Raised Flower Beds Using Pavers

Location

• Where you build your raised flowerbeds will determine what kind of flowers you can grow. While a raised bed allows you to create excellent garden soil, there is no substitute for selecting a place where the plants get the right amount of sunlight. Another consideration is visibility. You can talk a cutting garden away where it's not immediately visible to a visitor, but a viewing garden should be placed where you can see it from wherever you spend the most time. Other considerations include shelter from the wind, avoiding tree roots, and the location of pathways for human and animal traffic.

Pavers

• There are several kinds of pavers ranging from natural materials such as fieldstones to concrete pavers or interlocking brick pavers. When deciding which pavers to use, you should consider not only the expense of the paver but also the ease of assembly of your raised bed. Interlocking brick pavers are the easiest to assemble and don't require mortar but are also the most expensive.

Assembly

• Assembling interlocking pavers is self-explanatory. You place the first layer of pavers end to end in straight lines all around your desired flowerbed. The second layer of papers is what locks the first 2 Layers in place as you put the top paver across the gap between two pavers below it interlocking them together. Another alternative is to purchase assembly hardware from landscaping and gardening specialty stores. You combine this hardware with a wood base to hold the bottom layer of pavers in exactly the right position. For all other pavers, use a layer of mortar between the bricks to hold them in place.

Footing

• When using pavers to create a raised bed more than two or three layers high, the sturdiness and level of the foundation is critical for long-term success. Pour a concrete footing at least 6 inches deep and twice as wide as your pavers allowing it to dry overnight before assembling the walls of your raised bed garden. In areas where it ground heave is significant, because of the constant freeze-thaw cycle in the winter, dig a deeper footing for your raised bed preferably deeper than the freeze line.