How to Install Landscape Timber Edging

Landscape timbers add an attractive border to your garden's edge or flower bed.

How to Install Landscape Timber Edging

The Spruce / Jayme Burrows

Project Overview
  • Working Time: 8 hrs
  • Total Time: 8 hrs
  • Yield: One border
  • Skill Level: Beginner
  • Estimated Cost: $1 per linear foot

Landscaping with timbers is an easy way to create an attractive, natural-looking frame for a flower border or perennial flower bed. Landscape timbers, often used for edging, are long pieces of solid pressure-treated wood. They are 3- to 8-inches wide and have edges designed for landscaping purposes. They are different than railroad ties, which are thicker, heavier, and typically not pressure-treated, although some people opt to use them in landscapes.

Before You Begin

Be sure you are selecting the right landscape timber and shape for your purposes whether it's building a raised garden bed, planter, seating, retaining wall, or for ground contouring. Other landscape edging ideas include edging the driveway. Landscape timbers come in simple or more decorative shapes:

  • Square-edged, like a fence post for general use
  • Oval in shape with two wide flat sides and two narrow rounded sides
  • Rounded sides but are more square in overall dimension
  • Square bottom edges and a rounded top

Safety Considerations

All landscape timbers should be ground-contact rated and pressure-treated to prevent premature rot. Pressure-treated landscape timbers will not release any toxins into the ground.

Landscape timber edging
David Beaulieu

What You'll Need

Equipment / Tools

  • Stakes
  • Mason's line or string
  • Hand sledge or hammer
  • Hand edger
  • Shovel
  • Garden hoe or steel rake
  • Level or straight board
  • Tape measure
  • Pencil
  • Saw
  • Drill and bits
  • Protractor

Materials

  • Landscape timbers
  • Landscape fabric and staples (optional)
  • Galvanized corner braces
  • Galvanized mending plates
  • 2-inch galvanized deck screws
  • #3 rebar (optional)

Instructions

Materials needed to install landscape timber edging

The Spruce / Jayme Burrows

  1. Mark the Border Path

    • Tie one end of ​a mason's line around a stake. 
    • Drive the stake into the ground at one end of the border planting or grass area.
    • Walk to the other end of the border planting, then tie the string to another stake.
    • Pull the string taut and line it up exactly where you want the edging to run, then drive the second stake into the ground.
    Marking the border path with stakes and a string

    The Spruce / Jayme Burrows

  2. Cut Through the Turf

    • Use a hand edger or a flat spade to slice through the turf or other plantings just under the string, starting at one end and working to the other end.
    • Remove the turf with a shovel. You can transplant healthy turf to another area; otherwise, shake off as much soil as possible from the roots (to make the turf much lighter) and compost or discard the grass plants.
    • Remove all weeds and other organic material from the bed area.
    Cutting through the turf with an edging tool

    The Spruce / Jayme Burrows

  3. Level and Tamp the Ground

    Prepare the ground at the edge of the border planting so that it is ready to receive the landscape timber edging. Take these steps:

    • Use a shovel, a steel rake, or a garden hoe to dig out rocks, roots, and other obstructions along the edging's path.
    • Walk over the loosened soil to pack it down.
    • Add soil, as needed, to bring the area up to the proper level, then pack it down again. Make sure the soil is firmly packed to prevent settling.
    • Check for level as you go, using a carpenter's level or a straight board. The ground does not have to be exactly level according to a level; it must be flat and level with the surrounding area.
    Walking over the loosened soil to tamp it down

    The Spruce / Jayme Burrows

  4. Add Landscape Fabric (optional)

    Install landscape fabric, if desired, to prevent weed and grass growth. You will install the timbers on top of the fabric. This is a good idea if the bed or other area beyond the edging will be covered with rock, mulch, or other ground cover.

    • Roll out the fabric over the soil and position it so it is even with the mason's line.
    • Secure the fabric with landscape fabric staples driven with a hand sledge or hammer.

    Tip

    If you want your landscape fabric to last (and to suppress weeds effectively), choose a commercial-grade spun fabric. These materials are much tougher than plastic and let water and air pass through, allowing the soil to breathe.

    Adding landscaping fabric to prevent weed growth

    The Spruce / Jayme Burrows

  5. Install the Timbers

    • Lay out straight timbers along the full length of the edging, butting their ends together.

    Tip

    If the final straight piece will be shorter than about 2 feet, shift the entire row of timbers so that the two ends will have cut pieces of roughly equal length.

    • Position the full-length timbers accurately along the edging line.
    • Join neighboring timbers with pairs of galvanized mending plates and 2-inch deck screws. Drive the screws with a drill fitted with a screwdriver bit. If the screws are difficult to drive, drill pilot holes before installing the screws.
    • When you reach one end of the edging run, mark the last piece for cutting at the desired length. Cut the marked timber to length, using a miter saw, if you have one; otherwise, you can use a hand saw or a reciprocating saw.
    • Join the cut piece to the end of the row with mending plates, as before.
    • Repeat the same process at the other end of the straight row.
    Installing the timber edging

    The Spruce / Jayme Burrows

  6. Construct the Corners

    • Cut more straight pieces, as needed, to make 90-degree turns.
    • Join the pieces at each corner with a galvanized corner brace and screws, as with the mending plates. The braces should be on the inside of the corners.

    Tip

    Use galvanized hardware for any attachment points to prevent corrosion of the hardware.

    Constructing the corners of the timber edging

    The Spruce / Jayme Burrows

  7. Cut Angles to Make Turns

    Use a protractor to lay out angle cuts for turns in your edging that are not 90 degrees. Take these steps:

    • Place the protractor on top of the timber and align the protractor's baseline with the edge of the timber. Mark the edge of the timber at the protractor's center mark.
    • Determine the desired angle for the completed turn, divide that angle in half, then mark the timber along the top of the protractor at the resulting angle. For example, if the edging will turn at 120 degrees (forming an obtuse angle), mark the top of the timber at the 60-degree line on the protractor. Finally, draw a straight line through the 60-degree mark and the center mark to create an angled cutting line. Cut the timber along the line.
    • Repeat the same process to mark and cut the mating timber so that each is cut at 60 degrees (and the two angles face opposite directions).
    • When you fit the angled ends together, they will make a 120-degree turn. You can secure the pieces together with screws driven at an angle through both pieces (drill pilot holes first), or you can bend a 90-degree corner brace to match the custom angle, and install the brace with screws.
    Cutting angles in the wood for corners

    The Spruce / Jayme Burrows

  8. Pin the Timbers With Rebar (optional)

    Secure the timber border to the ground with rebar, if desired, using these steps:

    • Drill 3/8-inch holes through the centers of the timbers, spacing the holes about 4 feet apart.
    • Pin the timbers to the soil with 12-inch lengths of #3 (3/8-inch-diameter) rebar driven with a hand sledge.
    • Drive the rebar flush with the timber face, then use an extra piece of rebar as a punch to drive the installed rebar slightly below the wood surface (for safety reasons, because you don't want any metal sticking up above the wood). 

    Warning

    Be careful not to drive rebar anywhere there may be underground sprinkler lines.

    Pinning the timbers with rebar

    The Spruce / Jayme Burrows

When to Call a Professional

Specific projects require specific types of landscape timbers. If you are unsure which material to use for your project, call in a professional landscaper. In addition, if your project requires the landscape timbers to be cut using unusual or atypical curves and angles, call in a pro.

How Often to Replace Landscape Timbers

You may begin noticing the beginning of some rotting of treated landscape timbers around the seven-year mark, but that doesn't mean they need to be replaced right away. Rotting of untreated landscape timbers begins earlier, around the two-year mark.

FAQ
  • What timber should I use for garden edging?

    When you use landscape timber as edging, the best kind of wood to use is redwood or cedar. These types of timber are naturally resistant to bugs and rot so they will look their best for a long time.

  • How do you secure landscape timbers?

    Keep wood edging in place with rebar, per the steps above, or landscape timber spikes (very long nails). For retaining walls, use a T-shaped deadman's anchor buried in the ground to secure landscape timbers, and also used for stone retaining walls.

  • How long will landscape timbers last in the ground?

    Pressure-treated landscape timbers can last for 15 to 20 years as opposed to untreated lumber which begins rotting in just a handful of years. However, some landscape timbers have been known to last well over two decades.

The Spruce uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
  1. Fabric and Mulches for Weed Management in the Landscape. University of California University of Agriculture and Natural Resources.