A portion of my yard was due for a makeover. There was too much lawn in this area: I wanted to convert some of the space to planting beds. Besides, as the photo above shows, the grass in the part that I intended to keep as lawn was in pretty bad shape: it needed to be replaced, so I had no qualms about subjecting it to the stress entailed in a DIY undertaking. In short, it provided a perfect opportunity for a "How to Edge a Lawn" project.
As I said on Page 1, when you edge a lawn, you're defining borders. So let's start defining! Here's where we determine the shape the planting beds will eventually assume.
First Step to Edge a Lawn: Define Borders
If you want curved planting beds, a simple way to define borders is to lay out a flexible garden hose, following the lines your mind's eye envisions (see photo above). Just keep maneuvering the garden hose until it defines the borders of the planting beds in a way that you can live with. Step back and take a good long look -- from different angles -- before defining the borders for keeps.
When you're satisfied, mark the course of the garden hose with spray paint or chalk, to leave behind a line that you can work with.
On Page 4 we begin to lay the mowing strip....
