How to Lay Stone Without Cement

Lay a hose or twine to outline the area where you'd like lay stone. Adjust the hose or twine until you like the shape.

Dig out all grass and cut out all roots, except trees' anchor roots, in the area where your stone will be laid. Dig a trench as deep as your steel edging is wide -- the trench will be approximately 3 to 4 inches deep.

Hammer the steel edging along the boarders of where you plan to lay your stone, using a mallet.

Lay filter fabric over the area where you plan to lay the stone.

Rake roughly 2 inches of gravel over the filter fabric.

Lay the first stone. Decide which is the best face of the stone and lay that face of the stone so it's facing up. Decide which is the stone's smoothest, thinnest edge and lay the stone with that edge facing the end of what will be the stone-laid area, so that edge flush with the ground. Wiggle the stone so it digs into the gravel. Hammer the stone into the gravel with the mallet.

Lay the rest of the area with stone the same way, taking care that the stones fit together so that there aren't any huge gaps between them. Leave approximately 1 inch of space between the stones if you don't plan to eventually plant herbs between them, and leave up to 4 inches of space between them if you do.

Sprinkle the stone with a 1-inch thick layer of sand. Sweep the sand off the stone, but let it stay in the areas between the stones, as it will act as grout.