How to give your garden the edge

As spring approaches, the urge to get out into the fresh air and start clearing up the winter detritus from your back yard makes itself felt. Fallen leaves, overgrown scruffy lawns, straggly bushes – everything needs cutting back, clipping, tidying and mowing if you are to get back that sense of being in control again. 

Creating clean lines as part of the initial garden layout design will help to give shape and structure to your back yard, so that even during the worst of the winter months you can give it an occasional trim quickly and efficiently. 

Creating sharp lines and a clean finish in your spring gardening project can greatly enhance the overall aesthetic appeal of your outdoor space. If you want to prepare your outside space to better cope with the next winter, start putting your plans in place as early as possible. Here are some steps you can follow to achieve this.

Take some time to plan your new garden outline

Before you start any physical work, take some time to plan out your garden design. Decide where you want borders, edges, and defined areas to be. The outside edge follows the boundary of your garden, and is often the place where weeds can grow and dd to the general scruffiness of your garden. A key piece of advice when wanting to keep your garden neat and tidy is to ensure that these boundaries are kept regularly trimmed.

Otherwise, mark out your lines using temporary stakes, string, or a hose, clarifying where you want your edges to be. This will give you a clear visual guide before you start digging or trimming.

Start edging the borders

Use these temporary markers to guide you when you start creating the borders. Using a spade or edging tool you can create clean borders along the edges of your garden beds, pathways, or lawn. Push the tool into the ground along the marked lines, creating a clean separation between different areas.

Once you have cut away at the edges and you are satisfied with the direction of the edges, you can remove the temporary markers, replacing them with plastic or steel edging for a more permanent solution which will help prevent the spreading of weeds. Once you have established this border, you can soften it with stones or planting – however, make sure that the edging is kept clean, trimmed and well maintained for the best aesthetic finish.

Maintenance – little and often

To maintain sharp lines, it’s important to regularly trim the edges of your lawn or garden beds. Little and often is the best approach, and is a great excuse if you want a bit of fresh air and exercise without any heavy duty lifting. Use a lawn edger or a sharp pair of garden shears to keep the edges neat and tidy. You’ll soon find that you become obsessed with keeping them to a certain standard!

If you have created borders with generously planted beds, then the prevention of excessive weed growth will also be helped by keeping your borders neat and tidy. You may want to consider using landscaping fabric or mulch to prevent weed growth and help maintain the clean finish of your landscaping.

Now that you have cleared away any messiness, it gives you a much clearer vision of how you can improve the aesthetics of your back yard with more decorative elements such as ornamental plants, stone sculptures or water features. With a great foundation, your can afford to go a little wild on the artistic flourishes!

Most importantly you have created clean and distinctive lines which will help you quickly and efficiently maintain a high standard of neatness throughout the year, even through the more mucky winter months. 

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