How to Use Coil Edging With Stakes

Wear gloves to protect your hands while working with the dirt and edging. Lay out a garden hose or rope along the edge between your lawn and flower bed or pathway. Position the hose or rope into the desired shape of the outline, whether it be curvy or straight.

Remove any packaging or ties from 6-inch tall coil edging. Place the edging in the middle of your lawn in full sunlight. Allow it to sit and warm up so it will be more pliable during installation.

Cut the line for your trench on the outside of the hose or rope using a sod cutting spade. Push the spade into the soil vertically to cut through any lawn on the outside of the line. Shake excess dirt from any sections of removed sod. Remove the pieces of sod and throw them away by placing them face down on top of a compost pile.

Till the soil along your cut line to loosen it using a rototiller. Dig a 7-inch deep vertical trench along the cut line of your lawn.

Unroll the coil edging and place it in the trench. Position the edging so that the "V" at its bottom is facing the flower bed or pathway side of the trench. Push the edging firmly down into the trench until only the top half to one-third of the tube at the top edge is above ground level. Press the edging flat up against the vertical wall of the trench.

Cut additional lengths of edging from a second coil if needed to complete the length of the trench. Cut the edging with a sharp knife. Slide an edging connector halfway into the tube of the first piece of edging. Hold the tube and connector at the end of the first piece of edging while sliding the tube of the second piece of edging over the protruding half of the edging connector. Press the two pieces of edging firmly together. Lay the second portion of edging in the trench in the same manner as before.

Secure your edging in place with edging stakes. Start at one end of the edging and insert the first stake 3 inches in. Position the pointed end of the stake into center of the "V" at the edging's bottom. Hold the stake at a 90-degree angle to the edging, with the bent end facing the ground. Pound the stake horizontally through the edging and into the soil wall of the trench. Insert one stake every 7 feet along the length of the edging. Insert a stake on either side of two connecting pieces of edging.

Backfill the soil into the trench against the exposed side of the edging. Tamp the soil down firmly against the edging to secure it in place. Ensure that the soil level is equal in height to the ground level of the lawn on the other side of the edging.