The side yard of our house has a sloped garden raised about two feet up from the walkway. The previous owner planted a citrus tree here, but not much else in the way of ground cover like grass, bushes, or flowers. Since the slope is mostly barren, dirt slides down the hill and onto our walkway when the sprinklers run. This regular hillside erosion causes the walkway to be constantly muddy and we’re worried about damage to the brick from the piles of caked-up dirt that sit on it for long periods.
To combat this, I installed garden landscape edging along the brick as a temporary solution. Why a temporary solution you ask? Well, we’re not sure we want to keep the garden bed in the side yard. We’re currently planning to overhaul our backyard, and part of those plans may be completely removing the garden bed. As a result, we didn’t want to spend the time and money to implement a more long-term solution. So, until we decide what to do, the edging will help prevent further mud damage to the brick and keep the walkway clear.
NOTE: If you have hillside erosion problems, and want a more permanent fix, there are long-term solutions to the problem. These include: planting ground cover plants to help hold the soil in place, installing a tiered planting bed system, or using an erosion control blanket.
MATERIALS
| MATERIALS NEEDED |
| Garden Landscape Edging |
| Hand Trowel |
| Hand Hoe |
| Measuring Tool (like a ruler or tape measure) |
| Metal Shears (if you want to cut the material, I did not need to cut it) |
| Garden or Work Gloves |
| Rubber Mallet |
| Plywood Scraps |
TIME COMMITMENT
| ACTIVE TIME: 2.5 – 3.5 hours It will vary based on the length of the area where you’re trying to install the edging. I installed about 30 feet of edging. |
| 2-3 hours to dig the trench |
| 30 minutes to install the edging |
| TOTAL TIME: 2.5 – 3.5 hours |
STEP BY STEP
STEP 1 – DIG OUT A TRENCH
The first step to installing the garden landscape edging barrier is to dig out a trench.
To dig the trench, start with loosening up the dirt. Walk along the entire length where you want to install the edging and dig up small holes with the hand trowel.
Then use the hand hoe to create a trench. As the dirt piles up, remove it from the trench using the hand trowel. Place the removed dirt on the hillside slightly above the trench, you’ll want to use this dirt to backfill the hole later.
Measure the depth of the trench as you go to ensure you’ve removed enough dirt. The edging I bought was 10” deep, and I wanted 6” to rise above the brick. So I dug my trench to be 4” deep. That said, feel free to adjust the measurements as you see fit. My hand trowel has measurements on it which made it easy to see how much dirt I had removed, but you can use a ruler to measure if yours does not.
Continue this process until the trench spans the full length where the barrier will go.
STEP 2 – LAY OUT THE GARDEN LANDSCAPE EDGING
Once you have a trench along the entire area at the desired depth, it’s time to place the garden landscape edging. Unroll the edging and lay it along the length of the trench. If it’s too long, use metal shears to cut it to a shorter length.
I needed to cover about 30’ so I purchased two 20’ edging pieces. Rather than cut mine, I opted to simply overlap the two pieces for about 10’.
Now that the garden landscape edging’s length is correct, stand it up into the trench. It will be falling over but that’s okay, as we’ll fix that in the next step.
STEP 3 – INSTALL THE GARDEN LANDSCAPE EDGING
The installation will start at one end of the garden edging and move down its length to the other end. So, pick one end of the barrier as the starting end.
NOTE: To better manage our hillside erosion and stop dirt from overtaking the sidewalk, I decided to create a corner with the landscape edging starting it about a foot up the hill. This way when the sprinklers run the water is better contained and it is harder for water and mud to leak out onto the sidewalk.
Hold a small section of the garden landscape edging flush against the brick wall and use a scrap piece of plywood and a rubber mallet to pound the edging into the dirt. Since the edging is already in a trench, it only needs to go about ½” lower into the dirt during this process.
To help hold the barrier tight against the brick during installation, I used a second piece of scrap wood that I stuck in the trench to assist in supporting the edging. To make it even easier, you could also install the edging with a second person, tasking them with keeping the edging in the correct location.
Once you’ve pounded a small section of the garden edging into the dirt, backfill that section of the trench with the dirt you removed earlier.
Continue moving along the barrier until the entire length of the edging has been pounded and backfilled.
STEP 4 – TEST IT OUT
After the installation, run the sprinklers to see if the barrier holds up.
When I ran our sprinklers, some water pooled at the barrier, but I was excited to see that it was nowhere near spilling over the top! Now that the edging is installed, the dirt will pool at its base instead of on the brick, but we want to ensure it doesn’t pool too high. So, we plan to check the barrier every few months, shovel out the dirt, and toss it back on the hillside if it seems like it’s getting too close to the edge. I’ll keep you updated, but it appears this temporary fix will help manage the hillside erosion damage for now!
Next up, I need to clean up all the dirt that’s stuck on the bricks and sidewalks. Power washer here I come!
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