We've bought a house where the garden is a bit of a jungle and I'm
planning to clean it up and have a lawn surrounded by flower beds on 3
sides with bricks as an edging between the lawn and beds.

The garden is rectangular approx 29 feet by 19 feet.
Should I put the bricks length ways or width ways?
I'm worried if I put them width ways that it'll look like a 9 inch
path around the lawn and may dominate such a small garden but my
girlfriend says the flowers and grass will grow over the edges and
they won't be so obvious. Any suggestions?

What do I bed the bricks on , simply lay them on the soil or should I
create a sand or mortar base?

Also for a small garden of this size what width should the flower beds
be? We were thinking about 3 feet wide which should be enough for some
shrubs 3-6 feet high and climbers close to the fence with some bedding
plants at the front.
Any advice greatly appreciated.