Connecticut homeowners love to keep their lawn’s landscaping at its very best. Whether you’re trying to increase the curb appeal and value of your property or you’re just looking to improve the aesthetics you enjoy on a daily basis, edging your lawn is an important facet of this property maintenance. We’ve got all the tips you need to know for edging lawns the right way.
Advice for Connecticut Homeowners: 8 Tips for Properly Edging Your Lawn
1. Start by Getting the Right Landscaping Tools
Having the right tools on your side is key to successfully caring for your lawn. When it comes to edging your lawn, you’ll have a choice between manual and automatic tools. If you want to do things manually, look for manual stick edgers that use a back-and-forth motion to achieve the intended results. This method of edging your lawn can be labor-intensive but gets the job done and leaves you with the satisfaction of a hard day’s work.
However, saving labor with automatic tools is also a valid option. Pushing a walk-behind edger is one of the simplest ways to achieve straight lines every time you edge your lawn. You can also find motorized handheld edgers that offer a great deal of convenience and maneuverability.
2. Choose the Right Time of Year for Edging Lawns
As with many landscaping projects, an important factor in edging your lawn is choosing the right time of the season to perform the work. Edging too late into the season, when the hottest days of summer are already bearing down on your lawn, can leave the lawn without enough time to repair itself in preparation for the hot and dry conditions.
Edging your lawn in the spring is ideal to get the results you’re looking for. This is a time when the grass will regrow steadily and evenly, and the underlying soil is soft enough for you to cut into it with ease. Your grass will have ample time to regrow in good conditions before the hot and dry summer weather arrives to give your grass more heartiness to stand up to adversity.
3. Mow First Before You Begin Edging
Being able to see the area of your lawn that you’re edging will help you achieve a greater degree of precision. That’s why it’s helpful to begin the edging process by first mowing your lawn to a short, even length. You can follow the same practices you usually use when mowing your lawn, just be sure to cover the area you wish to edge.
By mowing your lawn before beginning the edging process, you’ll be able to see exactly how short you’re able to cut the grass in the edge area you’re trying to create. This helps you avoid scalping any area of your lawn by cutting too deeply into the grass’ undergrowth and roots. You’ll be able to maintain a full, healthy looking lawn by following these steps carefully.
4. Mark the Area You Intend to Edge
Just like painters will put tape on walls to mark out clearly where they’ll perform their work, edging lawns becomes much easier when you have a clear visual representation of the results you’re envisioning. Start out by marking the area of your lawn that you’re edging so that you have an easily-understandable goal to work towards.
Some recommend using spray paint to mark your lawn before beginning work. However, this can achieve imprecise results, especially when a stray breeze can blow the spray paint to somewhere other than where you intend to work. Instead, use a length of rope or even a garden hose to mark the area. This allows you to easily make adjustments and see a clear indication of where you should create the edge.
5. Check for Any Buried Pipes or Cables
Safety is the most important consideration to take into account no matter what project you’re taking on, and edging your lawn is no exception. You need to be aware of any potential obstructions that can get in the way of your lawn edging. Keep track of any irrigation pipes you laid down, and also be aware of extensive root systems that may get in the way of your work.
You can also check with local authorities to inquire about the presence of any underground electrical wires you need to be aware of in the area you’re working in. Coming into contact with these wires comes with a risk of serious injury, so be sure to be cautious when evaluating the area you intend to work on.
6. Cut About Two Inches Deep
Now that you’ve properly prepared, it’s finally time to begin edging your lawn. If you’re creating a straight line edge, start at one end of the line. However, if you’re making a curved edge, you may find it easier to start in the middle and work your way out. Either way, position yourself so that you’re standing at a ninety-degree angle from where you intend to create the edge to help you create a clean, straight finish.
Dig your tool about two inches into the lawn. This depth doesn’t need to be precise, but roughly two inches is a guideline to follow to control root growth adequately. As you work, dispose of any excess turf and soil that comes up in a bucket. If you’d like, you can use this later as excellent composting material, or simply bring it to your local waste facility.
7. Correct the Line After Your Initial Work
Unless you’ve got some serious skills, it’s unlikely that you’ll have a perfectly straight edge just from your first pass. Stand back and take a close look at the evenness of the line you’ve created once you’ve finished your work. If necessary, go over the area once again and push the line further back until you’ve achieved a smoother finish.
When it comes to getting meticulous, picture-perfect results that will please even the pickiest landscaper, hand shears are the way to go. While other tools help you cover a wide area with less time and effort, the precision that hand shears offer is second to none. Use them once you’ve created the initial line to get a crisp, clean finish that will leave your lawn looking as attractive as possible.
8. Follow Up with Regular Trimming
You’ll get to enjoy the appearance of your freshly-edged lawn once your initial task is completed, but there’s still work to be done to upkeep those results. To maintain a smart finish, trim the area that you edged regularly. During the fast growth of spring and early fall, you should keep up on trimming on a weekly basis, though you don’t need to do it quite so frequently during the slow growth brought on by hot or cold weather.
Follow all these steps and you’ll be left with a clean-cut, attractive-looking lawn. Of course, getting some professional help with all of your landscaping projects can help you get even better results with less effort required. Want to find the help you need to get your lawn looking its very best? Search on Landscaper Locator to find fully screened and vetted landscapers in your local area!