The Importance of Regular Lawn Edging for a Well-Maintained Sarasota Yard
Maybe you don’t lose sleep at night worrying about lawn edging. Guess that’s just us.
But if your yard doesn’t look super crisp and tidy, even after mowing, or you’re using up all your good swear words because your grass keeps growing into your plant beds, that’s all about edging.
What’s the importance of lawn edging? Proper edging makes the borders of your lawn look crisp, tidy and well maintained. Edging keeps fast-growing Florida lawns from creeping into your plant beds. And it helps keep weeds from invading your lawn.
Keep reading to learn more about the benefits of lawn edging, including:
First, What Exactly Is Lawn Edging?
What Are the Benefits of Edging?
Edging Keeps Grass From Invading Your Plant Beds
Edging Keeps Your Mulch Tidy
Edging Helps Prevent Weeds
Edging Makes Other Yard Work Easier
How Do You Edge a Lawn?
A Few Lawn Edging Tips
First, What Exactly Is Lawn Edging?
Edging makes a vertical cut into the soil, creating a crisp, defined border between your lawn and the planting beds and hardscape next to it. It cuts a neat edge to separate the grass from adjacent areas, making your lawn look so darn great you might just stand and stare at it for a while.
Want to improve your lawn appearance? Don’t skip edging.
What Are the Benefits of Edging?
Yes, a big benefit is appearance, and that great feeling you get when your neighbors are all lined up on your sidewalk taking selfies with your newly edged lawn.
A perfectly edged lawn boosts your curb appeal, making your home more valuable if you decide to sell it. Meanwhile, that crisp, sharp edge makes you happy every time you pull in the driveway.
But there are other great reasons to make edging part of your Sarasota lawn maintenance:
Edging Keeps Grass From Invading Your Plant Beds
Here in Florida, this is a big one. You’ve probably noticed grass grows really fast around here. If you wanted to, you could probably stand out on your lawn and actually see your grass sneak over into your planting beds, all braggy about how it just defied you.
If you don’t have time for that, trust us — it’s happening.
Our warm climate here and plenty of rain encourages grass to grow fast, making it easy for it to quickly spread into flower beds where you really don’t want it. One of the benefits of edging: it acts as a barrier to prevent, or at least slow down, the spread.
St. Augustine grass, a favorite here in South Florida, is an especially speedy grower, with a vigorous root system, growing as much six inches a week during the active growing season.
Edging Keeps Your Mulch Tidy
A clear defined edge between your beds and your lawn helps improve lawn appearance, but it also helps your mulch stay put, so it doesn’t scatter into your lawn.
You want your mulch to stay where it belongs, so it can help your beds hold onto moisture and block sunlight that weeds need to thrive.
Speaking of weeds…
Edging Helps Prevent Weeds
Quick science lesson: weeds — and grass, too — grow either by rhizomes or stolons.
Stolons are above-ground stems that root and produce new grass plants.
Rhizomes, also called “creeping rootstalks” are modified stems that run underground horizontally, often just underneath the surface of the soil.
Rhizomes send new roots downward into the soil and also shoot stems upwards. That’s double trouble when you’re trying to keep grass or weeds where they belong.
Either way, edging is a Sarasota lawn maintenance superhero, helping to keep creeping invaders from jumping the moat.
Edging Makes Other Yard Work Easier
When you have crisp, defined edging between your lawn and other areas, it’s easier to mow and trim.
Edging also helps prevent damage to your precious plants and other landscaping, acting as a barrier from sharp mower blades and weed trimmers.
How Do You Edge a Lawn?
There are various tools to tackle this task, from hand-held blades to power tools.
Here at Tropical Gardens, crews use a power stick edger, with a blade that sinks about three inches into the ground at a 90-degree angle to cut a sharp, defined edge.
And we do edging once a week. Many landscape maintenance companies edge once every two weeks. Unwanted creeping grass is an enemy we take seriously.
Crews start at the road, follow up the edge of your driveway, around all planting beds and walkways then ultimately head back down your driveway to the road so no borders go un-edged.
Crews change the edger blades every day so they’re always sharp and we replace our hard-working edgers every other year.
A Few Lawn Edging Tips
Tackling this chore yourself?
- Mow your lawn first. It helps you see exactly where the edges are.
- Cut 2-3 inches deep along the edge of your lawn.
- Clear away any loose debris when you’re done to reveal the crisp, clean edge.
- Edge regularly. Remember, grass grows fast here in Sarasota.
- Are you sure you wouldn’t rather let us do it? It gets kind of boring after the first few feet.
Craving Those Crisp, Clean Edges? Talk to Us
Edging is one important part of Sarasota lawn maintenance, but there’s a lot of other stuff going on out there, too.
Here at Tropical Gardens our professional lawn care service includes two comprehensive landscape maintenance programs that cover all your year-round lawn maintenance issues. One plan includes 42 visits and the other offers 51 visits. And lawn edging happens every single time.
Pro tip: Choose a full-service Sarasota commercial landscape maintenance company. Chances are, your landscaping includes more than just lawn.
You want one skilled, reputable landscaping company to handle all your year-round landscape maintenance, from mowing to plant health care to irrigation.
It’s a lot easier on you. It means there’s just one place to call when you have questions or concerns about your property, no matter the issue.
Let’s get started. We’ll help you figure it all out.
Give us a call or fill out our form today. Our team of local lawn care experts will edge your lawn so perfectly, you’ll join your selfie-taking neighbors out on the sidewalk.
