How to Edge for Mulch

Edging is an important part of landscape maintenance that creates clean, straight lines and prevents grass growth. Edging is particularly important in mulched areas of the landscape because it cuts through the grass roots and prevents it from spreading into the mulch. Edging a mulched area should be performed when you first install the mulch and then every time you replace it or mow the lawn to stop the spread of new grass seeds that germinate.

Rope or garden hose
Spray chalk
Garden edger
Shovel
Wheel barrow
Herbicide with glyphosate (optional)

Instructions

- 1
  Lay a piece of rope or a garden hose on the ground where you want the perimeter of the mulched area to be. Use a can of spray chalk to draw the line onto the soil and then move the rope or hose out of the way.
- 2
  Walk to one end of the chalk line and place an edging tool on top of the line. An edger looks like a small shovel with a half-moon shape. Step down on the top of the edger until the entire metal blade is in the ground. Lean back on the handle and lift the soil out of the ground, placing it in a pile nearby.
- 3
  Remove the edger and reposition it on top of the chalk line directly next to the first location. Step down on it again to push it all the way into the soil and place the soil aside. Repeat the process all the way down the chalk line until you reach the other end.
- 4
  Scoop up the pile of excess soil with a shovel and place it into a wheelbarrow. Take the soil to a compost area.
- 5
  Re-edge the area once per month after the mulch is installed. To do this, follow the same procedure but use the edge of the mulch as the guideline for where to cut the soil.

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