Not Brick, Not Pavers: The Garden Edging Idea You Can DIY For Less

If you're looking for inexpensive garden edging, you've probably already considered cheap bricks or pavers as a DIY solution. But if you're looking to spend even less, there are plenty of ideas that use free, repurposed, or salvaged materials instead of traditional landscaping materials. One of the best ideas for DIYing a garden border on a budget is to use free glass bottles that you'd otherwise be throwing into the recycling bin or trash.

It's hard to find a cheaper idea for garden edging, and it's basically the same technique as making an eclectic garden edge border from glass jars. Many different types of glass bottles can be repurposed as edging in your yard, whether they're from specialty sodas or craft beers. Although they aren't ideal for stopping turfgrass or giving a backstop for a string trimmer like some tougher types of landscape edging, glass bottles offer a clean visual line and add to your curb appeal.

If they're carefully placed, glass bottles can become an excellent decorative feature, too. Many bottles, especially wine and liquor bottles, come in beautiful colors and shapes, making this a clever way to repurpose wine bottles in your garden. You can even find bottles that are square or rectangular, so they're shaped more like bricks and pavers.

When it comes to using glass bottles as landscape edging, you can mix and match or stick to one type or size. If you treat bottles as the base material, like a brick or paver, you can use them in a variety of ways. For example, they can be mortared in place or stacked in a gabion basket and used as a border. Whether you use clear, brown, or colored glass, the way the light hits it at certain times of day will give your yard a luminous shine that's quite different from plain bricks and pavers.

You can use an old garden hose or string to mark where you want the edging. The basic installation process is to turn the bottle upside down and stick it into the soil, but how you do this depends on the type of mulch you have in place and how soft your soil is. If your soil is soft, you can use a rubber mallet to tap the bottles in. If it's hard and compacted, dig a shallow trench so you can bury the bottles at the height you want. 

Although freezing and thawing may be an issue where you live, some gardeners report using this idea for years without any trouble. You can also place bottles strategically to act as a stylish hose guide to make it easier to pull your hose around when you're watering your plants.