How to Give your Flower Beds a Sharp Edge

Have you been outside to take note of all the damage winter inflicted upon your flower beds?

I know! It's quite saddening.

Replacing damaged shrubs and planting new flowers is one part of the solution to bringing beauty back to those beds. The other part is fixing those edges that winter kind of erased, and that's a very easy solution that doesn't require too many tools!

Let me show you how easily you can edge those flower beds and maintain those sharp edges for the rest of the year.

This picture below is how our front flower bed looked after removing damaged branches, planting two new bushes, and dividing one of those yellow lilies. It was about time to add some mulch, but before doing so I had to fix that edge. Look at that! It was an entirely flat area. :(

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Don't you love the finished look that a sharp line between the flower bed and the turf imparts to the overall look of the yard?

Maintaining that sharp line is what it's called edging.

You don't need fancy tools to set up or maintain that edge. In fact, the only tool you might need for this entire job is a half-moon edger. At the end of this post, you can see a time-lapse video of me setting this edge. ;)

| Wood Handle Turf Edger |

1. LAYOUT THE DESIGN

The first task is setting the line that you want to follow. You can use an old hose or a rope to mark the edge of the flower bed. Since I was only repairing mine, I just followed the almost disappearing line I already had.

2. CUT ALONG YOUR DESIRED LINE

Use the half-moon edger to cut all along that line you're following. Use your foot to push hard on either side of the top little plates of the edger to bring it straight down into the ground, cutting the turf.

Many times you're going to encounter rocks that would make the job of cutting deep into the ground a bit harder, especially if you're getting a brand new edge. I didn't have many rocks this time, but I did find a couple. I usually try to pull them out with my own hands.

Roots are another set of trouble makers. They're also hard to cut with the edger, that's why I keep a hand pruner at ready to cut those pesky ones.

3. BACK-CUT ALL ALONG THE PREVIOUS LINE

Get inside the flower bed area and using the edger at an angle, slice the turf or soil.

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4. CLEAN UP

You can now remove that piece of loose turf or soil. You're going to end up with a little trench that gives the flower bed a sharp line.

how to edge flower beds with a half moon edger

I didn't remove much turf, it was mainly soil and mulch that I threw back into the flower bed using the same half-moon edger.

Keep that little trench free of debris. I usually scoop up all those little dirt pieces with my own hands.

That little trench is excavated at the beginning of Spring every single year. Then, soil and grass seeds are thrown there on those bold spots on the turf.