Looking for lawn edging ideas for this summer? Lawn edging is great for adding definition to your lawn, and for protecting your bedding plants from the lawnmower. The main materials used for lawn edging are timber, brick, stone, and concrete, but you can get metal lawn edging and plastic lawn edging, too.
There are two main methods for installing your lawn edging: simply hammering it in once in position, or digging a trench with a shovel and then placing your edging in the trench. The trench method is more labour 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.
Browse our gallery of lawn edging ideas to get a feel for what will look best in your garden; then head to our garden ideas page for more garden inspiration.
1. Real stone lawn edging: perfect for traditional gardens
For a long-lasting, elegant finish, you can't beat real stone lawn edging. 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 paving. Check out more traditional garden design ideas in our gallery.
The Arcadian lawn edging is from Haddonstone. It's frost-resistant and weathers beautifully over time.
2. Edging posts for well defined borders
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. Find more tips for creating beautiful garden borders in our guide.
3. Plastic lawn edging with a real stone effect
If you're looking for a more affordable and easy to install option that still offers the attractive visual effect of stone, look no further than plastic lawn edging with a stone effect. Made from tough polymer, this lawn edging is very easy to hammer in yourself.
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.
4. Timber lawn edging ideas: add height to raised borders
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. See more cottage garden ideas in our guide.
5. Recycled plastic lawn edging: great for eco-friendly gardens
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-, mould-, and rot-resistant, and comes in a variety of textured patterns.
6. Brick garden edging: the pros and cons of real brick
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.
7. Pebble lawn edging
Pebbles are great for creating a natural look in the garden, but 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.
8. Metal lawn edging
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.