How to Create the Perfect Lawn Border

Maintaining an English Lawn Border

An English lawn border looks particularly elegant in the garden. This term refers to a lawn which directly borders on a bed.

But beauty also takes a little more work: You need to cut off an English lawn border every four to six weeks. Otherwise the grass will grow into the bed.

Use a sharp spade or an edging spade for this. The latter has a straight blade and a rounded cutting edge. Stainless steel models with a polished surface are particularly easy to use. If they also have a T grip they are particularly easy to hold.

If you use a spade to cut off, take care that its blade is generally slightly bent. And always make sure to only cut off small sections of the lawn border. Otherwise it will take on a wavy or uneven shape.

If you do not own a spade or an edger, you can also shape the lawn border with an old bread knife. But as this is very laborious, it should only be used on very small sections.

The best way to ensure a straight English border is to lie a long board down when cutting off. In this way you can easily separate off anything which grows away from the edge of the board. Then remove the cut off sections of lawn with a hand shovel and throw them into a composter.

This cutting off will eventually result in a height difference between the bed and the lawn. Even this out again with some topsoil.

Laying and Maintaining a Paved Lawn Border

You will have much less work to do with the lawn border if you surround the with lawn a wooden or stone border. You can buy special concrete lawn border blocks for a stone border from trade shops. These are also referred to as lawn edging stones.

These blocks have a semi-round bulge on one side. On the other side is the opposite piece, so that you can lie the blocks next to one another with hinge-like joints. This means there are no wider joints.

Granite cobblestones, tiles or bricks are more attractive as a lawn surround. However, you need to lay at least two lines of these stones and also with offsetting. Otherwise the lawn will try to find a way through the joints.

Alternatively, you can edge the lawn area with a paved lawn border. Cut the lawn off straight for this and then dig out a small trench. It should be about a spade height deep and as wide as the paved lawn boarder should be.

Don’t throw the cut off lawn clumps away. You can use theses to fill out or improve the odd gap in the lawn.

Then fill the trench with sand and compact this down. A ground tamper can help you here. Choose the fill height of the sand bed depending on the weight of the paving stones. It should later be about 1 cm to 2 cm above the lawn level.

Tension a guide line so that the paved lawn border is straight. If the lawn edge is wavy simply follow its line.

It’s not a problem if there are wide joints when laying the slabs between the lawn and stone slabs. Simply fill these with topsoil. The lawn will grow over this sooner or later. Alternatively, you can insert the lawn clumps here. Fill the joints between the stones with paving sand.

If the lawnmower can travel over the paved lawn border, you’ll have almost no maintenance to do any more. You can simply cut back the borderline from time to time. This will cap offshoots and flat growing blades. You can use a lawn trimmer for this. The EasyGrassCut 18 or the UniversalGrassCut 18 from Bosche are particularly handy and take care of this work quickly, easily, and cleanly and, above all, without cables. This saves resources and your wallet.

You should also scrape out the joints between paving slabs once a year with a pointer and then refill them with sand.

Creating a Metal Lawn Border

You can also edge your lawn border with metal. This solution has become more and more popular in recent years. And there is a reason for that: Thin stainless steel, galvanized steel or aluminium profiles are almost invisible in the garden and still prevent the lawn from encroaching on beds.

The metal profiles are flexible and can therefore by easily used on wavy lawn borders. You can purchase these border sections in widths from 10 cm to 30 cm, depending on the manufacturer. You can screw together some items before installation. This means it sits particularly securely when the job is finished.

With this option there is no need for ground work to keep the lawn border in check. You can generally hammer the metal profile into the ground. If the ground is very hard, full or roots or mixed with rubble, you should cut out the cleft for the border with a spade beforehand.

Some products are delivered with fixing rods. These help to straighten the borders even if you are working alone. However, it is helpful if there are two of you to carry out the assembly. Hammer the profiles into the ground with a rubber hammer. Or you can use a piece of wood as a pad.

Do not hit the top edge directly with a steel hammer. This could damage the galvanized coating. Then there is a risk of rust.

Creating a Plastic or Rubber Lawn Border

You can also edge the lawn with plastic or rubber. These products are often made from recycled materials. They are therefore often cheaper than the metal profiles mentioned above.

Plastic or rubber borders are very durable in the soil and also not susceptible to decay. You can generally buy bands for edging in a roll. They are between 5 m and 10 m long. They are usually between 13 cm and 20 cm wide.

When installing a plastic or rubber lawn border, you will need to leave yourself a bit more time than for a metal one. This is because you will need to dig out a suitable groove beforehand with a spade.

Then insert the lawn border. Take care to ensure when there is a transition to a new roll that the ends slightly overlap. Otherwise, the lawn could find its way into the bed through a gap.

Position the rubber or plastic edge at a sufficient depth. Then the electric lawnmower or manual lawnmower won’t be able to reach it. In this way you can avoid mechanical stresses.

Maintaining a Surrounded Lawn Border

If you have a lawn with surrounded by paving stones, metal, rubber or plastic, you may need to cut back the lawn border from time to time. High-quality lawnmowers such as the Bosch CityMower 18, for example, have a patented lawn comb and therefore also reliably mow the lawn border. However, with other mowers you may need to provide additional care for the border. A battery operated grass trimmer can help here, or - much easier - lawn trimmer.