Now is an excellent time to clean up and spade edge your planting beds.

The ground is still soft from the winter rains and snow we had here in the St. Louis metro area, which makes spade edging a snap. After the winter, many of your beds will have begun to look something like this, especially if they haven’t been edged in a while (or ever!) This certainly doesn’t look pretty. Everything is completely overgrown and the soil is the same height as the lawn. Spade edging can fix this.

How to cut pro edges for your flower beds

First, cut a fresh edge on the grass side of your flowerbed with a half moon edger. Basically as if you are cutting a cake.

Second, scoop out the cut chunks of turf. Beat as much of the soil off as you can, then flip the clumps upside sown. That way the grass will die and turn into mulch/soil. If you leave it right side up, you could grew another new chunk of the lawn in the compost! Then mound soil away from trench, and trim.

Trench your soil on the side of the cut, then hill it upwards. The trench then creates a place for water to drain and soil to fall, so you can retain that sharp line throughout the season. Visually this also creates a shadow to give your beds a nice, clean look.

With hand held clippers, trim your grassy edges horizontally and vertically for a nice sharp haircut., to create a 90 degree angle. You can do this with a weed wacker upside down too, but you won’t have such a quality edge this way. It’s like using a steak knife to give yourself a haircut! With these steps you can have beautiful, clearly defined flower beds for the rest of the year!

In addition, when the soil temperature reaches 40 degrees – which it will very soon depending on the year – this is the time of year to fertilize trees and shrubs before new growth begins for the season, for healthy and nutrient rich plants throughout your outdoor spaces.

So head out and imagine all of the new possibilities this year with new plantings, all kinds of design changes, patios, arbors, gazebos, water features, landscape lighting; the full list of things we offer that can make your home and property look better than ever before!

So now is the time to contact your St. Louis landscape professional for scheduling your spring maintenance or your landscape installation for this year.

We are your premier St. Louis landscaping service throughout the metro area, providing expert landscaping consultation in Wildwood and Ladue, down to Sunset Hills and Webster, and everywhere around and in between!

No matter your landscaping needs – plant installations, low voltage landscape lighting, patios and decks, and so much more – give us a call at (636) 225-3848 and we can help!