The best way to trim your lawn's edge is by mowing it first, then trimming its edges with a trimmer and removing grass from your paths. Mowing your lawn is extremely important for an aesthetic and healthy garden, but cutting lawn edges helps beautify your backyard even more. Mowrator has written this guide to help you learn how to trim the lawn edge, whether it's your first time or tenth time lawn edge trimming.
Read about the tools you'll need to cut grass edges, how to edge grass properly, and a few frequently asked questions we receive for trimming edges.
Key Takeaways
- Effective lawn maintenance starts with mowing to reveal natural edges, setting a solid foundation for a neat and healthy yard.
- Precision trimming using appropriate tools enhances your garden's overall curb appeal and functionality.
- Supplementary practices, like clearing stray grass and considering long-term edging solutions, contribute to a consistently polished landscape.
How to Trim Your Lawn Edge | Step-by-Step Guide
Cutting grass edges includes mowing beforehand, precisely trimming the edges, and removing and shearing grass to achieve long-term aesthetic value. The following guide aims to help you understand the tips and tricks for how to edge your lawn:
What Tools Do You Need to Trim Your Lawn Edge?
The tools you need to edge a lawn include cutters, trimmers, lawn mowers, and other manual or electric lawn edger tools. Take a look at this in-depth list of tools that will help you trim grass edges to perfection:
- Grass trimmer
- Ear protection
- Gloves
- Black plastic bag
- Shovel
- Garden shears
- Lawn brush cutters
- Manual edging tool
- Lawnmower (preferably cordless)
1. Mow Your Lawn
Mowing your lawn before trimming lawn edges will make your life much easier when you finally grab your lawn trimmer. The best time to mow your lawn in Australia is mid to late September, when your warm-season grass begins to grow in the warmer weather. Sharpen your mower blades, mow during optimal times, and adjust your mower’s blade height.
Leave your grass at least 5 cm tall to protect your roots and retain moisture. If you've let your lawn grow over the winter period, it may need two passes to mow the right length — although a control lawn mower like the Mowrator S1 4WD can do it in one. Once you're happy with your lawn, remove all clippings and obstacles to prevent damage to your trimmer.
2. Trim the Edges After Mowing
Trimming your edges after mowing helps achieve the clean, perfect lawn look you're after. By mowing your landscape first, your lawn's original line and curves are revealed and help guide your string trimmer. Of course, you can also use a half-moon edger, power edger, or long-handled grass shears instead. Here is the ideal trimming technique for whichever trimming tool you use:
| Trimming Tool | Technique |
|---|---|
| String Trimmer | Tilt head vertically, shield facing you. Walk on the pavement or driveway, trimming from left to right, so the clippings fall back onto the grass. |
| Half-Moon Edger | Forcefully push the blade into the soil with your foot along the edge. Follow the lawn edges carefully. |
| Power Edger | Guide along hard surfaces to create a clean edge. Be careful to avoid damaging the hard surface. |
| Long-Handled Shears | Use for detailed work in tight spaces. Cut along the lawn's edge to create a clean border. It requires regular bending unless it is on an elevated surface. |
3. Remove Grass from Paths
Removing grass from your paths involves manually picking overgrown blades that have grown in your pathway. It's one of the final steps to edge a lawn and is extremely important for creating a cohesive and beautiful back garden. Look along your garden path and find all the grass blades that have sprung between your paving stones or driveway.
If there are only a few blades, you can pull them by hand or use a weeding knife to reach the bed of roots below the blade. Other DIY ways to remove grass from paths without hiring a gardener are using boiling water, vinegar, and herbicide. Only use vinegar and herbicide cautiously, as they can kill nearby plants you did not want to remove.
After removing stray grass blades from your pathway, fill any cracks with sand, sealant, or crack filler to prevent new grass from growing.
4. Use Long-Handled Shears for Flush Edges (Optional)
Use long-handled shears to create a straight edge cut for your lawn. If your half-moon edging tool or trimmer with an edging mode is not delivering the trim you want, shears may help sharpen your lawn's look. Position yourself upright to avoid back strain and align your blade to the path surface. From there, it's as simple as cutting the edge and rotating the blades to edge your garden.
5. Consider Metal Edging to Reduce Lawn Maintenance (Optional)
Metal edging reduces lawn maintenance in the long term by keeping your garden's edges in check. If you can't spare the time to clean up your lawn with an edging mower, installing metal edging is the next best thing. They're low maintenance, durable, and prevent grass and weeds from invading.
While installing metal edging in your lawn is more costly, it can save you time when you mow and trim your grass. Save even more time and effort by using a lawn mower that is fully remote control operated, like the S1 Remote Control Lawn Mower 4WD. This RC lawn mower boasts the power of a gas mower and the precision of a robot mower — shop today.
How to Trim the Lawn Edge FAQs
Should you always mow first when trimming your lawn?
No, mowing before trimming your lawn isn't always the best choice. Many people prefer edging first to make a more straightforward path that they can mow. Others prefer to mow first to ensure they trim the right height and place. How to trim lawn edges depends on your preferences, so choose the best process for you.
What is the fastest way to trim grass?
The fastest way to trim your grass is by mowing in rows. Mowing is quicker than trimming, shearing, and edging your grass, especially when you have a remote-controlled lawn mower like the S1 Remote Control Lawn Mower 4WD. You'll need the right lawn mower to trim your grass the quickest, with factors like power, speed, and battery capacity playing a role in how quickly you can mow an acre.
Back to Top: How to Trim the Lawn Edge | Mow & Trim a Clean Edge Lawn
