Achieve immaculate lawn edges with gardener's 'easy and effective' trick

03 March 2024 , 08:00

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Straight lines can give a clear definition between your lawn and border (Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)

With less than four weeks to go until spring arrives, there’s no better time to spruce up your garden and sharpen those pesky lawn edges.

Not only will crisp borders help you achieve an immaculate lawn, it will also prevent grass growing in adjacent beds, explains the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). Fortunately, garden expert Bo Petterson has revealed the "easiest" way to inject new life into your outdoor space.

Posting on TikTok, under the username @dadadvicefrombo, the green-fingered guru demonstrated how he straightens out the line between his lawn and flower bed. The simple task requires just a handful of shed tools, including string, spiked nails, tape measure, and a flat-head shovel.

The first step involves measuring an equal distance between the grass and the soil on both ends of the edged area. Once you have decided on the marking, insert the spiked nails into the ground and connect a taut string between the two pegs to create a straight line.

If you don’t have access to spiked nails, Bo suggests using knitting needles or butter knives. Then, remove any grass and sod that is overlapping the line with your shovel - Bo suggests keeping around an inch away from the string during this process. He added: "Start working your way down the string line, cutting the sod as you go.

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"Then you've just got to remove the sod and you got a nice straight line all the way down." If you have a strimmer, the expert recommends using it to remove any additional grass, he concluded: "Smooth everything out, and you’re in business."

Straight lines can give a clear definition between lawn and border, but some gardeners opt for curved edges, which can create a more natural effect. In this case, using a flexible marker is advised, such as a hosepipe, rope or string.

The RHS explained that any unwanted grass can be placed in your compost bin, or it can be stacked into a separate pile for it to rot down into soil. Delighted followers rushed to the comments section to share their response to the time-saving hack, as one user gushed: "That looks so good! Thank you for teaching us how to do this."

A second praised: "I’m a landscape technician, and this is exactly how the pros do it!" Another added: "We need to do this and carve out new beds in our backyard."

One follower highlighted: "Easiest way to do lawn edging by far is use a reciprocating saw. You could do that whole stretch in about a minute."

Freya Hodgson