How to Measure for a Garden Border

Measure Border Back and Sides

• 1

  Drive a stake in at one back corner of your border site. Walk to the other back corner of your chosen site and drive a stake. Stretch and tie a string between the two stakes.

• 2

  Measure the distance between the two stakes to get the length of your border. Transfer that measurement to graph paper for later use in planning your plantings.

• 3

  Measure your planned number of feet forward from each corner stake to form the sides of a straight sided border. Drive stakes and tie string from each front corner to the back border corners.

• 4

  Transfer the side border measurements to your graph paper. Follow the directions given below for "Mark the Border Front" if you are making a curving border with free-form sides.

Plan the Border Front

• 5

  Run a string from one front corner stake to the other for a straight border. Transfer the line to your graph paper.

• 6

  Lay string on the ground to experiment with shapes for the front of the border for a free-form border. If the string is too hard to see on the ground, use a garden hose.

• 7

  Determine the depth of your border once you have settled on the shape. Using the farthest point out on your front border string, measure to the back of your border to get your maximum depth.

• 8

  Incorporate a 2-foot-wide path into the back of your border to allow for maintenance if this measurement is deeper than 4 feet.

Measure the Front Edge of Free-form Border

• 9

  Follow your free-form side and front string line carefully and put a stake in every 1 ½ to 2 feet to maintain the shape of your outline. The stakes and string will be the permanent markers for digging your border.

• 10

  Measure the distance from the back of your border up to each stake. Transfer these measurements to your graph paper.

• 11

  Use a "connect the dots" method to draw an outline of your border on the graph paper. You now have a plan you can use to estimate where to place your plants.

Measure a Path

• 12

  Begin at one corner of the back of your border. Measure out 2 feet and place a stake. Repeat at the other end of the border and run a string between the two stakes. The area between that string line and the back of your border is your path. Mark it on your graph paper.

• 13

  Mark a narrower path through an especially deep border that can be paved with 12-by-12 inch pavers to make deadheading and pruning easier. Using the border back as your starting point, measure to the middle of the deepest spot on your border.

• 14

  Drive a stake at that point and stretch a string to each end of the border, paralleling the back of the border. Transfer the stake line to your graph paper and use it to mark out the path on your plan by making squares to scale on either side of the stake line.