Updated on Sep. 27, 2024
Whether you're going for a professionally-landscaped look or doing a quick clean-up before those summer graduation parties and backyard BBQs, you'll find the best lawn edger for your needs on this list. All these have four-star ratings or higher.
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You love your lawn. It’s one of the first things people see when looking at your house, and it’s the place you go to wind down and relax in the warmer months of the year. And you probably want to ensure it looks as good and remains as healthy as possible. Obviously, that means you’ve got to keep it trimmed with your lawnmower of choice. But lawn care doesn’t start and end with a mow.
To have your lawn looking its best, you’ll also want to pay attention to where it starts and ends—we’re talking about the edges. Cleaning up those edges can make your lawn look great and help it stay healthy. But if you want to do it right, you will need one of the best lawn edgers and/or trenches. Lucky for you, we’ve rounded them up—alongside some helpful info about what they are and how they work—to keep your lawn looking its best all year long.
via amazon.com
The Worx 2-in-1 Cordless 12-inch grass trimmer/edger costs less than $150 and earned a 4.5-star rating on Amazon. It features dual-position wheels, two cordless max Lithium batteries and a two-hour dual charger. This tool easily converts from a trimmer to an in-line edger in seconds with no tools required. Its ergonomic design features a quick release lever for fast telescoping height adjustments and a 90-degree tilting shaft to tackle any terrain and whatever garden and lawn edging ideas you’ve got at your house.
We reviewed this trimmer in 2022 and really liked how easy to use it was for a small yard. It’s not powerful enough to handle a large yard on a single charge, but with two batteries, you can keep it running without having to pause while it recharges. The Worx trimmer also isn’t going to handle heavy duty weeds, like overgrown thistle, so if you’ve really let things go, you might have to start with a heavier duty trimmer or mower to tame the weeds again.
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via amazon.com
One thing to consider when searching for the best lawn edger is motor power. Can it handle your landscape? The high-powered motor on this versatile electric lawn edger helps you cut through weeds and overgrowth as well as create a clean-cut trench. It converts from a lawn edger to a trencher with ease and has a three-position blade depth adjustment, making it a great tool for a variety of lawncare projects. It comes with a built-in cord retention compartment and a heavy-duty Black & Decker replacement blade.
via amazon.com
This Craftsman edger is a great tool to put the finishing touch on your lawn. The four-cycle no-mix gas-and-oil engine is mounted on a steel frame. It features a nine-inch dual-tip steel blade that can cut up to 1-3/4-in. deep, providing a clean edge along driveways and sidewalks. This edger can be raised and lowered with six height positions, and has a simple two-step starting system so you can just prime and pull. Its ergonomically-designed handle with throttle and idle controls permits easy operation.
via amazon.com
The Garden Weasel Edge Chopper is the best lawn edger to create sculpted edges for gardens, patios, driveways or curbs. It can cleanly separate flowers, shrubs or ground cover areas from lawns, which is helpful for keeping mulch in and grass out of your beds. And it can be used in the wintertime to help break up ice.
One Amazon reviewer said, “It’s everything it’s advertised to do, but the most important part is that your foot goes right over the middle of the blade, making it almost effortless to create a shoveled edge around a mulch patch.”
via Amazon.com
The Fiskars Steel Garden Spade has a 4.7 star rating on Amazon, which is no surprise for such a versatile piece of equipment. It features a 46-in. solid steel D-handle that gives you secure two-handed control when using it. This garden spade is perfect for landscape edging and cutting trenches. You can even use it to install irrigation and low-voltage lighting lines.
One Amazon reviewer said, “The Fiskars helped me edge my lawn into an attractive landscape design. The shovel is lightweight, cuts through all the roots I encountered, and creates a nice straight border edge.”
via amazon.com
This Seymore Rotary Edger is lightweight and simplistic in design. It has dual wheels and 6-in. zinc rotary blades. This four-star rated edger features self-sharpening blades, which are mounted on ribbed rubber tires for superior cutting power.
Said one Amazon reviewer: “This one does the job nicely, it could use some more weight. Nice clean cut with not too much effort.”
With a rating of 4.4 stars, this Black & Decker trimmer/edger has two speeds and easily converts from a trimmer to a wheeled edger. It has an automatic feed spool and a power drive transmission for increased torque. It is light and easy to maneuver, with an adjustable soft-grip handle to help you maintain a healthy, beautiful lawn.
One satisfied Amazon reviewer said, “Far exceeded my expectation. So much better than gas trimmer in reliability, low noise and ease of use. The wheel guides me to cut straight and true. I bought a generic four amp hour battery and they work together flawlessly.”
As is the case with most gardening and yardwork tools, there are numerous things to consider when buying a lawn edger and trencher. Here are the most important factors to keep in mind:
The larger your yard, the larger the job. Manual lawn edgers are better for smaller jobs, especially for those looking to save some money, but they don’t scale well to larger projects. If you have a lot of land, you may be better off with a stick or even a walk-behind option, as these ones require less manual labor and can be a lot more efficient. That being said, this is also a trade-off between price and both efficiency and ease of use.
Many edgers and trenches these days have an adjustable depth, but some may require a little extra work and practice (like manual options) to get the right depth. You want to make sure you’re getting down a couple of inches below the soil to get past the grass and thatch layer but not so deep that you’re wasting time and effort (and potentially increasing the risk of erosion or hitting other things below the surface you don’t want to hit, like plumbing).
I started researching this guide by familiarizing myself with the types of lawn edgers and trenches before narrowing down the search via reputable, popular brands and their offerings. Then, I took into account professional testing, as well as customer feedback, to help narrow down a better, more focused collection. Finally, I settled on a final list offering a range of lawn edgers and trenches that are highly respected, -reviewed, and meet a variety of different styles and budgetary needs.
When not working as the executive editor for Family Handyman, Ryan Van Bibber is probably working on some DIY project or another around his home—just like he has his entire life (thanks in no small part to having a carpenter and general contractor for a father). He is also intimately familiar with around-the-house projects—including yardwork, like lawn edging—and has even fully renovated two homes. It’s this unique combination of personal and professional experience that allows him to be a reliable source of info on all measures of home improvement tools, including lawn edgers and trenchers.
The range is usually between 2 and 8 inches, with the average around 3 to 5. Before buying, you can usually check the depth of an edger (and whether it’s adjustable) from the specs.
You should mow the lawn first. This will eliminate any overgrown grass and make it easier to get your edger tool into the soil below your lawn.
Unlike mowing, edging requires less frequency. You can usually do it just a couple of times a year—once in early summer and once in late summer—whereas you might mow your lawn every couple of weeks.
Unless the instructions say otherwise, you should always push your lawn edger. This will increase its effectiveness, efficiency and even safety.
