Lawn edging can be a tricky business. Especially if you don’t have years of edging experience under your belt. There are numerous factors that can come into play, and a few factors that can play against you if you don’t have the correct skill set ahead of time. For instance, edging around beds is more different than edging along sidewalks and driveways. 

There are different tools that do better jobs in different areas, and important growth patterns and areas that need to be paid attention to. If you don’t know about these things ahead of time, you can unwillingly find yourself in a big mess. Hopefully, this guide will get you educated, so that you can be prepared for some of the harder edging jobs and make it through the process without gouging up your lawn. In the end, it is our goal to get you the finest, cleanest cut looking lawn on the block... and keep it that way. We have no questions that you follow this guide, you will be able to maintain an immaculate lawn all year long, and work with the skills of a true, experienced lawn tech!

Overgrowth areas are areas where the grass has grown over the sidewalk, walkway, or curb for quite some time. In areas like this, special care is needed depending on what kind of edger you have. In other words, the grass near the overgrowth areas generally has tufts of grass that have formed right near the edge. The problem with that, is that they are tougher to cut through, and can ricochet your edger, making your edger pull off into the lawn area, making an ugly gouge in your pretty lawn. We recommend not edging with a weed eater, because it is so easy to pull off into the grass with one when you hit one of those hard spots. For this reason, a top rated lawn edger is recommended. For edging along driveways and curbs, an edger with wheels is your best bet. We recommend this style because the wheeled models help guide you along the edge with precision. An edger with wheels will also allow extra support to accommodate for those large tufts of grass in overgrown areas, helping you keep you bead instead of being pulled into disaster. (Not to mention that they are more powerful.)

Uneven ground is something that you want to watch out for, because higher or lower levels of turf will require special care when you’re edging over it. In other words, if you have an area that sinks down where the curb is missing, or an area that has a hump near the curb, you may want to just pull your edger off completely. The way experienced lawn technicians do this, is they just grab a weed eater and edge those areas separately, or they set the edger at a different height setting, if there is one to accommodate the difference in height. In the end, having an eye for these areas ahead of time, will get you ready before you get there, so that you can be careful to not create a big eyesore for everyone to look at. A good preventative walk around of property edges is an intrinsic measure to edging, and can help you nail it every time.

1. Always top off the gas tank before each job with the proper gas mixture.

2. Always let your machine warm-up for a few minutes. This prevents the engine skipping and spitting when you’re trying to get a move on and work flawlessly.

3. Always scope out the landscape ahead of time, so you can be ready to go slower in the areas that require more careful grooming.

4. Go slow when working around curves and gardens, if you have a lower speed, this is a good time to use it.

5. Never use a weed eater to edge a whole property. You will have almost 100% chance of messing up in at least one part, and regretting it.

6. Always edge first. After you’re finished with your edge, you can come back and mow to remove any hairs that you might’ve pulled up edging.

7. Let the edger work for you. In other words, don’t push or pull it, if you just hit the gas trigger, especially on the models with wheels, your edger will pull itself along the edge. That’s the best way to go for precision cuts. (And it doesn’t overwork you)

8. Wear safety goggles!

There are numerous styles of edging that you can put down. Permanent lawn edging is especially useful in areas where you don’t want to have to keep reforming and re-edging every time you mow. Around gardens and walkways, the right kind of lawn edging can make a world of difference cosmetically, improving the value of your home and the overall curb appeal of your yard. EverEdge Lawn Edging, EasyFlex No Dig Edging, and Black Jack Poly Lawn Edging are some great name brands for making accommodations for permanent edges. (Just to name a few.)

Hopefully, this guide will provide you with enough information to be a pro lawn edger, will when it comes time to tackle your next job. With a little bit of knowledge, common sense, and proper surveying skills, you can know where any problem areas are ahead of time and be prepared to handle them like a pro. To be perfectly honest, we prefer the edgers with wheels over the ones that look like a weed eater, just because they add a little bit of extra support and guidance when you’re going around and along edges. This will prevent your edger from being jerked off into the grass when you’re not prepared for it. Also, some of the weed eater style edgers are preferred by skilled lawn techs for rounded edges, but thats when you get more experienced. In the end, if you go slow, survey ahead of time, and watch what you are doing, you are always going to be on the mark. We hope you’ve enjoyed reading our guide! Have a great summer!