I used Permaloc's YardEdge aluminum edging, hoping for a clean / simplistic / professional look. Plus it won't rust and is 100% recyclable. This is not an advertisement. Had I not had clay soil it would've taken 4 hours, but I had to dig the trenches wider than I'd anticipated since the clay didn't give, and to make the edging look the best, 'tis important to let it bend a little the way it wants. Still, it's super easy to bend to your will. Super easy to install (who wants to see that black plastic coiled crap tortured the way it tortures you?). And if you prefer these attributes 'o' ease over price--think I bought 100 feet for around $250 last summer by contacting them directly--then you're golden. Speaking of which, I need another box to do the front, only have 18' left. Pointless info. Pointless.
All you have to do to install this stuff is slide two sections together via pre cut grooves and hammer down two stakes per section. And, hopefully, once the grass grows in, it won't look like you live on a farm and used cut up pig troughs as edging, like in my yard--the point of this type of edging is, of course, just to see the very top edge of 1/8" thick aluminum spacing the grass and mulch. Some day.
And please ignore the fact that the curves aren't perfect--they do get perfect toward the end, along the house's foundation bed, where the cat is watching me work, and where I got the hang of it; still, if you want to cheat a little after you've staked it in, it's easy enough to take wads of clay and force them against the edging, thus tweaking its bends and making it appear you knew what you were doing. In spots. Not everywhere.
