How Often Should My Lawn Be Edged?

Loading... 692 view(s) 7 min read
How Often Should My Lawn Be Edged?

Maintaining a well manicured lawn is a task that never ends. While mowing, trimming and fertilizing can help a lawn look healthy and lush, forgetting about edging can quickly lead to an unkempt appearance that detracts from all your hard work. Determining how often to edge your lawn will be something you’ll have to decide throughout the growing season as you take care of your lawn.

Is there a best time of year For Edging?

Every time you mow your lawn, you should assess the integrity of your lawn's edges. If you notice the lawn growing over your edge lines, it’s time to clean them up with some edging! During the early part of the growing season the increasing temperatures of spring combined with increased rain put your lawn into a growth spurt. During this increase in lawn growth you’ll need to mow and trim more frequently. With an increased amount of lawn growth, your lawn is more likely to grow beyond its boundaries and start growing over your edge lines.

Will I need to edge more if I fertilize my lawn?

Fertilization helps a lawn look healthy thick and green. With this healthy appearance comes faster lawn growth. When your lawn begins to grow faster, you’ll need to mow and edge more frequently to maintain a clean finished look. You may not need to edge every time you mow but you’ll still want to assess the integrity of your edge lines after each mowing. With the increase in lawn growth from regular fertilization it wouldn’t be surprising if your lawn could use an edging every second or third mow.

Is there a correct way to edge my lawn?

Whether you choose to edge manually or with an electric/gas powered edger, the concept is the same. The blade of your edging tool of choice should be positioned between the concrete and the edge of the grass or between the edge of your lawn and your flower bed. The wheel or guide for your edging tool (when applicable) should rest on the concrete or on the surface of the lawn when edging flower beds.

The edging trench is created by moving your edging tool back and forth. This is typically as easy as just walking behind your edging tool of choice. Manual edging tools are more labor intensive and require you to manually dig a trench around the perimeter of your lawn. An electric or gas powered edger makes easy work of this labor intensive task. Some string trimmers have an optional setting or attachment that allows them to function as an edging tool as well. With the trimmer in the edging position and or with the edging attachment connected the string or attached edging blades will create a deep trench that will create a neat edge.

To maintain that crisp clean finish, cleanup is required. Grass clippings should be removed but excess soil can be preserved to be used in your flower or garden beds. Leaf blowers make quick work of this clean-up process. Read our article: How To Use An Edger for a more detailed description of how to use an edger.

Safety First!

No job with power tools is without its risks and it’s important to always pay attention and use caution to avoid injury. Sometimes outdoor power equipment may throw debris unexpectedly and it’s important that proper safety precautions are followed to avoid potential injury. Wearing protective eye wear is important to avoid eye injuries. Always wear long sleeves, long pants and closed toed shoes when working with outdoor power equipment. Wearing gloves will help protect your hands from any potential flying debris. And if your edging equipment is loud, wearing proper hearing protection is important to avoid potential hearing loss.

Keeping an eye on the integrity of your edge lines through the growing season will help you determine how frequently you need to edge your lawn to maintain a nice clean finished look. With all the hard work that goes into maintaining a nice healthy lawn, a little bit of regular edging can go a long way to make your hard work shine.

Maintaining a well manicured lawn is a task that never ends. While mowing, trimming and fertilizing can help a lawn look healthy and lush, forgetting about edging can quickly lead to an unkempt appearance that detracts from all your hard work. Determining how often to edge your lawn will be something you’ll have to decide throughout the growing season as you take care of your lawn.

Is there a best time of year For Edging?

Every time you mow your lawn, you should assess the integrity of your lawn's edges. If you notice the lawn growing over your edge lines, it’s time to clean them up with some edging! During the early part of the growing season the increasing temperatures of spring combined with increased rain put your lawn into a growth spurt. During this increase in lawn growth you’ll need to mow and trim more frequently. With an increased amount of lawn growth, your lawn is more likely to grow beyond its boundaries and start growing over your edge lines.

Will I need to edge more if I fertilize my lawn?

Fertilization helps a lawn look healthy thick and green. With this healthy appearance comes faster lawn growth. When your lawn begins to grow faster, you’ll need to mow and edge more frequently to maintain a clean finished look. You may not need to edge every time you mow but you’ll still want to assess the integrity of your edge lines after each mowing. With the increase in lawn growth from regular fertilization it wouldn’t be surprising if your lawn could use an edging every second or third mow.

Is there a correct way to edge my lawn?

Whether you choose to edge manually or with an electric/gas powered edger, the concept is the same. The blade of your edging tool of choice should be positioned between the concrete and the edge of the grass or between the edge of your lawn and your flower bed. The wheel or guide for your edging tool (when applicable) should rest on the concrete or on the surface of the lawn when edging flower beds.

The edging trench is created by moving your edging tool back and forth. This is typically as easy as just walking behind your edging tool of choice. Manual edging tools are more labor intensive and require you to manually dig a trench around the perimeter of your lawn. An electric or gas powered edger makes easy work of this labor intensive task. Some string trimmers have an optional setting or attachment that allows them to function as an edging tool as well. With the trimmer in the edging position and or with the edging attachment connected the string or attached edging blades will create a deep trench that will create a neat edge.

To maintain that crisp clean finish, cleanup is required. Grass clippings should be removed but excess soil can be preserved to be used in your flower or garden beds. Leaf blowers make quick work of this clean-up process. Read our article: How To Use An Edger for a more detailed description of how to use an edger.

Safety First!

No job with power tools is without its risks and it’s important to always pay attention and use caution to avoid injury. Sometimes outdoor power equipment may throw debris unexpectedly and it’s important that proper safety precautions are followed to avoid potential injury. Wearing protective eye wear is important to avoid eye injuries. Always wear long sleeves, long pants and closed toed shoes when working with outdoor power equipment. Wearing gloves will help protect your hands from any potential flying debris. And if your edging equipment is loud, wearing proper hearing protection is important to avoid potential hearing loss.

Keeping an eye on the integrity of your edge lines through the growing season will help you determine how frequently you need to edge your lawn to maintain a nice clean finished look. With all the hard work that goes into maintaining a nice healthy lawn, a little bit of regular edging can go a long way to make your hard work shine.
 
 

Comments
Leave your comment
Your email address will not be published