The best garden edging ideas will not only be practical, but they will also pull the overall look of your outdoor space together to define your backyard. Lawn edging has so many different uses in the garden: Keeping grass at bay, making mowing the lawn way easier and protecting bedding plants, by keeping mulch in place, too. Whether you choose traditional brick or wood edging, or try a natural or modern alternative, you'll soon see a huge different is how well kept your garden looks after you've installed it.
Whether you need cheap garden edging suggestions, want to zone your small or large outdoor space, you'll be able to find and install the perfect fit, with ease. There are two main methods for installing edging: Hammering it in once in position, or digging a trench with a shovel and then placing your edging in the trench. Yep, it's an easy but kind of messy job too. The trench method is more labor intensive, but is guaranteed to give you a better finish with less movement over time. If you are fitting brick lawn edging, you'll need to prep with cement.
What is the best lawn edging to use?
The garden edging material you use depends on the space you're working with as well as your garden's style, and your budget. Brick and log edging is the traditional route and it does have a good success rate at keeping your garden borders in check. More modern backyard owners might look to use either natural garden edging solutions or stone and metal for a more sophisticated edge.
- See all our garden landscaping ideas.
1. Use stone lawn edging to enhance evergreens
For a long-lasting, elegant finish, you can't beat real stone lawn edging which happens to look beautiful next to evergreen planting. Combine straight and curved sections to create the perfect contour. And pick a material and finish that complements other hard landscaping in your garden, such as retaining walls or any garden paving ideas you have going on. The Arcadian lawn edging is from Haddonstone. It's frost-resistant and weathers beautifully over time.
2. Choose flower edging for natural borders
An abundant mixture of Dahlia, Lilium and Gladiolus act as one of the most colorful garden edging ideas to keep your space a little more free-flowing too. Mix it up and add in more plants for fragrance, including herbs like lavender, rosemary and thyme, and be sure to keep some evergreens in there for year-round structure.
- Find all our flower bed ideas in our edit.
3. Use sleepers to DIY garden edging
You could DIY garden edging using sleepers to create a mini garden bench as well as robust lawn edging. A place to sit, and to house your beautiful planting too, it's too easy.
- Pick low maintenance garden ideas for an easy breeze life.
4. Line bright borders with natural rocks
Another of the most beautiful and natural garden edging ideas, rocks not only look and work a treat at not moving if you secure them well, but they fairly easy to install too. There's also more variety in terms of shape and size, plus, it's a pretty low-budget DIY.
- Head to our garden ideas page for more garden inspiration.
5. Edge your garden pathways with brick
Using brick to edge your garden space will give a lovely rustic finish to your borders and is also guaranteed to keep mulch for evergreens and other garden plants in place too. Use reclaimed bricks for an even cheaper DIY and not to mention, character and elegance is included.
6. Use roped edging posts for definition
Want more definition to your lawn edging? Edging posts are a great way to achieve a flawless finish. These roped edging posts are from Haddonstone, and look just as good edging borders as they do as lawn edging.
7. Cheat with plastic lawn edging for a real stone effect
If you're looking for more cheap lawn edging ideas that are still easy to install and nice to look at too, look no further than stone-effect plastic lawn edging. Made from tough polymer, this lawn edging is very easy to hammer in yourself, easy to clean and easy on the eye. Win. The Grey Stone Effect Lawn Edging by Maison & White is available from Amazon. Our advice? Bury it a little deeper than shown here and plant right up to it in your garden borders, and no one will notice it's plastic, but your garden will look super neat.
- Find more budget garden ideas in our edit.
8. Use wood lawn edging ideas to add height
Timber lawn edging works particularly well in rustic garden schemes and in cottage gardens. Leave it natural for a simple look, or stain or paint it for a more contemporary effect. This natural timber lawn edging is from Rowlinson and is made from pressure-treated, FSC-certified wood. The spiked ends make it very easy to fit, without the need for fixing pegs.
9. Pick recycled plastic lawn edging eco-friendly vibes
If you are conscious about reducing waste and making your garden eco-friendly, then recycled lawn edging is definitely worth considering. Made from recycled tyres, the recycled garden border is flexible, frost-, mold-, and rot-resistant, and comes in a variety of textured patterns.
10. Use real brick garden edging inside a patch of lawn
Brick garden edging is one of the most popular lawn edging types, and one that's perfectly within a competent DIYer's remit. You will need to lay your bricks onto a cement base, or they'll move or collapse. Gentle tap your bricks into the cement with a rubber hammer, brick by brick. You'll then need to rake up the soil up to the bricks and let the bricks settle for a couple of days. Expect natural weathering to the brick over time.
An alternative to real brick is brick-effect concrete lawn edging, which will require professional installation. This may be better suited to people who don't want to do DIY and who would like their edging to look new for longer. With a realistic brick effect, this clever Kwik Kerb Eurobrick concrete lawn edging is used in a garden in Dorset and works really well to add a focus point in what is a very large patch of lawn.
- Thinking of looking into lawn alternatives?
11. Pebble lawn edging
Pebbles are great for creating a natural look in the garden, but you should know that pebbles are notorious for not staying in place. This pebble border from Coopers of Stortford is mounted onto a mesh, making it easy to fit and ensuring the pebbles won't budge.
12. Keep garden edging neat and modern with metal
A flexible, easy-to-fit option, galvanised steel lawn edging will protect your lawn from erosion and strimmer damage. What's really great about this type of lawn edging is that it won't rust, and you can pretty much forget about it once you've fitted it. Perfect for contemporary garden designs.
- How to mow a lawn around your perfect garden edging.
13. Choose cast iron lawn edging for a smart and formal look
If you prefer a smarter look and a bit of height to your lawn edging, then this finely wrought cast iron edging from Waitrose will add a highly decorative, formal touch – and will last literally ages, acquiring a beautiful patina over the years. It comes in easy-to-install spikes of 10-centimetre length.
