Cutting in New Beds & Gardens

[AllProLC]

I have been asked to bid a job creating flower beds around the perimeter of a 2 yr old home & also cut in garden area. I am planning on using a sod cutter to create beds. Anyone have other ideas?? Keep in mind the existing yard is fairly new, was seeded, not sodded and still has some void spots in yard.

[C.T. Lawn Care]

you might want to think about renting a bed edger and just edge out the beds they want then use round up to kill the grass. After that put a layer of dirt in because being a new house there is probably no topsoil. Then plant your plants and put mulch in. THats what i would do.

[DoetschOutdoor]

It just depends on how much grass and how thick it is that has to be removed. That much area might be good for the sod cutter. I prefer to spade edge beds but going all the way around a house may call for a bed edger. Try to upsell them on bringing in some good top soil, compost, humus, whatever you want.

[DoetschOutdoor]

It just depends on how much grass and how thick it is that has to be removed. That much area might be good for the sod cutter. I prefer to spade edge beds but going all the way around a house may call for a bed edger. Try to upsell them on bringing in some good top soil, compost, humus, mulch, whatever you want.

[Trenchblade]

Originally Posted by AllProLC

I have been asked to bid a job creating flower beds around the perimeter of a 2 yr old home & also cut in garden area. I am planning on using a sod cutter to create beds. Anyone have other ideas?? Keep in mind the existing yard is fairly new, was seeded, not sodded and still has some void spots in yard.

If you are thinking of renting a bed edger you might want to check out www.trenchblade.com. That thing gives you real consistent flowing bed line, mush cleaner of a line than using a spade shovel. The fact that you can put it on almost and stick edger makes it a lot more maneuverable and and much more cost effective

[AllProLC]

Ordered blades this week from trenchblade. But will now be finishing these beds w/2 courses of decorative stone.

[EJD Lawnpride]

I just got my blades. Now I just need to fix the edger!

[waltonjr1]

Does this trench blade form a deep and wide enough edge for soil and mulch to lay into? It does not look like it from the video. You can't beat a nice deep edge with a spade shovel. We would mark the bed out with paint then form a nice line with a string trimmer then edge the bed out with a spade shovel. If the turf was established we would use a sod cutter and for new construction the sod would peel up most of the time.

[Trenchblade]

Originally Posted by waltonjr1

Does this trench blade form a deep and wide enough edge for soil and mulch to lay into? It does not look like it from the video. You can't beat a nice deep edge with a spade shovel. We would mark the bed out with paint then form a nice line with a string trimmer then edge the bed out with a spade shovel. If the turf was established we would use a sod cutter and for new construction the sod would peel up most of the time.

I'am not sure how deep you guys normally trench but we try not to trench bed lines too deep in case you run your push mower off the edge so it does not scalp your turf. We use a lot of pine straw down here and it works perfect to tuck it into and keep a nice flowing line. How deep do you trench with a shovel ? If you marked the line with paint, why would you edge it with a line trimmer before you trenched it with a shovel. I am trying to be rude, bit it seems like that is an unnecessary step.

[waltonjr1]

Originally Posted by xtramental

I'am not sure how deep you guys normally trench but we try not to trench bed lines too deep in case you run your push mower off the edge so it does not scalp your turf. We use a lot of pine straw down here and it works perfect to tuck it into and keep a nice flowing line. How deep do you trench with a shovel ? If you marked the line with paint, why would you edge it with a line trimmer before you trenched it with a shovel. I am trying to be rude, bit it seems like that is an unnecessary step.

As far as the trenching we would go about 9-10" deep and the width of a spade shovel. When you back fill with topsoil assuming your building your beds up a foot or so the soil would lay up against the edge making a nice line and easy to edge with a trimmer. By the time you mulch and everything settles you only have a couple of inches of depth to the edge. Usually as the bed ages you will develop a flat surface between the bed and the grassline.This just helps in the beginning with containing your mulch from spilling over into the grass. We would not paint the whole bed out only where the curves would be and such then we would make a smooth run with the trimmer. I'm sure there is better ways to do this but it worked for us and it was some time ago. I've been out of the buisness quite awhile so these methods are what im accustomed to, not saying there the best but its all I know. It just did not look to me that the edge blade tool made all that deep of an edge.