With just over a week until April arrives, there’s no better time to spruce up your garden and sharpen those pesky lawn edges – a gardening expert has shared an easy trick
With April just around the corner, now’s the perfect time to give your garden a makeover and get those lawn edges looking sharp.
Crisp, clean borders not only make for a stunning lawn but also stop grass from invading your flower beds, as pointed out by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). Luckily, gardening whizz Bo Petterson has let us in on the “easiest” method to breathe new life into your green space.
On TikTok, under the handle @dadadvicefrombo, this horticultural maestro showed off his technique for tidying up the boundary between his lawn and flower bed. You’ll need nothing more than a few basic tools from the shed, such as string, spiked nails, a tape measure, and a flat-head spade.
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Kick things off by measuring an equal distance from the grass edge to the soil at both ends of the area you’re edging. After deciding where to mark, drive the spiked nails into the ground and stretch a tight string between them to form a straight guideline.
If spiked nails aren’t handy, Bo recommends using knitting needles or butter knives as alternatives. Next, with your spade, strip away any overhanging grass and turf along the line, keeping about an inch’s distance from the string as you work.
Bo advises: “Start working your way down the string line, cutting the sod as you go. Then you’ve just got to remove the sod and you got a nice straight line all the way down.”
When it comes to any leftover grass, the expert has a tip for that too, saying: “Smooth everything out, and you’re in business.”
While straight edges on lawns give clear definition between the lawn and borders, there’s a camp of gardeners who prefer the organic feel of curved lines. For those folks, flexible markers are the go-to, with suggestions like using a hosepipe, rope or string to get the shape just right.
The RHS chips in with some green advice, noting that any of the surplus grass can either be recycled into your compost bin or piled up to decompose into rich soil over time.
The social media crowd didn’t hold back in expressing their appreciation for the savvy technique, with one enthusiast commenting: “That looks so good! Thank you for teaching us how to do this.”
Another chimed in with professional approval: “I’m a landscape technician, and this is exactly how the pros do it!” Equally keen was someone who chimed in, “We need to do this and carve out new beds in our backyard.”
A clever suggestion from a follower pointed out: “Easiest way to do lawn edging by far is use a reciprocating saw. You could do that whole stretch in about a minute.”
