DIY An Eclectic Garden Edge Border From Glass Jars

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You may have used jars in the garden before to attract hummingbirds or as mini greenhouses to protect your seedlings, but if you're hankering after a creative edge in your landscaping, glass jars make great garden edge borders. They're weatherproof, gorgeous to look at, and seem to multiply in dark cupboards. Reusing the extra jars you have on hand is ideal for sustainability, as bigger gardens may need more. Fortunately, you can buy extra jars, like this Esrentle Wide Mouth 32oz Mason Jars, for a couple of dollars each.

Start creating your border by defining the edge of the bed using a spade or a half-moon lawn edger, such as the Colwelt Saw-Tooth Edger Lawn Tool. This gives you a neat edge to work with and helps loosen the soil. Place a jar open-side-down into the fresh trench and press it in firmly. You can choose the depth according to how tall you'd like your border to be. Position the next jar close by, use a rubber mallet to tap the jar into place, and repeat. Pretty soon, your bed will be contained in a shimmery glass wall that gleams in the sunlight. 

While jars can be pretty tough, remember they're not immune to flying stones or the string of a weed wacker. To minimize the risks of shattered glass in your garden, finish off by filling the space between the lawn and the jars with an edging weed mat or a layer of bark mulch.

There are no limits to the fun things you can do with Mason jars in your yard and garden. For garden borders, using jars opens up a world of color and texture. One angle is to use different color jars to highlight the hues of the plants in the bed for an extra pop of vibrancy. As sunlight hits the glass and moves through the day, the soft lighting adds a gentle glow to the leaves and flowers that is simply magical. 

For extra texture, fill the jars with pebbles before securing them in place. The bonus of this technique is that your pebbles will be contained and clean. Replace pebbles with sparkly stones for an ethereal shimmer that works beautifully for dreamy shade gardens. For an extra dash of joy, mix up the shapes and sizes of the jars you're using. If you prefer a touch of order, aim for jars in the same color, such as shades of blue, to edge the beds with a uniform look. 

Jars don't only add color and sparkle, but can also be used to add layers to the structure of your garden. For a gentle terraced effect, plant taller jars to a shallow depth within existing beds. Add soil inside the jars' perimeter to raise your newly edged bed slightly above the existing bed, and add plants and enjoy the combination of textures, colors, and heights.