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.

(DIY Novice) expounded:


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?

I've got brick borders around my 3' wide gardens, widthwise, and it
looks fine. Makes a great mowing border, too.

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

I've got stonedust beneath them, but the grass still invades, at least
once every two years I lift the bricks, pull the grass and resettle
them with more stone dust (I have a never-ending supply of stone
dust).

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.

If you can go wider, then do. Four feet is better than three, three
is a bare minimum.
--
Ann, gardening in Zone 6a
South of Boston, Massachusetts
e-mail address is not checked
******************************

DIY Novice wrote:
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?

If you're just going to let things grow over the edging, then why bother
with the edging at all?

And the issue isn't really the width, but the depth. The purpose of the
edging is to prevent infultration of the hardest to remove weed of them all
into your flower beds: grass. Most grass spreads by the use of runners, and
edging is used to block those runners. Edging that doesn't go deep enough
doesn't do it's job.

So if you're going to use bricks, you wouldn't lay them side by side or end
to end. You'd stand them up, with most of the brick being below the surface.
As for whether you go face to face or side to side, it's personal taste.

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

How permanent do you want it to be? And how easy do you want repairs to be?

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.

If you have any sides against buildings, leave enough room so you can get
between whatever you plant, and the building. After that, anything less than
3', in my opinion, would look goofy. Also be aware of any utility easements
near property edges. Anything you plant over those easements may some day be
unceremoniously removed for utility maintenance. That's not to say you can't
plant over a utility easement. You just need to understand how that easement
may be used. You also need to use care when digging near underground
utilities, and the effect of nearby tree roots on things like sewer lines.

What you plant, and how you arrange it depends on what kind of a garden
you're trying to create. If you have just straight edges, you may want a
formal, and somewhat symmetrical look. If you have curved edges, you'd
probably want something less formal. Can/are the beds viewed from the other
side? You may want to consider that as well.

And how much work do you want to do? The beds may require some intense work
at the beginning or ends of certain seasons, but the grassy lawn is going to
need continuous work, and require far more water than many choices for the
beds. If you want low maintenance, and lower long-term costs, maximize the
bed space, and minimize the lawn. If you have a curved edge, and some places
where the beds are too wide to work from the outside, you can provide paths
radiating into those wide parts.

You may be able to find a large garden center in your area that can provide
advice on what to do. It's not unusual for them to provide basic design
services, along with plant lists, if you're willing to buy the plants from
them. A good designer can help you make choices that match what you like,
and consider how much work you want as well. They may even be able to
suggest stages for building if it's too much work/money to do it all at
once. And choose plants that will work in your climate and soil conditions
as well. That's hard for a novice to do with general advice from folks
around the world who've never met you.

--
Warren H.

==========
Disclaimer: My views reflect those of myself, and not my
employer, my friends, nor (as she often tells me) my wife.
Any resemblance to the views of anybody living or dead is
coincidental. No animals were hurt in the writing of this
response -- unless you count my dog who desperately wants
to go outside now.
Care for your landscape with Black and Decker cordless tools
http://www.holzemville.com/mall/blac...ker/index.html

DIY Novice wrote:
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.

I thought you said the garden was 29 by 19? Where did the 3 feet wide
come from?

--

Travis in Shoreline (just North of Seattle) Washington
USDA Zone 8
Sunset Zone 5

How you put them in place depends on the soil. I put mine in 20 years ago,
just pressing them into the existing soil. They're still flat. A thought:
Put them level with the lawn so you can ride two wheels of the mower on
them. No more string trimmer.


"DIY Novice" wrote in message
m...
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.

"DIY Novice" wrote in message
m...
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.

Why even bother with the bricks? I cut a bevel around my beds. The mower
wheel rides in the beveled edge and it gets trimmed when I mow the lawn.
Once a year I use a sod lifter to sharpen the bevel. It takes only a few
minutes to do an entire bed. I think that the bricks will be a big job to
install right, and the bricks and supplies will be costly - then, there is
the maintenance. I would rather spend my time, effort, and money on plants
and soil amendments rather than tending bricks. Also, when you decide to
change the size or shape of the bed, you will have to reconfigure the
bricks.

I also think that a three foot wide bed is way too small. For a natural
looking landscape you need some taller shrubs or trees, an understory
planting of smaller shrubs and perennials, and some groundcover plants. You
will find that your 3-6 foot shrubs will be 4-6 feet wide in a few years
and/or you will spend a lot of time trimming them to contain their size.
The smaller plants in front will be overwhelmed by the scale of the tall
shrubs in the narrow space. Before long it will all look very overgrown. I
think that six or eight feet is a better minimum size if you have the room.
I have to live with the limitations of a strangely shaped lot and have some
narrow beds. I have a bigger problem selecting plant material for the
narrow beds and find the constraints very frustrating and limiting.

I would recommend that before you start designing beds and laying the
bricks, that you visit some display gardens. You can often find great
gardens at historic houses, municipal gardens, and private garden tours.
Take your camera, a tape measure, and some paper for notes. Unless your
house is very formal, I would avoid making rigidly geometrical beds with
consistent width. I would avoid strict symmetry. Think about leaf texture,
size, and color because that's what you will be looking at most of the time.
Think about 4 season interest. Think about the negative spaces that connect
the bed and how it all relates to the house.

How you put them in place depends on the soil. I put mine in 20 years ago,
just pressing them into the existing soil. They're still flat. A thought:
Put them level with the lawn so you can ride two wheels of the mower on
them. No more string trimmer.


"DIY Novice" wrote in message
m...
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.

How you put them in place depends on the soil. I put mine in 20 years ago,
just pressing them into the existing soil. They're still flat. A thought:
Put them level with the lawn so you can ride two wheels of the mower on
them. No more string trimmer.


"DIY Novice" wrote in message
m...
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.

How you put them in place depends on the soil. I put mine in 20 years ago,
just pressing them into the existing soil. They're still flat. A thought:
Put them level with the lawn so you can ride two wheels of the mower on
them. No more string trimmer.


"DIY Novice" wrote in message
m...
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.

absolutely. I just got thru digging up and removing over 2000 bricks from my mothers
flower beds so we will just run an edger along there once or twice a year and follow
along with a wet/dry vac to pick up the cuttings. bricks dont stop plant creep in
both directions. Ingrid

"Vox Humana" wrote:
Why even bother with the bricks? I cut a bevel around my beds. The mower
wheel rides in the beveled edge and it gets trimmed when I mow the lawn.
Once a year I use a sod lifter to sharpen the bevel. It takes only a few
minutes to do an entire bed. I think that the bricks will be a big job to
install right, and the bricks and supplies will be costly - then, there is
the maintenance. I would rather spend my time, effort, and money on plants
and soil amendments rather than tending bricks. Also, when you decide to
change the size or shape of the bed, you will have to reconfigure the
bricks.



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Ok point one i'd make is about the jungle. There IS some basic tips I can give withoout seeing the garden.
1) Do not ever hack off limbs. bye that I mean leaving stubs of limbs, anything you prune you should take back to the 'collar', the area at the base of the limb you're going to prune off. Start at the base and work your way up, expose trunks, thety are beautiful take off anything that looks weak, dead or unhealthy, if you prune this way you'll be surprised at how much light you'll let in. And you wont have a garden that looks bloody awful for the next six months and then leaves you back where you started.
2) don't let plants invade each others space if trees or bushes grow into each other seperate them with some judicious pruning. The key to an attractive garden is the same as an attractive body, 'definition'.

3) Do you really really need a lawn? They are high maintenance areas and are best described as 'green deserts'. Garden beds seperated by paths, which even in a small garden should not be narrow, are far more interesting for adults children and pets. Paths should be at least 1metre wide.

If you feel you MUSt have a lawn, bricks will not keep the grass out. that makes no difference if they are placed width or length ways. Neither for that matter will concrete kerbing or anything else. Gardens can really soak up money, dont spend what you dont have to. The edge of the lawn is best as path. this can be sawdust. If you have a metre wide strip around the lawn you'll be able to see the grass encroaching. If you dont want to do this then a simple edge is fine. a sharply cut edge to the grass and a furrow along the garden bed side. Done well grass can be trained to not cross it. (This is a BIG lie, but relatively speaking you can believe it ;-). The trouble with Bricks is that the grass will grow through it and when you weed it just makes more work. Concrete kerbing is worse, because it cant be moved it simply protects grass roots which wil sprout as soon asyou tear off what's on the other side.

Try to keep like with like in your garden, keep plants with similar foliage but get contrast with different colours of foliage, dont worry about flowers, if it doesn't have a nice flower nurseries wont stock it, but they are temporary, foliage is all year.

It's like in the house, the big things are, ideally in the same style, The wardrobe matches the bed, The dinner table matches the sideboard. And on the mantle piece the little things can be eclectic.

Hope that helps :-)



4

"godwin" wrote in message
...

If you feel you MUSt have a lawn, bricks will not keep the grass out.
that makes no difference if they are placed width or length ways.
Neither for that matter will concrete kerbing or anything else.

The bricks *do*, however, provide a surface on which to roll the lawnmower
wheels, which makes fast work of edging.

very very true. my mother did this. we inherited her gardens, pulled up all the
bricks and simply run an electric edger along the beds a couple times a season.
to preserve the "look" of a wider edging I would put plastic or thick layer of
newspaper and put mulch on top. Ingrid

godwin wrote:
If you feel you MUSt have a lawn, bricks will not keep the grass out.
that makes no difference if they are placed width or length ways.


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