How to Lay Edging Blocks Along Flower Beds

How to Edge a Garden Bed

Edging blocks are specially made for outlining and defining flowerbeds and gardens and they come in many size, shapes, and colors. They do for the garden what a picture frame does for a painting. This demonstration presents a few of the available styles and offers installation tips, as well.

1. Define the edge of the flowerbed with a garden edger. You will want to trim and shape the sod before working with the edging blocks.
2. Use a hand tool such as a small mattock to loosen the soil along the cut.
3. Make a shallow trench, using a garden trowel to displace the excess soil.
4. Tamp down the bottom of the trench with a block of wood and a heavy mallet.
5. Drive a stake into each end of the trench and the lay an edging block beside each stake.
6. Tie a string between the stakes at the same elevation as the top of the blocks. Blocks do no need to be level, as they will follow the rise and fall of the terrain, but they do need to be straight and even.
7. Set the rest of the blocks in place and tap them with a mallet to get them flush with each other and even with the string. Some block styles have interlocking edges. Others do not interlock and almost rest on top of the ground rather than lying in a trench. Curved blocks are a perfect solution around trees.
8. Backfill the soil behind the blocks with a garden hoe. Do the same in front of the blocks if necessary.
9. Compact the soil with a tamper or your foot.