How to Install Flower Bed Edging that Keeps Weeds Out—For Good!


For those of us who love gardening, little looks as beautiful —or feels as nice — as a flower bed that is blooming with healthy, bright, blooms. Thus, the last thing we want to see in our beloved horticultural masterpiece is patches of ugly, wild, weeds marring the brilliance.

But… aren’t weeds just something we have to deal with when we decide to install flower beds in our yard?

Believe it or not, the answer is a resounding, “NO!”

Choosing and installing the right lawn edging for flower beds not only helps prevent weeds from taking over your flower beds, but it can also block them from ever invading at all.

Again, however, the key is that the edging must be the “right edging” and even the “right edging” must be installed correctly.

Keep reading to learn how to install flower bed edging that keeps weeds out for good.

First, you want to start with a good foundation — weed prevention starts with proper weed-free preparation.

This means starting with your flower beds weed-free right from the beginning. You’ll want to clear the space and pull or kill any weeds you can see. Pulling weeds correctly means pulling out the entire weed—including the root.

For this reason, pulling weeds out by hand is usually the most effective plan. Although, you won’t typically want to search for and extract weeds that are underground — or weed seeds — at this point as digging them out may actually spread seeds you can’t see and actually create what you’re trying to prevent.

Instead, you will want to install a weed pre-emergent. This is a product specially designed to keep new weeds from growing new seeds. You’ll also want to choose your flowers carefully and plant them with a meticulous eye to ensuring you’re not planting weeds too.

Mulching helps to smother any new weed growth and provides a barrier for weeds too.

Mulch —or other forms of ground cover — provide a literal “wall” that weeds will find harder to penetrate. Mulch also helps the ground to retain moisture that is much-needed for most flower growth.

Choices for mulch include organic material like wood chips or leaves but can also come in a plastic “mulch roll” or even fabric with a thin layer of chips over it to disguise the fabric itself.

Finally, prevent weeds and even grass from sneaking into your flower beds by installing a quality edging product.

Depending on your personal style and preferences, two good products that help keep weeds out of flower beds are Edge Right and Grass Barrier.

Edge Right is a COR-TEN steel edging product that is highly durable and beautiful, developing a rustic patina over time that actually makes the edging stronger. Because Edge Right installs easily into the ground with its sharp edge, it can be a highly effective weed block, when it comes to protecting flower beds from weeds that grow outside of beds getting inside the garden area.

Grass Barrier is an HDPE product that is affordable, attractive, and effective. Its sleek, black, color makes it an easy fit for most design aesthetics and since it’s also installed in-ground, it too is a very effective weed blocker.

With Edge Right, you don’t necessarily need to dig a deep trench since the “teeth” of the material itself will slice into the earth with just a few taps of a rubber mallet.

With Grass Barrier, you do need to dig a shallow trench, but it can be dug in any shape or design of your choice. Once the trench is dug, you place the Grass Barrier product in the trench, taking care to install it upright.  Then, you can quickly backfill the trench so for added security and stability.

Key to the effectiveness of any landscape edging product to keep out weeds will be ensuring that part of the edging is installed correctly.

Any edging product will need to be inserted into the ground as deep as the roots of the surrounding grass, with at least a few inches remaining above the ground as well. You’ll also want to be sure that the product is installed straight upright through its length and not able to fall over or collapse easily at any point in the design.

If you follow the above tips and use them as a guide, you should be able to get and keep flower beds weed-free and easier to maintain. Doing the right work and choosing the right products upfront, will help to reduce the need for extensive maintenance and upkeep on the backside over time. This will keep your beds not only prettier, but healthier too. And with healthy beds, comes beauty. Since that is likely a big reason your beds were installed in the first place, that definitely makes the effort worth the time