Edging to separate lawn from a rock bed?

[Jay Smith]

Bump.  Anyone bored on a Friday feel like a little edging discussion?

[Andrew Spiering]

Hi Jay,

Great question.  The contractors that I have worked with prefer working with the steel edging.  It holds a nice, rigid line while remaining hidden. EverEdge, Col-Met, or Sure-Loc would do the trick.

If you go aluminum, then Permaloc is your go-to.  They have a specific product called CleanLine that I believe will fit your design objectives. 

I would recommend staying away from recycled plastic edging or bend-a-board products.  They do not hold a clean line very well, they are hard to hide, and they typically popup after a while.

Also, check out this related thread on Steel Edging.  

[Jay Smith]

Thanks Andrew, that helps alot!  Is there any reason to think this couldn’t be done by a DIY homeowner?

[Andrew Spiering]

I’d vote for Permaloc over steel edging for a DIY project.  I designed a friend’s garden and he installed it himself using Permaloc edging.  It is light weight and extremely easy to assemble and install.  

Steel edging is heavier and slightly more difficult to work with, but could also be installed by a DIYer.  Though, I’d go with Permaloc for easy-of-use.

Hope this helps!  

[Daniel Martin]

Aluminum is a much better product, overall than either plastic or steel.  Aluminum won’t rust, rot, or breakdown. It is lightweight, flexible, easy to work with. It is safer, with a rounded bead on top and locking stakes.

Important to remember that all aluminum edging is not created equal though. Certain manufacturers make it to thin, and use outdated connection methods.

But most importantly, you said you want it to be inconspicuous. As Andrew stated, Permaloc CleanLine is  your best bet for a commercial or high end residential. For most residential jobs, Permaloc ProLine would be more than adequate.

[Daniel Martin]

Easily installed DIY!

[Jay Smith]

Thanks for the recommendation Daniel and Andrew!  Are there any common installation mistakes with this product I should be aware of?

[Anonymous]

If a landscape is being professional maintained, why do you need any edging between turf and planting beds?

[Jay Smith]

Because it’s a rock bed and I’d like a cleaner, more well-defined edge for that particular bed. Plus it’s a homeowner doing self maintenance, not a commercial maintenance company coming in every week.

[Jay Smith]

I think after looking at the prices of PermaLoc I’ll be looking at steel edging instead.  While I’m sure it’s a good product, I’m doing this on a budget and I think the look of steel will suffice.  Hopefully installation isn’t too much more difficult.

[Jordan Lockman]

Mulch and turf I can see working without edging, but rock could be a nightmare without edging.

[Daniel Martin]

A quality edging will maintain the designer’s original intent. Each time a bed area is edged by hand the size and shape of the bed is altered by some degree. After years of hand maintenance the lines the designer originally drew won’t look the same.

[Daniel Martin]

Edging will also keep grass from growing into the bed area, as well as keep mulch from migrating into the grass. Everything in it’s place!

[Anonymous]

Metal edging works as good as weed barrier (landscape fabric) at keeping grass out of beds.

[Anonymous]

So it’s a bed of rocks with no plants, adjacent to lawn. Sorry I missed that somehow (duh). OK, why not use some kind of chopped stone for edging? It will probably do as good a job or better than steel/aluminum edging at slowing down the grass from migrating into the beds because of its thickness and the maintenance contractor can just use a string trimmer against the edge stones for a clean look. The stone can be installed easily by most contractors on difficult topo. Concave or convex grades can be a pain to install long straight edging in. I’ve seen so many poorly installed metal and plastic edging that I prefer not to use them.

The main thing I’m getting at here is that it’s very difficult train grass not to send rhizomes underneath or through a thin edging material. The only thing I’ve had work for me is concrete edging 10”-12” wide, but that’s a completely different look and can be costly. Since the edging doesn’t stop the grass from spreading into the beds without regular maintenance, why not just deep edge early in the spring and maintain a crisp edge with an edger or a trimmer with a steel blade attached every 2 or 3 weeks? If you’re using 2”-4” river rock as a ground cover just rake it back 8” or so, deep edge and rake the rock back. It just looks so much better and safer than metal edging. Then you don’t have to worry about your client’s kid or even worse the neighbor’s kid running across the lawn and falling on edging and splitting their head open. Plus, they don’t have to spend the money on edging and they can put that money towards maintaining the beds properly.

As a young designer in Texas, I specified miles of steel, vinyl and aluminum edging at great cost to some of my clients. I went back home to the mid-West and I was visiting a friend who lived in a nice sub-division and they had acres of planting beds. They probably had a few miles of beds to deep edge, but they looked great. Then I started noticing the fine gardens that I visited never had any edging material. I realized that I had been using metal edging just because that was what everyone else was doing. 

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