DIY Garden Edging Ideas - Metal Garden Edging - My Garden

Garden edging was an ESSENTIAL part of our backyard garden makeover - without this metal garden edging I don't think our DIY garden makeover would have been possible!

If we've not meet before - hi, I'm Chloe Thomson an Australian horticulturist, presenter, garden coach and founder of Sprout School. This blog is the details of a very common FAQ I get about the terraced stairs and garden edging we've used in our backyard makeover. Read on for before & after shots and some great video clips of the garden, so you can see how it all fits together. 

We used a garden edging product to construct terrace-like stairs up to a small (9 square metre) lawn and then across to our clothesline space. To transform our backyard space from very unusual to one of my favourite places in the world! 

BTW - another incredibly DIY friendly garden feature, seat or retaining wall option is gabion walls. See how we built gabion walls at our place here.

When planning our backyard makeover we looked at various ways to construct the stairs or terraces - including H beams and sleeper retaining walls. But this option involved a lot of hole digging, concreting and heavy lifting. So when we discovered Straightcurve garden edging in it's various sizes we realised it would be the perfect solution (not sponsored).

The benefit of this flexible corten steel garden edging is its ability to adapt the slope of our very steep space. We also loved the curves and meandering paths it could create, rather than straight lines and square edges. The Flexiline pieces of Straightcurve that we used come straight and you bend them to the shape you want. They were easy enough for me to bend by myself, but also super strong! 

This kind of garden edging does not need to be concreted into place (in our heavy soil - please check their directions if you have very sandy soil) - instead it's held in place with large, long galvanised nails and heavy duty brackets or braces (you can see the brackets on this 400mm high piece that is the edge of our lawn, just near my feet in the image below). 

Here's a walk through garden tour I made back in mid 2020 - when the backyard garden is just 1 year old. If you're new to gardening or want to become a better gardener - did you know I can help you?! I've got an online self-paced course & group coaching program called Sprout School - join at any time and get tailored help for you and your garden!  

Keep scrolling for my top tips on using this kind of garden edging....

My tips on using this kind of garden edging:

#1 - If you're using it to create terracing or stairs - you'll need to calculate the rise and run of the steps. Get an engineer friend (like we did) to help you out or google the calculation steps involved to work it out. 

#2 - If using the edging to create curves, you can use piece of hose laid out on the spot to work out the length of the garden edging you'll need in the space to create the desired curve. Once you've got the hose to the shape you'd like to create, straighten it out and use a measuring tape to measure its overall length. 

#3 - The edging pieces come in lengths that can be joined. Make sure you order / buy the right connection pieces to securely join 2 pieces together. 

#4 - This kind of garden edging comes in different heights - make sure you're choosing the best height for the job! Taller pieces can hold back more soil, but they will require more brackets & bracing systems (also from Straightcurve) but shorter pieces are held in place with simple brackets that you can hammer into the ground easily. 

#5 - This garden edging is VERY DIY friendly and I highly recommend it! Enjoy its creatively! 

Want to see how my garden has grown since the build and majority of planting was completed at the end of 2019? Check out it's feature on Gardening Australia in Feb 2023 - that was filmed in Jan 2022 ;-) 

I hope my garden has given you some DIY garden edging ideas for your space - Happy gardening!

If you like looking at other gardens to be inspired you might like to check out my YOUTUBE CHANNEL - https://www.youtube.com/beantheredugthat here I post a new video fortnightly where I take you behind the garden gate of a private garden to learn and be inspired. See you there! 

If you'd like to be a better AND more confident gardener - ready to tackle your own DIY garden project then check out my self-paced online garden course & group coaching program - Sprout School - for Australian home gardeners & DIY gardeners like you 🌱 

For more FREE gardening tips and tricks follow me on Instagram here - @beantheredugthat