How often should I edge my lawn?

Trim the edges every time you mow, and recut the hard edge with a blade edger whenever the grass starts to lap over the concrete. For most Virginia lawns in the growing season that means a trim roughly every week and a blade recut every so often, more often for creeping grasses such as bermudagrass and less for tall fescue. When the grass is dormant, the edge needs little or nothing.

Edging follows mowing

The edge grows as fast as the rest of the lawn, so your mowing schedule sets the edging schedule. Virginia Cooperative Extension's rule is to mow often enough that only one third of the leaf height is removed at any one mowing,^[1] which it puts at probably every five to six days during the active growing season, and every 10 days or less when growth slows down.^[1]

Henrico County's Extension office gives a similar range by how polished you want the lawn: mowing twice a week for a high-quality, manicured cool-season lawn, weekly for regular maintenance, and every 10 to 14 days for a reduced-maintenance lawn.^[2] Whatever rhythm you settle on for mowing, a quick trim along the edges on the same day keeps the line in place.

Two kinds of edging

• The trim. A string trimmer run along the sidewalk, driveway and bed edges at each mowing. It takes minutes and keeps the grass from leaning over the concrete.
• The recut. A blade edger, or a half-moon hand edger on a short walk, run along the seam to cut a clean vertical line again. That is needed when the trim alone no longer holds the line, which happens far more often on a fast creeper than on tall fescue.

Your grass sets the pace

Virginia Tech's turfgrass guide rates bermudagrass as high maintenance during the growing season, primarily because of mowing and edging requirements.^[3] Kentucky bluegrass has aggressive creeping potential from rhizomes,^[3] so it also needs regular recuts. Among warm-season grasses, zoysiagrass has less stem encroachment into beds than bermudagrass and a lower mowing requirement.^[3] And Virginia Tech recommends managing tall fescue as a non-creeping, bunch-type grass,^[3] which is why a fescue edge holds its shape longest.

If you are not sure what you have, see why grass keeps growing into sidewalk cracks, which covers how to tell a creeping grass from a bunch-type one.

Your season sets the rest

Virginia's two kinds of lawn grow at different times. Cool-season grasses perform best in spring and fall in Virginia, while warm-season grasses thrive from mid-spring through mid-fall.^[3] In practice:

• Tall fescue and bluegrass lawns. Edge most in spring and again in fall. Tall fescue can go dormant in the heat of summer unless it is watered,^[2] so edging can ease off then.
• Bermudagrass and zoysia lawns. Edge most from mid-spring through mid-fall. Warm-season grasses are dormant for 4 to 5 months from late fall to early spring,^[3] so winter edging is rarely needed.

A good habit for any lawn is to cut a fresh, crisp line in early spring as growth starts, then hold it with trims through the season.

Signs it is time to recut

• Grass blades lean over the concrete even right after a trim.
• Runners are lying on the slab or poking into the first joint.
• The bare strip along the edge has filled in and the line is wavy.
• Soil and clippings are building up in the seam. Cornell's turf weed guide recommends minimizing soil buildup in cracks, joints and other openings through regular sweeping,^[4] which keeps new grass and weeds from rooting there.

Each time you edge

Recut on the same line rather than a little further into the lawn each time, or the bare strip widens. With a powered edger, Husqvarna's manual says to always wear eye protection and keep children, animals, onlookers and helpers 15 metres (50 feet) away.^[5] Then blow or sweep the clippings back onto the lawn. Prince William County lists grass clippings and leaf litter among the potential sources of illicit discharges to the storm drain system.^[6] For the technique, see how to edge a lawn along a sidewalk.

Stop and call a pro if

• The edge has been lost under thick runners along long stretches and you would rather have it cut back once by a crew.
• Bermudagrass keeps invading beds and cracks despite regular edging, and you want a herbicide program.
• The sidewalk or driveway slabs have heaved or cracked; see whether to repair or replace cracked concrete.

Weighing a service? Read whether edging is worth adding to a weekly lawn service, browse the lawn and landscaping answers, or look up lawn and landscaping businesses around Blacksburg. To have it kept up for you, describe the job once and local businesses quote it.