Nothing transforms a garden quite like curved lawn edges alongside sweeping flower beds, but many green-fingered folk don’t know where to start.
Curved borders are often favoured over the straight variety, as they help to establish a "natural but elegant" appearance, while also effectively breaking up rectangular gardens, reports the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). What’s more, a well-defined lawn edge with a clean drop down to the border will help keep mulching material in place, adds the RHS.
Fortunately, outdoor expert Bo Petterson has shared the "easiest" method for sprucing up your garden, without wasting hours on the task. Taking to TikTok, under the username @dadadvicefrombo, the gardening guru demonstrated how he attains perfectly curved edges using just a rubber hose pipe.
He admitted: "I have used PVC pipes in the past. You just put a couple of spikes down to hold it in place. But I really prefer to use just a rubber hose because you can lay it out along any bend that you want and you can go back and adjust if you need to."
The first step involves measuring an equal distance between the lawn and flower bed, and using the hose pipe as a marker. Once you have decided on the marking, Bo suggests using a flathead shovel or a power edger to remove any grass and sod that is in front of the hose line.
Four bedroom home with its own TRAIN TRACK on sale… but there’s a catchHe said: "Then just go back through and pull out all the loose stuff. And remember you can go back through and make adjustments if you need to as you work at it, it’s not that big of a deal. This trick makes a nice, clean edge."
If you don’t have access to a garden hose, rope or string can be used instead. Curved lines provide a unique definition between lawn and border, but some gardeners opt for straight edges, which can establish a more crisp and formal effect.
The RHS explained that any unwanted grass can be placed in your compost bin, or it can be stacked into a separate pile for it to rot down into soil. Impressed followers rushed to the comments section to share their response to the clever hack, as one user gushed: "I have a 100ft rock driveway that I’ve been trying to edge. The hose will work perfectly. Thank you!"
Another penned: "Thank you, because I’m absolutely clueless and trying to watch YouTube videos." A third added: "I've never seen a lawn edge that way but after this video I think I want to edge my lawn."
While a fourth advised: "Lay out the hose and trace it with a power washer to set your edge." If you’re looking to make edge trimming even easier and retain the shape, the RHS also recommends installing wood or metal edging.