

don’t really like weed barrier fabric

but in this specific scenario where

you’re you’re putting it underneath

something that you don’t intend to have

plants growing it’s it’s very important

and helpful to have and again this is

for both weed prevention as well as

ensuring proper drainage in that area as

well and so you put down your your weed

barrier installation you also want to a

lot of times they recommend to use sand

atop your your weed barrier and

underneath your pavers and this allows

you to kind of set your pavers in place

and tap them around so they can shift a

little bit and then you fill in the

cracks with sand as well well you want

to make sure that you’re using a sand

that allows water to seep through

quickly and to not hold water this will

really help a lot with preventing weeds

from getting into your space now

inevitably over time with pavers you

will get slow buildup of debris in

between the cracks and so unfortunately

one of the best things you can do is to

just try and clean those out that’s

possible so maybe with like a pressure

washer or

our stiff bristled brooms and to get as

much of your your built-up organic

material that might have kind of

accumulated in there out of there so

clean it out as best possible and this

is maybe every couple years you have to

do this and then go back and fill in

those cracks with some of that highly

porous and that can drain as quickly as

possible and prevent weed roots from

kind of getting established there and

actually germinating there because the

place gets hot and dry quickly and and

that will help preventing weed growth as

well okay what about weeds growing

underneath or below your garden edging

well the primary fix here is that to to

make sure you have a garden edging that

goes as deep as you need it to go so

what I’m talking about here is is a lot

of plants spread by underground roots or

rhizomes and and so the chute roots out

horizontally below the ground and pop up

new shoots and you want to make sure

that your edging depending upon the

plants you have growing in your garden

that you put your edging below where

these roots might potentially go and one

of the notorious perpetrators for this

is bamboo for example now with bamboo

for example you want to have a garden

edging that goes as deep as two feet to

prevent those roots from getting past

that space and into the space you don’t

want to grow so you got to make sure you

have the right depth or the right width

as a rhizome or root barrier to prevent

weeds from growing underneath your

edging now the last thing as far as an

issue that I hear about is trimming

issues so making just a your you have

this edge right but then you have to

keep going past it to keep trimming it

and especially if there’s kind of

indentations and you’re edging or

whatever you can always get these little

grass pieces that are left that are just

kind of a pain to trim around right you

want something that’s quick and easy to

maintain that’s what we’re talking about

here so how do we do that well make sure

you can install an edging that is just

barely above flush level with the ground

so something that’s great for this is

that metal edging we were talking about

first so metal edging generally you’re

installing it to where it’s maybe only

quarter to a half an inch above ground

level and that’s it and that’s effective

enough at preventing for most things of

course if you have things that spread by

grasses that’s spread by leaning over

and dropping down new roots this might

be an issue such as like your crabgrass

right but if you have say a good lawn

grass that doesn’t spread like that you

can mow right up to the edge of it

without having to drive over the top of

it and you get a nice crisp edge without

having to do weed trimming every time

you mow the grass and so that’s a great

example of having the right lawn edging

that’s just about flush you can also do

this with pavers where you install your

pavers where they’re again maybe only

about a half an inch above ground level

and you get a nice clean cut right along

it because you can run your mower deck

right up to the very edge of it without

having to go over top of it and you get

a nice cut so that’s what we’re looking

for here and with that guys that’s

pretty much a wrap for the different

types of edgings that I recommend so if

you’re looking for some lawn edging or

garden edging a lawn boarder garden

borders whatever you want to call them

these are some great options there’s a

lot of various options out there so you

got to just match what type of

durability do you want what type of

costs are you willing to spend on some

of this stuff and again sometimes it’s

worth it you’re spending a little bit

more to get something that’s going to

last you a little bit longer and and

also save you a bit more time with the

work to maintain it and so that’s very

important to consider as your you know

cost isn’t the only thing here that

we’re talking about but also our time

which is very precious and so make sure

you invest in the right thing for your

space that also fits the aesthetic

appeal that you want it also looks good

you know it makes you feel proud of your

space so that’s what we’re talking about

in selecting the right garden edging for

you and I hope you can find that and and

I’d love to hear from you if you have

any comments to share or if you had

success or problems with any edging

going over to e ly dot how that’s a ly h

o w slash episode 2:8 and drop a comment

there for everybody else let’s start a

discussion so you can learn and share

with others about what’s the best

edging for you and what you’ve either

had really good experience with or have

had negative experience with and if you

have a different opinion as well that’s

a great place to share it so going over

to e ly dot how / episode 2:8 and there

you can get in the discussion and leave

a comment and hear what other people

have to say as well now with that guys I

also want to say if you have a question

for the show you can head on over to ly

dot how slash pod that’s e ly h o w / p

OD and there you right at the top of the

page you’ll see a link a button to ask a

question and you can be featured on the

show with your questions or at least if

you’re not featured on the show I will

be able to get back to you quickly with

a quick answer and hopefully help you in

your landscaping needs and likewise if

you guys haven’t been over to iTunes to

leave a review if you like this show if

you’ve gotten some value out of it a

great way to help other people learn as

well how to save time in their landscape

to do more of what they love you can

head on over to iTunes and leave a

review so with all these things I’m

talking about just check out the show

notes or you can go on over to ily dot

how / episode 2:8 and all the links are

right there to leave a review to ask a

question and potentially get featured on

the show so thanks for tuning in guys

and make sure you live with passion and

make tomorrow better than today

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