How to Edge With Lawn Pavers

Lawn pavers create interesting and useful edging around lawns, flower beds and vegetable gardens. Edging a lawn keeps the grass off the driveway and walkways, while edging gardens keeps grass from invading the beds. Lawn pavers come in a wealth of materials and styles. You can use plain bricks, natural stone or pre-cast concrete blocks. Pre-cast concrete blocks come in many heights, thicknesses, colors and shapes, with some available in curved forms to accommodate irregular or circular shapes or to create flower beds with curved outlines. Natural stone would likely be your most expensive choice, with pre-cast concrete your least expensive. Whichever material you choose, the pavers are installed using the same method.

Wooden stakes
String
Garden hoses (optional)
Measuring tape
Landscaper's spray paint
Round-pointed shovel
Flat spade
4-foot long piece of 2-by-6 lumber
2-by-4 lumber
Landscaping fabric
Scissors
3/4-inch crushed limestone
Coarse sand
Pavers

Instructions

- 1
  Lay out the path of the edging, marking it by pounding wooden stakes into the ground with a rubber mallet and connecting the stakes with string. Adjust the path as necessary to improve its appearance. Pavers are not designed to form sharp curves, so you may need to widen some of the bends in your design. Connecting several garden hoses and using them to lay out the curves makes that part of the job easier.
- 2
  Mark the path of the edging with landscaper's spray paint once you are satisfied with how it looks. Measure the length of the path in inches with a measuring tape. Divide that measurement by the length of the paver you intend to use to find out how many pavers you need.
- 3
  Calculate how deep and wide you will need to make the trench for laying the pavers. It should be 1 inch wider than the pavers. Decide how much of the paver you want to have extend above the level of the lawn or flower bed. Subtract that measurement from the height of the paver. Add 4 inches. This is the depth of the trench.
- 4
  Rough out the trench with a round-tipped shovel, then use a flat spade to cut vertical walls for the trench. Tamp the sides and bottom of the trench with a 2-by-4 to create a firm and stable bed for the pavers.
- 5
  Line the trench with landscaping fabric, which will help keep weeds from growing up between the pavers and create a barrier that will help keep the grass out of the gardens and the driveway or walkways. Fill the trench with 2 inches of crushed gravel and then 2 inches of coarse sand. Tamp down the sand with the 2-by-4.
- 6
  Set the pavers into the trench, butting them end-to-end against each other and against the back edge of the trench. Use the 2-by-4 to help set the pavers evenly and to get them aligned against the trench. Continue setting the pavers until you have completed the patch. Backfill the trench and fill in any gaps between the pavers with sand and crushed gravel.

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