By this I mean you’ll notice that where the edging curves away from the bed and out into the lawn, it naturally pulls back from the deep part of the curve. Work your way down the bed, pushing the edging into this loose soil so that the top of the circle is as described above. Pull it down with your hands and push it under the bottom V edge of the edging, so it’s loose and forces the edging up an inch or so. You’ll have plenty of loose dirt on the bed-side of the edging.

Now you’ll never hit it with the lawnmower, it isn’t visible during the summer, and it still blocks the grass roots from entering the garden bed. Only the top half or third of the circle should be visible when finished. People set the edging too high, thinking that the whole circle is supposed to sit on top of the ground, so when finished it looks like a hose lying on the ground. What most people don’t know is that in a finished installation, only the top half or third of the circle should be visible. Now you are going to set the edging into the soil. Place the connector in the first piece halfway, lift that end up, then slide the next piece on by pushing down on the connector slightly with this second piece, plus squeezing the circle of the first piece, around the connector.

The connector is about eight inches long, and when finished, you need four inches in one piece and four inches in the adjoining piece. If the bed edge is longer than twenty feet, use the connectors that come in the spike kit, but this is a biggie: slide one end of the connector into the top circle halfway, then slide the next piece on, MAKING SURE YOU AREN’T SIMPLY PUSHING MOST OF THE CONNECTOR INTO THE FIRST PIECE. Good edging comes in twenty-foot lengths cut it to fit using your serrated bread knife, or utility knife. Place the edging into the trough, curving it along so that the whole piece is loosely installed. Total frost heave of homeowner installation: cheap edging, wrong side out, no stakesĮdging goes in with the little curled-up “V” at the bottom facing the bed, not the lawn.

Plastic edging for landscaping