2x Lumber Garden Edging: What Holds It in Place (and What Doesn’t)

If you're planning to use 2x dimensional lumber as garden edging, you've probably had a lot of advice come your way about how to hold it in place.

Just use rebar.

Just screw it together.

Just dig a trench and use stakes.

These are common installation methods, but they're often borrowed from other types of landscape construction that have different requirements than narrow 2x lumber set directly on the ground.

This guide looks specifically at four fastening options - rebar, wooden stakes, screws and hardware, and 2xEDGE staples, explains what each approach is designed to do, and where limitations can show up over time.

What It Means to "Hold" 2x Lumber Garden Edging in Place

For garden edging, "holding" doesn't just mean keeping the lumber from popping up. It also means resisting:

• gradual sideways movement;
• freeze-thaw cycles that loosen compacted soil;
• expansion and contraction of wood;
• pressure from mulch, soil, roots, and foot traffic.

Most edging failures don't happen suddenly; they happen slowly until movement above-ground becomes visible.

Understanding how an installation method interacts with both the wood and the ground is what determines whether it holds up long term.

Rebar (Best Suited for Wide-Format Landscape Timbers)

Rebar is often suggested for garden edging installations because it's strong, rigid, and familiar - especially to people who have built retaining walls, timber borders, or structural landscape features. In the right application, rebar can work well. 

Rebar is commonly used with large format lumber where it functions as a pin that locks thick material to the ground:

• 4x4, 4x6, and 6x6 posts;
• landscape timbers;
• railroad ties.

These materials are extra thick and can handle having a large-diameter hole - typically a 1/2-inch wide hole for standard #4 rebar - drilled into them without compromising the strength of the wood.

Rebar installed in 2x lumber

2x lumber is 1-1/2 inches thick. Drilling a hole large enough through it for rebar to fit in removes a significant portion of the wood. Over time, this can lead to:

• moisture trapped inside the hole;
• rot developing from the inside of the lumber;
• progressive loosening of the rebar's grip as wood fibers break down;
• wobble as the hole enlarges and the lumber weakens.

In practice, rebar isn't designed to install narrow lumber profiles as garden edging.

Rebar installed alongside lumber

Rebar is also used to install lumber by driving it into the ground next to the lumber and attaching it to the lumber with hardware, typically screws and brackets.

In this configuration rebar behaves like an external wood stake which carries the same tradeoffs as other staking methods which are covered next.

Bottom line: Rebar is a strong, proven solution for wide-format landscape edging and other outdoor construction. But with 2x lumber installed on edge, large holes drilled through the lumber removes a significant amount of wood material, weakening the lumber and making it vulnerable to rot.

Wooden Stakes and Buried Posts

When people say "use stakes," they are often referring to wooden stakes or vertical posts, a method that has been around for decades and appears in many older landscape guides.

How this method is typically installed

Common variations include:

• driving wooden stakes into the ground alongside the edging lumber and fastening them to the lumber with exterior screws;
• digging holes, setting short vertical posts in the holes, backfilling and compacting soil around the posts, and screwing lumber to the buried posts.

From a carpentry standpoint, this approach makes intuitive sense: vertical supports carry load, horizontal lumber stays aligned.

What wooden stakes and posts do well

• use readily available materials;
• provide strong vertical resistance;
• work with thicker, heavier, and taller borders.

For heavier borders or raised structures, this method can be effective.

Where problems tend to show up

For low-profile garden edging, issues often emerge over time:

• Soil movement works its way into the screws - The edging lumber and the buried stake don't move the same way over time. As the ground shifts, the screws act like small hinges and the connection gradually loosens.
• Buried wood deteriorates faster - Posts are in constant contact with moist soil on multiple sides. Rot often starts below grade where it isn't visible until the edging begins to fail.
• Small alignment changes add up - A little movement in one stake can throw off long runs of edging, making straight lines start to wander or lean.
• Fixes usually require digging - Once posts are buried, correcting movement isn't a simple adjustment - it means excavating around the stake and resetting or replacing it.

Bottom line: Wooden stakes and buried posts can work, especially for heavier borders, but when used with 2x lumber installed on edge, they depend on rigid connections in soil conditions that are constantly changing. This set-up makes long-term alignment harder to maintain and adjustments more involved.

Screws, Nails, Brackets, and Lumber-to-Lumber Fastening

Another common suggestion is to screw or nail lumber together, treating garden edging like a framed structure - an approach focused on keeping the lumber aligned with itself.

Common approaches

• screwing butt joints together;
• using L-brackets at corners;
• using straight brackets at seams;
• nailing boards together to form a rigid frame.

Screws vs nails (quick reality check)

Nails are sometimes used because they're fast and inexpensive, but they tend to perform worse than screws in this application.

Nails stay in place because the surrounding wood grips the nail. Outdoors, as the wood and ground swell, shrink, and shift over time, that grip gradually weakens, allowing nails to loosen or work their way out.

Screws hold more securely because they cut threads into the wood helping them to resist backing out as conditions change.

Ironically, that added holding power can become part of the problem. When the edging and soil move, rigid screw connections give that movement nowhere to go, so stress concentrates at joints and fasteners instead of being absorbed gradually.

Core limitations of this approach

Screws, nails, and brackets rely on multiple penetrations through the lumber to do their job. In narrow 2x lumber installed on edge, each fastener requires a hole that exposes the interior of the wood to moisture.

Over time, those penetrations become entry points for water. As the wood swells, shrinks, and stays damp around the fasteners, deterioration often begins at the holes themselves. Once the surrounding wood weakens, screws and nails lose their grip - not because the fastener failed, but because the wood holding it did.

This problem compounds quickly. Corners, seams, and bracketed joints typically require the highest concentration of fasteners, which also makes them the first places where loosening and visible failure show up.

A secondary limitation is that screws and hardware are designed to hold lumber to lumber, not lumber to the ground. While they keep pieces of lumber aligned with each other, they don't provide resistance to soil movement.

When the ground shifts, the edging has nothing interacting directly with the soil. Instead of small, local adjustments, movement tends to transfer across the entire assembly.

As a result:

• fastener holes gradually enlarge or soften as the surrounding wood deteriorates;
• corners and seams loosen first, often opening gaps or pulling out of square;
• long runs can drift as a unit, requiring repeated tightening or partial disassembly to correct.

Bottom line: Screws, nails, and brackets solve connection problems, but they do so by putting a lot of holes into the lumber. Over time, moisture and deterioration at those penetrations undermine the connection. This approach doesn't anchor the edging to the ground. Because soil movement is inevitable the entire assembly suffers from loosening joints, opened seams, and ongoing re-alignment.

2xEDGE Staples: A Different Way to Anchor 2x Lumber on Edge

A newer approach to securing 2x lumber as garden edging shifts away from drilling holes through the wood or relying on vertical posts, pins, or lumber-to-lumber connections. Instead, 2xEDGE Staples restrain lumber by anchoring it to the ground externally.

In real gardens, the question isn't whether movement will happen, but how an edging system responds when it does. (For more on this read: Why Does My Wood Garden Edging Keep Moving? (Common Causes & How to Spot Them.)

Because soil conditions will change over time, the 2xEDGE Staples approach is designed to avoid the most damaging consequences of that movement - enlarged holes, stressed fasteners inside the lumber, or buried components that require excavation to fix - and to keep any adjustments visible and manageable.

What the 2xEDGE approach is designed to do

This approach is designed to avoid the most common long-term failure modes that show up with narrow lumber edging:

• holes drilled through the lumber allow moisture in and weaken wood;
• buried wood stakes deteriorate below grade;
• corrections require digging out parts of the installation.

By anchoring from the outside rather than piercing through or burying the lumber, the wood stays intact. This makes installation straightforward and future adjustments possible without digging.

📌Installation Details Learn how 2x garden edging can be set up to allow for future adjustment. Check out: "How to Install Landscape & Garden Edging That Stays Put".

What 2xEDGE does well

When you're installing 2x lumber on edge, this approach has some practical advantages:

• no holes through the wood - the board stays intact;
• no buried pieces of lumber - everything remains accessible;
• simple installation - no trenching, drilling, or post-setting;
• straightforward maintenance - if a staple lifts, you can reset it without dismantling your edging.

What 2xEDGE does not do

Staples, lumber, and the ground can respond differently to moisture and temperature changes throughout the year. With the 2xEDGE approach, when movement shows up it's typically visible and fixable, rather than hidden inside the wood or below grade.

Bottom line: By keeping the lumber intact and avoiding fasteners that penetrate and inevitably weaken wood over time, this approach reduces the hidden damage that often forces a full re-do. When movement shows up, corrections are more likely to be straightforward resets rather than tear-outs and rebuilds.

Choosing the Right Fastening Method

Each method has a place. The key is matching the method to the job.

• Use rebar when working with wide-format timbers like 4x4 posts or railroad ties.
• Use wooden stakes or posts for heavier, taller borders where excavation is acceptable.
• Use screws, nails, and brackets to keep lumber aligned, not anchored.
• Use staples when installing 2x lumber on edge and keeping it free of holes and secured to the ground matters.

If you're planning a 2x lumber edging project, this calculator can help you estimate how many 2xEDGE Staples you'll need based on your layout.

At a Glance: What Holds 2x Lumber Garden Edging in Place?

Method	Best fit for	Common issues over time	What fixes usually look like
Rebar	Wide-format materials (4x4 posts, landscape timbers, railroad ties)	Requires large drilled holes; holes invite moisture and can lead to rot and loosening in narrow 2x lumber	Often involves replacing weakened sections or redoing the attachment
Wooden stakes / buried posts	Heavier or taller borders where excavation is acceptable	Buried wood deteriorates below grade; screw joints loosen as soil shifts; alignment drift can compound	Digging to reset or replace posts; re-squaring long runs
Screws, nails, brackets	Keeping lumber aligned at corners, seams, and joints (connection)	Doesn’t anchor to the ground; whole runs can drift; corners/seams loosen first; rigid joints take stress	Re-aligning joints, tightening/replacing fasteners, sometimes partial disassembly
2xEDGE Staples	2x lumber installed on edge (up to 2x6) where avoiding holes and buried components matters	Movement can still occur as soil conditions change; issues tend to be visible (e.g., staples lifting)	Typically a straightforward reset rather than excavation or rebuilding

So, Now You Know

There are a number of reasons why wood edging can fail. One common reason is the fastening method used.

Once you understand how different fastening approaches interact with 2x lumber and the ground, the tradeoffs become clearer.

While matching the fastening strategy to the lumber profile and soil conditions doesn't eliminate movement, it does make the outcome more predictable and maintenance more manageable.

Related Reading

• Why Does My Wood Garden Edging Keep Moving? (Common Causes & How to Spot Them)
• Garden Edging with Two-by (2x) Lumber: The Complete Guide
• How to Install Landscape & Garden Edging That Stays Put