How to Make a Flower Bed Out of Half Bricks

Select the area for your new flowerbed by considering the lighting requirements of your selected plants. Choose a level location or slight slope, avoiding low-lying places that tend to retain water. Spread out a garden hose in the shape of your future flowerbed to help you decide on the size, design and placement of your flowerbed. Make the perimeter of the hose shape a few inches larger than your planned flowerbed to allow adequate room for preparing the site.

Remove the sod or other plants inside the perimeter of your garden hose shape to uncover the underlying soil. Test the existing soil to determine the need for soil amendments or treatments. Loosen the soil in your flowerbed and amend the soil according to the instructions provided on your soil test results.

Dig a narrow trench around the outside edge of your flowerbed. Insert the landscape edging strip into the narrow trench to separate the roots of your flowerbed plants from the surrounding yard. Leave the top of the edging strip slightly above the surface of the soil.

Dig a second trench on the inside edge of the landscape edging, making the trench about one-half the depth of the half bricks. Place the half bricks along the shallow trench, pressing them firmly into the soil and setting them close together to form a solid wall around your flowerbed. Press the loose soil behind the bricks firmly against them to hold them in place.

Water around the edges of your set bricks to help compress the soil and remove air pockets. Adjust any bricks that are deeper or higher than the rest. Plant your new flower seeds or seedlings in your prepared flowerbed, allowing adequate space between them and the half bricks for future growth.