How to Line Flower Beds

Creating an outline for your flower beds makes your gardening project look polished and complete. With a variety of landscaping materials, such as railroad timbers, bricks, stones or fencing, you can design a lining that compliments your home and sets off your flower beds.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Edging material
• Shovel
• Sand
• Hose

1. Select the edging materials of your choice. You can use small stones, bricks, pavers, railroad ties or fencing. Make your choice based upon the way the product coordinates with your home and flowers and consider how much work you are willing to put in to install the landscaping materials.

2. Dig down deep enough to lay a shallow layer of sand to promote drainage. You'll need to create a level surface and add the sand to it. For railroad ties or for a more casual look, you need only dig down far enough for the first tier to be secured into the ground without showing a gap.

3. Lay the landscaping material you've chosen around your gardening beds. Bricks can be laid flat, upright or leaning to one side. Railroad ties should be laid so any cuts are staggered. Stones need to be laid carefully to ensure strength, especially if you're laying more than one tier.

4. Push any fencing material or plastic edging directly into the ground. Use stakes to secure your lining in place if this is recommended by the manufacturer's directions.

5. Hose down your completed edging. Not only does this clean up the dirt and debris from installation, it also helps the material set in place.

Tips & Warnings

• It's easier to create a hardscape edging prior to creating your flower beds. If you're lining existing beds, select materials that install easily, like railway ties or fencing.