Step 6: Install the edging

Installing the edging
Photo: Kolin Smith
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Make a template (spreader bar) to hold the two parallel lengths of edging lined up at an even 3-foot distance apart: Take a scrap of 2x3 and cut into it two grooves spaced 3 feet apart. Make sure the cuts are wide enough and deep enough to slide over the galvanized-steel edging.

Join together two lengths of edging following the manufacturer's instructions. Line the inside of the trench with the edging pieces, resting them on top of the landscape fabric. Slide the 2x3 template onto each piece of edging across the first section of path. Using a wood block and a hammer, tap the edging into the ground, through the fabric.

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    Tools List

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    • square spade
      Square spade
    • metal garden rake
      Steel rake
    • tamper
      Tamper
    • utility knife
      Utility knife
    • hammer
      Hammer and block

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    Shopping List

    EDGING: Three-inch edging is tall enough to contain a path with a couple of inches of stone. To line both sides of the path, you'll need enough edging to equal twice its length.

    GRAVEL: Most home centers carry gravel in bags of ½ or 1 cubic foot. Buying stone in bulk from a landscape center or stone yard is a better option for longer paths. For a 2-inch-deep layer of stone, you'll need about 5 cubic feet for every 10 feet of length on a 3-foot-wide path. View our gravel gallery, The Stone Yard.

    STONE PACK: Stone dust mixed with crushed ¾-inch stones. Because it gets tamped down, you'll need more pack than gravel—2 ½ inches to compact to 2 inches, or about 6 or 7 cubic feet to cover every 10 feet of path.

    LANDSCAPE FABRIC: A shiny black woven nylon that keeps weeds from coming up through the gravel and keeps the gravel from settling into the stone pack, landscape fabric comes in 3-foot-wide rolls.