I live where we have freezes in Winter, and everyone here puts a base
under the stones or bricks. Regardless of whether you have to deal with
freezing, I think it would be very difficult to get a nice level border
without some sort of base.

Gravel isn't particularly suited for this (although if you want a good
thick base you can use gravel and then put crushed stone on it), and
sand washes away too easily. So here we use crushed stone, which has a
consistency like very rough sand, but stays in place pretty well. Sand
is often swept over the bricks as a final step, where it fills the
spaces between stones, but has to be redone once in awhile as it does
wash away.

If you want to keep your grass, and garden plants, from migrating
through the border, you should bury a plastic or rubber barrier beside
the border while you are at it. A rototiller is very useful in digging
a trench for the base and bricks.

Sally wrote:
Hi everyone,

I have about 250 regular, red house bricks on my garage that I inherited
with the house. I'd like to put them to good use in the garden.

Was thinking of laying them down as a border between my garden and the lawn.
Question is - do I need to put down a sand or gravel base before I lay the
bricks? My soil is just marginally on the clay side. Not sandy at all.

Whadda ya think? Can I get away without the base?

TIA!
Sally