How to Edge a Flower Bed with a Power Edger

Flower beds are the real beauty of your lawn. To keep up and enhance that beauty, you need to edge them. Sharp and solid edges have the power to make your flower beds look more professional. You can do edging either manually on your own or can use a power edger or weedeater and edger combo. Power edger can save your time and labor. To edge your flower bed with a power edger, you need to know how to edge a flower bed with a power edger.  Note that, a power edger is by far more powerful than a string trimmer when it comes to edging jobs.

It is really simple and fun to use a power edger for your flower beds when you know the process. But, can be devastating too when you don’t know how to use a power edger. In this article, we are going to show you the procedure step by step. Read the article carefully to learn everything you need to edge with a power edger.

Safety Measures to Take

You need to follow some safety aspects before you use any machine. A power edger is no exception here. Careless or complacent handling of power edger may incur an unwanted accident. Before you start edging ensure the followings:

• Wear eye and ear protectors so that you can save your eye from rocks or any splinter. Ear protectors will save your ear from irreversible hearing loss.
• Wear a full sleeve shirt and pants to keep your body safe.
• To keep your foot safe, wear boots or any other shoes that can serve the same purpose.
• Inspect the power edger for its serviceability.
• If you are using an electric power edger, watch out for its extension cord. Don’t forget to use a secure power source. Loose connection with the electric power plug is a serious safety hazard.

Steps of Edging Your Flower Bed with a Power Edger

Step One

Make a design choice for your flower bed’s edge. If it is not an established edge, it is recommended that you choose a perfect design. The design should match your lawn and home structure. On the contrary, if the edges are established,  you can redefine the edges. If you want to reshape or modify the edges, you still need to design that shape first.

Step Two

Now, as you have done with the shape or design step, mark the edges you have made in the design. If it is the case of established edges and you want to keep them as they look, skip this step. You can use vanishing spray that lasts for a couple of minutes if your flower beds are small in size. But, if the bed size is bigger, use a permanent marker to mark the edges. A bigger bed needs a long time to edge and this spray will guide you. This marking up is to guide you while you use the power edger to edge your flower bed.

Step Three

Pull the startup cord or press the trigger to start the power edger. Make sure the edger blade is disengaged until you place it in the right place. Place your power edger’s blade in-line with the edge you marked. Engage the power blade with the engagement knob on the power edger. Move the power edger along with the edge. It is recommended that you move your power edger on the pavement/patio side keeping the blade on the edge. This will ensure that you make no harm to your flower bed’s design.

Step Four

If your edge is not an established one, do not try to make it look professional by doing the first time. It needs twice or more times edging to get that look. Sometimes, your power edger may create loud/absurd sound. Don’t worry, the edger is drilling through harsh or rocky grounds. If this happens, retreat your edger and repeat the process gently. Do not try to force the edger to do the job fast.

Step Five

Clean the grass or unnecessary plants after you finished edging. If you need to repeat the edging after doing it once, don’t forget to clean the path and the edger blade as well. Your edger blade may gather grass while rotating. Clean those to make sure the edger blade is getting enough space to edge.

Step Six

Do not sweep away the soil that has been uncovered by your edging job. The soil is helpful for your flower bed and your lawn as well. Keep them inside the flower bed and rearrange them once you finished with your edging task.

Hunter Tips:

• Switch off your power edger when not in use to save the power and life of your edger.
• Between two edging tasks if you do not take a break, make sure that you disengage the edger’s power blade.  This will save an unwanted incident.
• Know the SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) of your power edger. Different company’s edgers have a little dissimilarity in operation.
• Edging several times in a season will bring negative results. Keep it moderate to get optimum results.
• More than a 6-inch deep edge is not recommended. Make it within 6-inch.

Conclusion

To make a flower garden neat and clean edging is necessary. Power edger has the superpower to edge your flower bed more smartly and quickly. All you need is to know the operating and handling procedure of a power edger. In this article, we have tried our best to give you the guide on how to edge a flower bed with a power edger. Hopefully, you have enjoyed the simple step by step procedure.