How to Keep Grass Out of Flower Beds

Overview

Grass is not a complementary look to any flower bed. To keep your flower bed free of grass invasion, create a trench along the border of your flower bed not only to keep grass out, but keep your flower bed looking sharp and clean. The only cost involved is a simple edging tool or spade, and some manual labor.

Step 1

Remove all grass and weeds from your flower bed, making sure all the roots are removed. This is important to keep pesky grass from showing up again.

Step 2

Create the shape you want to around your flower bed by using your garden hose to draw the outline. Complement your flower bed with curvy, kidney-shaped or straight lines--whichever you prefer. A garden hose is not necessary; you can do this freehand if you like.

Step 3

Dig vertically 6 inches into the ground using a half-moon edging tool or a square spade, following the line of your hose. Take caution to avoid puncturing the hose.

Step 4

Create angled cuts at 45 degrees from the inside of the flower bed to meet the vertical cut in the ground, creating a trench that should be about 4 inches wide.

Step 5

Remove the excess soil from the trench and reinstate it back into the flower bed, provided it is free of any weeds or grass.

Step 6

Recut your trench each year in the spring to maintain its clean edge. Trim the bordering grass by hand if possible.