Linear measure
How much edging do I need?
Measure around your beds and get linear feet plus how many sections that is at standard lengths.
How the math works
linear feet = perimeter × (1 + waste)
sections = linear feet ÷ section length, rounded up.
Five percent waste covers ordinary cuts and overlaps. Tight curves and many separate beds push it higher, since each separate run has its own two ends.
For a rough sanity check, a circular bed's perimeter is about 3.14 times its diameter, and a square bed's is four times one side. Anything more complicated is worth measuring properly.
Choosing a type
Plastic coil edging is cheapest and easiest, follows curves well, and is the most likely to heave and become visible over a few freeze cycles.
Steel and aluminum edging costs more, holds a crisp line, and stays put. It is the choice where the line itself is the point.
Paver or stone borders double as a mowing strip, letting a wheel run along them so you do not have to trim the edge separately.
Spade-cut trench edging costs nothing but your time and looks excellent, and needs recutting every season.
Whatever the type, depth is what determines whether it holds. Edging that only goes an inch into the soil will not stop grass rhizomes.
Where people get it wrong
- Measuring curves as straight lines
- A curved bed edge is meaningfully longer than the straight distance across it.
- Buying exactly the perimeter
- Ends, overlaps, and cuts consume material. Five percent is a reasonable minimum.
- Setting it too shallow
- Shallow edging heaves and does not stop grass from creeping through underneath.
- Forgetting the stakes
- Most edging systems need stakes at regular intervals, and they are often sold separately.
Background
Edging is bought by the linear foot or in fixed-length sections, and the number you need is the perimeter of whatever you are edging. Curved beds are where estimates go wrong — a curve is always longer than it looks.
What you need for the job
Common questions
How much edging do I need?
The perimeter of your bed plus about 5% for cuts and overlap. Trace the bed on the map tool if the shape is irregular.
How long are edging sections?
Plastic and steel edging commonly comes in 8 foot sections or in coils of 20 to 100 feet.
How deep should landscape edging be?
Deep enough that grass rhizomes cannot travel under it, which usually means several inches of the edging below grade.
What is the best landscape edging?
Steel holds the crispest line and lasts longest. Plastic is cheapest and handles curves. Spade-cut trenches cost nothing and look excellent but need annual recutting.
Do I need edging around mulch beds?
Not strictly, but it keeps mulch in the bed and grass out of it, which reduces maintenance considerably.
Measuring by hand is where estimates go wrong
Trace your beds, driveway, or lawn on satellite imagery and the square footage comes straight from the shape you drew. Subtract the house and driveway, map every project on the property at once, and get one combined order list.
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