Are Lawn Edgers Worth it?

Having a well-trimmed and mowed lawn makes your home appear beautiful and raises your confidence whenever you have visitors. You should also strive always to have well-trimmed hedges and cut your grass to ensure your lawn is evergreen. Achieving all these requires more than a lawn mower.

Since lawn mowers are bulky and wide, they may not reach areas such as flower beds, walkways, and paved driveways. If you decide not to mow these areas, your lawn will be unevenly mowed, which creates a bad picture. So, how do you avoid this and achieve a beautiful lawn? Well, you have to either use an edger or a trimmer.

It is imperative to understand the difference between an edger and a trimmer to make a well-informed decision. Trimmers are mainly used to cut the tall grass around areas with obstacles like posts, walls, and other regions mowers cannot reach. On the other side, edgers’ main purpose is to create edges.

However, Are edgers worth investing in? Yes. You need to invest in lawn edgers as far as you want to maintain a clean lawn and yard. However, to distinguish if a lawn edger is worth it or not, you need to understand its functions. This article will focus on helping you understand the needs of lawn edgers, the types, and how to make a well-informed buying decision.

When Do you Require a Lawn Edger?

Before deciding whether you need to purchase a lawn edger or not, it is essential first to understand when to use it. Most edgers are designed to be more stable and heavy-duty. They have metal blades that spin vertically and cut through roots or thick grass.

If you plan to create new lawn edges, you should go for the lightweight stick edger, which is powerful and more accurate. This lawn edger does not consume a lot of time and will enable you to come up with straighter lines.

To maintain a clear boundary between the concrete and your lawn, you should strive to edge your lawn regularly or every month. You will achieve a clear separation since edgers are heavier than trimmers and will dig deeper.

Do you Really Require an Edger?

Are you still wondering if lawn edgers are worth it? Well, we believe that to achieve a lawn that is uniformly mowed and trimmed, you need an edger. More so, using an edger around your home has various advantages. These include:

• Giving your Lawn a Clean and Professional Appearance

If you regularly edge your lawn, the entire yard will look cleaner and more appealing. On the other side, leaving overgrown grass on areas that a lawnmower could not reach makes the lawn look uneven and untidy.

• Improving the Value and Appeal of your Curb

Lawn edging improves the curb appeal by making your entire yard appear beautiful. Edging is among the main ways of creating an attractive yard with clear boundaries and pathways. This beautiful scenery will increase your landscape’s value.

• Protecting Your Landscape from Grass Roots

Edging your lawn serves a significant role in preventing grass from growing into the pavements, walls, and landscape beds. It creates boundaries that prevent overgrown grass from creeping into unwanted areas. More so, if you continue edging regularly, you will save a lot of time while trimming since there will be less overgrown grass.

Pros of Having an Edger

Before buying an edger, you should learn their advantages which include:

• Though they may be tricky for first-time users to operate, edgers eventually become easy to operate. With several uses, you will be able to edge quickly and perfectly.
• Edgers do not hatch up nearby plants.
• Using an edger will ensure that you achieve clean edges which have no scalp spots.
• Some edgers like manual edgers are pocket-friendly and cheap to maintain

Cons of Edgers

• Edgers, especially powered edgers, can be expensive and not affordable to everyone.
• Electric-powered edgers require you to purchase an extension cord that is limited to a specific length.
• Overgrown lawns require high-powered edgers, which are expensive to buy and maintain

I hope you are now convinced that lawn edgers are essential tools in your home. Having understood the importance of edgers, you should now learn about the various types of edgers.

How many types of edgers are there?

There are two types of edgers:

• Manual edgers
• Motorized edgers

To help you make an informed decision on the best edger to purchase, we shall take an in-depth look at both types and their merits and demerits. Let’s start with the manual edgers:

Manual Edgers

Just as the word goes, manual edgers require your strength and power to function. Therefore, this type of edger is tiresome and time-consuming. However, they have numerous advantages, which include:

• They are long-lasting: Manual edgers are more durable than motorized ones due to their basic design. Unlike motorized edgers with mechanical parts, engines, pull cords, etc., manual edgers mainly only have teeth and wheels. This design guarantees their long durability.
• They are very convenient: Manual edgers are less-bulky and require less storage space than motorized edgers. More so, whenever you need to use them, you won’t worry about gas or extension cords to power them up.
• Affordability: Manual edgers are less sophisticated, and therefore their price is pocket friendlier than other edgers. They are cheap to operate since they don’t consume fuel or electric power.

There are a lot of advantages to using manual edgers. However, their main disadvantages are consuming a lot of energy and time. They are only recommendable to people with small yards. If you need to edge large yards or various gardens, a manual edger may not be the best option for you.

Motorized Edgers

Motorized edgers are packed with an engine to run them more efficiently. Therefore, they are more expensive and heavier than manual edgers. These edgers will save you a lot of time and energy while edging. They are worthy investments unless you have a low budget or you love spending more time out there with manual edgers. Motorized edgers are categorized into gas-powered and electric-powered edgers.

• Gas-powered edgers: This edger uses gas to run the engine and produces the most power among all edgers. Gas edgers are expensive to purchase and run since they require gas and engine oil. However, they are the best choice if you have a vast yard with various walkways and long driveways.
• Electric-powered lawn edgers: These edgers can run on a battery or be plugged into a power source like a generator or electricity. Battery-powered edgers give you freedom while edging, but the power is limited. On the other side, those with plugs produce more energy but are limited to the length of the cord.

What Other Options Besides Lawn Edgers Can You Use?

You can consider various edging options, though they do not produce the same excellent results as a gas-powered lawn edger or electric lawn edger do. If your yard is vast and it requires numerous edging operations, the best pick for you is a motorized edger.

On the other hand, if you only have a small yard with low edging requirements, you can consider other edging options. These include:

• Using Trimmers

If you don’t own a lawn edger, you can use your trimmer as an edger. To make it work like an edger, tilt it upside down to make the guard point upwards, then run the string along the lawn edge you plan to trim. Though you cannot match the results with lawn edgers, it is better than an untrimmed edge.

• Using Shears

If your flower or garden bed is small and you only need to clean that area, you don’t have to invest in an edger. You can use a pair of lawn shears and trim the grass manually until you achieve a clean and uniform edge. However, be prepared to use a lot of time and sweat while shearing.

• Plastic Edging

Plastic edging is a method to prevent grass or vegetation from overgrowing into the cemented walkways or driveways. To achieve this, dig out a shallow trench between the cemented pathway or flower bed and the grass, then use a mallet to hammer the plastic edging.

• Using Decorative Bricks

To edge using decorative bricks, follow these steps:

• Gather the bricks you will use
• Dig a shallow trench (about four inches deep) between the grass and cemented surface/flower bed
• Position the decorative bricks at a 45-degree angle inside the trench
• Lean the bricks against each other
• Fill the trenches with soil and leave the bricks sharp corners pointing up

These bricks will prevent grass from trespassing to cemented surfaces and make your yard appear more appealing.

• Using Gravel Moat

If you want your lawn to appear more stylish and beautiful than separated with decorative bricks, you can opt for a gravel moat. To do this:

• Dig out a shallow trench of approximately two inches in depth between the sections you wish to separate.
• You can decide how wide the trench will be depending on the materials and the design you have in mind.
• Take the gravel moat and fill the trench until it is on the same level as the ground.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

The following list will contain some of the questions people commonly ask regarding lawn edging. I bet you will also find some questions that have been lingering in your mind. Let us give you the answers you’ve looking for:

• How Often Should I Edge My Lawn?

There is no rule on how many times you should edge your lawn. While some experts recommend edging at least once every year, others recommend edging after three mowing sessions. The rule of the thumb is to observe your lawn and determine if it needs edging or not. If it does, you don’t have to wait. Take your edger and get it over with. 

• Should I Purchase a Trimmer or an Edger?

The buying decision will depend on your needs and what goals you want to achieve with either a trimmer or an edger. If you are only planning to be edging, the best choice for you is an edger.

However, the best decision is to purchase both tools. To get the power and utility you desire, you can invest in a trimmer and a plug-in lawn edger. Having both devices means you can use the trimmer to cut the grass around obstacles and create perfect edges using the edger.

• Which is the Best Lawn Edger Type?

The best type of an edger may be worse for another use. Therefore, to select the best lawn edger for yourself, you need to determine if it will meet your needs. For instance, if you are venturing into maintaining lawns for pay, you must invest in a powerful lawn edger.

However, if you need a lawn edger for domestic purposes only, and your lawn measures 50 feet or less, the best edger for you is the manual edger. You can also purchase a plug-in edger and use it by attaching it to your trimmer.

• Which is the Easiest Lawn Edger to Operate?

When looking for the edger with the most effortless usability, always go for the gas-powered or electric-powered edgers since they consume less time and do not require much energy. However, this will also depend on your body strength since some people may find it easy to use a manual edger while it may be impossible for others to use it. 

• Which Tool Should I Use to Edge my Sidewalks?

If you want to achieve crisp edges on your sidewalks, you should use an edger. You can choose between using a powered lawn edger or a manual edger. If you use a manual edger, it will take longer and leave you tired. 

Using a trimmer will require a lot of effort, time, and skills. Therefore, it is not recommendable to use a trimmer to edge sidewalks, especially if you have a large lawn. 

Make the Investment!

After reading this article, if you feel that a lawn edger is worth your investment, go ahead and invest in a suitable lawn edger. List down everything you wish to accomplish with the edger. Next, find a lawn edger that will assist you in achieving all your needs.