Welcome back to the Border Magic of Lake and Orange Counties blog! This is the second part of an ongoing series we have on various types of edging materials that you can use in your garden or on your lawn. Today we will be discussing metal edging and all the benefits and potential drawbacks for what this material will have for your home. Remember, your local lawn border experts here at Border Magic know a thing or two about installing and maintaining edging on your lawn, so we will always be able to help with any of your needs.
Metal Edging Benefits
Edging your lawn is a very important step in making sure that your home’s garden and lawn look really well maintained. After all, even if you cut your grass on a regular basis, if mulch is encroaching upon the grass, then it will not look maintained at all. While there are a ton of different edging types out there, we recommend metal to a lot of our customers and here’s why!
Durability
One of the reasons why we love metal edging is because of how long it lasts. While you can expect a lot of different materials to begin to show issues with aging within a few years of installation, metal will keep going for years and years to come. While it may show small signs of rust many people tend to agree that it adds a bit of personality to the edging that other materials will tend to lack. You can expect it to last 10+ years before you have to think about replacing it and that is only if you don’t want the rusty look that typically comes with age.
It Will Stand Strong Against Dirt And Mulch
With certain types of materials when they start breaking down it begins to let dirt seep into the small cracks and holes within it. Metal will not allow this to happen. This is because unless the metal is so old that the rust has begun to create holes in it, it will be able to keep all of that at bay.
As different types of weather roll through, the earth will consistently shift. This is part of the reason why you need something strong to protect your garden or lawn. Metal is great because it will hold strong against that shifting. Over time, it may bend a little bit to combat that need but it will never let the dirt or mulch overcome it.
Easy To Shape
The type of metal that is typically used when it comes to edging materials is malleable enough to be placed in whatever ways that you want or need. This means that if you want to make your garden more square or rounded, it is extremely easy to do that as the metal will bend and shape to what you want. This is also great if you decide that you want to change how your garden is shaped in the future because you won’t have to get new materials!
Maintenance Free
With certain types of edging you may have to pay to maintain it once or twice a year. This is especially common with wood or plastic. Luckily, metal does not require you to maintain it at all. Once it is put in place, it is going to stay there until you decide to pull it up. This makes it an extremely easy type of material to put down on your lawn because it will allow you to maintain the exact look that you want for years to come.
It Will Always Be In Style
Metal next to a natural area like a garden has always been a go-to for aesthetic purposes. The way that the man-made material contrasts the natural beauty that nature has given us allows for those flowers and greenery to really pop against it. You can rest assured that when you use metal for your edging needs that it will be a style that it will still look good years down the line.
Drawbacks
While there are a lot of benefits to metal edging, just like everything else, there are a few downsides that you might have to contend with. While our Border Magic of Orange and Lake Counties think that these cons are outweighed by the pros of this material, you may not think so. Here are some of the drawbacks of metal edging.
Cost
Metal edging, depending on the quality of the metal, can be quite costly to the consumer. We, of course, recommend that when you are doing a project like this that you shouldn’t try and cut costs. Metal is no different. While you can buy untreated steel for as low as a dollar per square foot, we simply can’t recommend that. Untreated steel will begin to break down and rust prematurely in comparison to regular steel. While metal, even untreated steel, can last quite a long time, it will still break down eventually.
We recommend going with at least the middle tier of metal products which costs at least four dollars per square foot on average. When you are edging your lawn, that can quickly begin to add up which is sometimes hard to swallow. While we think the price to quality ratio is quite good, you may find it to be a bit much which is completely understandable.
Rust
While we mentioned the aesthetic look of rust as being a pro, we also understand that some people don’t find that look appealing. With metal edging, it is not a question of if it will rust, it is a question of when. Even the highest quality steel will still begin to rust when exposed to the elements that each season throws at it. While you typically won’t see rust start to form for a while after this metal has been installed, if it is a particularly rainy season, it could begin to rust as early as two to three years after the installation process. So if you are not particularly excited about the idea of that happening then metal is not the ideal edging material for you.
Contact us!
Here at Border Magic of Lake and Orange counties, we are proud of all of our border edging work. We pride ourselves on creating and crafting the exact look that you want to get out of all of your lawn edging needs. In our next blog post, we will be discussing the pros and cons of plastic edging material so make sure to check back soon. Remember your border edging dreams can be made a reality by simply contacting us today!