Brick garden edging

[Spencer74]

I need to lay a single line of bricks along the edge of my lawn area with garden bed on the other side.

Seems simple enough - but is there more to it than getting them in a straight line and at the right height?

Should I be bedding them into mortar? Any tips before I hook in?

Thanks

[Chumley]

Hi Spencer,

Had the same deal a few years ago - you can approach this on several levels.

First you could simply dig a shallow trench and bury the bricks so that the top of the bricks is the same height as the base of the grass - gives you a mow strip, does the basic separation, is simple to do, but the grass will make a mess of it over time growing between the bricks (did this first time around), and the garden bed will tend to spill over onto the grass if you add mulch/chips/whatever and/or have kids/dogs running around.

Then you could do the same and mortar the bricks in place - more solid, better barrier for the grass, but same problems with the other stuff above.

What I ended up doing was digging a trench about 100mm deep and twice the width of a single brick, filled this with concrete (no need to get carried away with the strength of the mix, so could be more mortarish than concrete), then laid the single row of bricks on the garded bed side of the concrete strip. The still gave me a mowing strip, the extra height meant the garden bed had more height to play with before spilling over and the mortar made the whole thing nice and solid.

In hindsight I would have put 2 layers of bricks in as a couple of the bricks worked loose - both were at corners were people hit them with shoes/bikes/wheelbarrows/etc - figure a second layer would have added strength.

I was very happy with the result. I tied it into a small retainer wall at one end and a low curved wall at the other that bordered a concrete slab with a 'sports wall' for the kids. It was more work than I thought but worth it in the end.

Cheers,
Adam

[Spencer74]

Hi Spencer,

Had the same deal a few years ago - you can approach this on several levels.

First you could simply dig a shallow trench and bury the bricks so that the top of the bricks is the same height as the base of the grass - gives you a mow strip, does the basic separation, is simple to do, but the grass will make a mess of it over time growing between the bricks (did this first time around), and the garden bed will tend to spill over onto the grass if you add mulch/chips/whatever and/or have kids/dogs running around.

Then you could do the same and mortar the bricks in place - more solid, better barrier for the grass, but same problems with the other stuff above.

What I ended up doing was digging a trench about 100mm deep and twice the width of a single brick, filled this with concrete (no need to get carried away with the strength of the mix, so could be more mortarish than concrete), then laid the single row of bricks on the garded bed side of the concrete strip. The still gave me a mowing strip, the extra height meant the garden bed had more height to play with before spilling over and the mortar made the whole thing nice and solid.

In hindsight I would have put 2 layers of bricks in as a couple of the bricks worked loose - both were at corners were people hit them with shoes/bikes/wheelbarrows/etc - figure a second layer would have added strength.

I was very happy with the result. I tied it into a small retainer wall at one end and a low curved wall at the other that bordered a concrete slab with a 'sports wall' for the kids. It was more work than I thought but worth it in the end.

Cheers,
Adam

Thanks Chumley

So you actually filled the trench to the full 100mm height with concrete?

This then left a 'brick width' concrete strip on the lawn side?

[dazzler]

Another method is to put down brickies sand a bit wider than the bricks and about an inch deep. Bed the bricks down on, using the brick to tamp it down a little to compact it, then put your mortar mix along the sides of the bricks, a bit like the last bit when you do paving to lock them in.

Backfill up to the bricks and bobs ya uncle.

Ive done it both ways (laying bricks that is) and I had more luck with this method but thats probably just down to luck I think.

I needed to move some the other week and it was quite hard to brake them apart.

I am about to do some today (weather permitting) so will take some pics

[Spencer74]

Another method is to put down brickies sand a bit wider than the bricks and about an inch deep. Bed the bricks down on, using the brick to tamp it down a little to compact it, then put your mortar mix along the sides of the bricks, a bit like the last bit when you do paving to lock them in.

Backfill up to the bricks and bobs ya uncle.

Ive done it both ways (laying bricks that is) and I had more luck with this method but thats probably just down to luck I think.

I needed to move some the other week and it was quite hard to brake them apart.

I am about to do some today (weather permitting) so will take some pics

Dazzler

Pic would be great - thanks mate.

[Chumley]

Thanks Chumley

So you actually filled the trench to the full 100mm height with concrete?

This then left a 'brick width' concrete strip on the lawn side?

Well, I'd prefer to say roughly 100mm (give or take a bit) - didn't really measure it. I've attached a rough picture to explain.
Cheers,
Adam

[Chumley]

Umm. Here's the picture.
Adam

[Spencer74]

Umm. Here's the picture.
Adam

Thanks mate!

[want2learn]

I've just done a similar thing for my front lawn and garden beds. I found the easiest way for me, having never laid an edge was to warp lengths of telstra conduit which are very flexible in the shape i wanted. I used small star pickets to weave and bend the conduit. Once the level of the coduit was correct i simply laid the bricks up against the conduit which gave a me a very level and straight lay.

A tip i found was to make sure when you fill the gaps to thoroughly wash in the motar so its competly full then it worn't fall through and leave gaps after time.

[echnidna]

echo in here

[want2learn]

I'm trying to work out how to delete them, any ideas?

[echnidna]

go back to each post click the edit button and delete