how vertical edging critically erodes lawns

Complaints

Many client complaints are suspicious and with a bit of time and education you can eliminate many of them. But there is one complaint I totally agree with: lawn erosion from vertical edging.

Now, back in 2000, when I was an eager landscape apprentice, the sweatshop I worked for didn’t allow vertical edging. That’s when instead of using a blade edger for edging lawns, you simply flip your line trimmer on its side and run the edges over.

Why wouldn’t some companies allow this practice? Because the edging isn’t consistent, the engine is in the operator’s face, and rocks and debris can hit your body and face (blade edgers have guards!) .

The biggest drawback

By far the biggest drawback with vertical edging is that the line rarely strikes the lawn edge at a sharp ninety degree angle the way a blade edger does. And before you start thinking that landscape pro Vas is a bit anal about edging, consider the inevitable lawn creep.

As the edger strikes the lawn edges at weird angles, the top edge gets slightly erased. You won’t notice the slow lawn creep but clients who live on site will.

So, after a few seasons of lawn care, or more, there develops a massive gap between say, a lawn and a laurel hedge. And unless you switch to blade edging, the erosion will continue.

Fence line complaint

Imagine a lawn running parallel with a white fence. To vertical edge it, the fence forces you to tilt the engine at a weird angle. Not even close to the required ninety degrees. Fast forward three to five seasons and the owner clearly notices the huge gap between his lawn and fence line. More lawn creep and a legitimate complaint is born. The only solution I see is switching to a blade edger even if you have to purchase spare metal blades and use up work minutes to change attachments.

I love my blade edger!

I could easily compose a love letter to my blade edger. It has a sharp, narrow blade and a metal guard with a rubber flap on the bottom. This is why my skin is still so beautiful in my early 50s.

The metal guard easily sneaks under plants so they don’t get shredded the way they do with line edgers; and the blade can gently reach the end of lawn edges.

But by far the best blade edger feature is its consistency: simply rev the engine, sink the blade in -not too deep!-and go. You should be able to produce clean ninety degree lines all day, every day. Unlike a line edger.

I have yet to hear client complaints about lawn erosion on blade edged sites! I know why.

Case closed.