By Gene and Katie Hamilton

Your lawn may be a healthy green and your garden beds full of thriving, colorful plants, but if the total landscape isn't manicured, it looks messy. By manicured we mean a crisp edging that defines the flower beds and sets them off from the lawn. Landscape edging comes in many shapes and forms, from ground level rubber and metal strips to above-ground decorative pavers, and all are designed to separate grass from garden and keep creepers in their place.

YardEdge is an aluminum edging material you often see in public spaces and gardens, and it looks good in home landscapes, too. We found it sold online and at lawn and garden centers. The material comes in a pack of four 6-foot-long green edging pieces with interlocking stakes. A landscaper will charge $237 to prepare the soil and install 40 feet of aluminum edging, which includes labor and material. You can do the job for $100

Read Olyola's description about Landscape Edging/Lawn Edging.

For the best results, lay out the job with a long rope or garden hose so you'll have a guideline to follow. Then dig a 5-inch deep trench for the edging, removing any weeds and saving the excess soil until later. The edging pieces snap together; assemble them as you make your way around the garden and press them into the soil. Stakes are designed to fit into the edging to anchor it; pound them into the soil with a hammer. You need a hacksaw to custom-cut the aluminum to fit. The final step is to use the excess soil to backfill around the edging, smoothing the surface of the soil.

To find a landscape contractor who has the skills and tools to do it right, click Home Advisor, a free referral service that connects homeowners with local contractors.

The average price to edge a garden bed noted above is cost data to compare a contractor’s estimate with doing it yourself. Tweak the data by adding your ZIP Code to find a local cost.

Improvement and Repair Cost Updated 2019

The cost and time data is generated by averaging labor and material data from annually updated cost books used by contractors and refined by the authors' experience remodeling 13 houses. They are authors of 20 home improvement books and Do It Yourself or Not, a weekly column syndicated by Tribune Content Agency. The national cost can be adjusted by ZIP Code.