How to Build a Brick Garden

Choose a space for your brick garden based on the plants you want to grow. Make sure there are no overhanging branches if your plants require full sun, and choose a spot under awnings or branches for plants that require partial shade.

Drive a garden stake into the ground with a rubber mallet, marking the center of your garden. Cut a piece of twine about 5 feet long and tie one end to the stake and the other to a spray can of property paint. Walk out from the stake until the twine is taut. Spray the property paint on the ground while walking in a circle. Repeat, using a piece of twine 3 ½ feet long.

Push the tip of your shovel about 1 inch into the ground at the edge of your smaller circle. Tilt it back at a 45-degree angle to lift the sod and push it forward to scrape the sod away. Remove all of the sod in the smaller circle this way. Clear enough soil to make a circle about 3 inches deep.

Pour sand into the cleared space, spreading it out to about 1 ½ inches deep. Fill the rest of the space with small gravel. Place bricks just inside the edge of the circle, laying them lengthwise. Stack two to three more layers of bricks on top of the first, staggering them so the bricks in the upper layers lay over the crevices between the bricks below them.

Remove the sod in the outer, larger circle, creating trench about 2 inches deep. Spread out a layer of sand about 1 inch deep. Lay bricks in a single layer in this circle so they radiate from the edges of the brick planter out to the edges of the larger circle. Press strips of sod between the bricks to soften their appearance. Fill the center planter with soil and compost.