A bed border can be built in many ways. Variants made of stone are particularly durable and easy to care for. In our article we present you with a few nice ideas and instructions for rebuilding.
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Concrete block ideas
Concrete is boring, gray and drab? That was once, because with concrete blocks you can easily build weather-resistant and attractive bed borders. You have various design options, ranging from the use of prefabricated panels and blocks from the hardware store to a self-cast or brick surround. Concrete is inexpensive, versatile and practical, especially compared to natural stones such as granite: There are a variety of colors and shapes, although some concrete stones look very similar to the more expensive natural stones. Furthermore, these stones score with accurate dimensions, which in turn allow strictly geometric bed contours. After all, an ornamental or vegetable bed does not always have to be strictly rectangular:
Big variety
The hardware store offers you a comprehensive range of concrete blocks suitable for bed borders:
- Lawn edging stone : for the exact separation between lawn and bed area, make lawn mowing easier
- Cornerstones: for strict geometric bed contours, matching the lawn edging stones
- Lawn edging stones: Lawn edging stones for semicircular, round and curved bed shapes
- Palisades: high and narrow concrete blocks that are sunk vertically into the ground
- Concrete bricks or blocks: for (low) dry and mortar walls
Palisades in particular are very well suited as a bed border, especially since they are available in numerous dimensions and design variants. There are angular, columnar and wavy forms, thick and slender. Concrete blocks are also very versatile in terms of their color variety: They are not only available in different shades of gray, but also in warm tones such as shell limestone or brown.
Instructions: Bed edging made of concrete slabs
Precast concrete slabs come in many sizes and shapes, allowing you to build a simple and accurate stone border. And this is how you do it:
- dig a narrow ditch
- at least 25 centimeters deeper than slabs into the ground
- should be at least half in the ground
- Fill in a ten centimeter thick layer of gravel
- then ten centimeters of grit
- condense both
- then a bed of mortar ten centimeters thick
- Insert and align stones
- tap with rubber mallet
- let dry well
- fill with topsoil/potting soil
How high the border is is entirely up to you. However, if you lay the stones flat, it will be easier to mow the lawn next to them.
Bed edging made of natural stones
You can design a particularly attractive stone bed edging with natural stones such as
- Granite
- sandstone
- limestone
or other types of natural stone. In principle, any natural stone can be used for this purpose. It is particularly easy to process stones with uniform shapes, for example as cubes (the experts call them “one-liners”) or as slabs. Slabs are particularly suitable as straight borders for long borders and as lawn edges. The cubes, on the other hand, often have an edge length of between eight and ten centimeters and can be used for an even bed border as well as for a low wall. In any case, you should set and grout them in concrete for greater stability and durability. Set up a border made of natural stone slabs in the same way as described in the instructions for concrete slabs.
Instructions: Low fieldstone wall
You don’t necessarily have to buy a lot of money from a hardware store to use stone that is suitable for edging a bed: instead, you can simply collect suitable stones yourself from nature and use them in the garden. So-called field stones were already used in earlier centuries to build walls, houses and even churches, after all the material is abundantly available everywhere. For an edging, simply collect boulders of different sizes, colors and shapes, which you can find on fields or on the beach. And this is how you build a low fieldstone wall:
- Dig a trench at least 30 centimeters deep
- Width according to your wishes and the size of the stones
- Filling in gravel and grit
- each at least ten centimeters thick
- condense
- Filling of terrace concrete
- put stones in it
- grout more stones with mortar
- Ensure height and alignment with the help of tensioned ropes
- Smooth out the last layer of mortar
Instructions: Low dry stone wall
A dry stone wall that does not require any mortar and that you can even plant looks particularly natural. For the construction you need differently shaped field stones or other natural stones of different sizes. Always lay the large stones downwards and jam them with smaller stones so that the wall stands firmly and securely. Dry stone walls should be built as wide as possible for a secure hold. And this is how you proceed:
- Dig a trench at least 20 centimeters deep
- Fill in a thick layer of gravel on the bottom of the ditch
- condense them
- then a layer of sand or gravel
- also condense
- build a wall on it
- Do not place stones loosely, but firmly tilt them
Paving stones as a bed border
Have you just paved a new garden path and still have a few paving stones left over? Then use these stones for a new border! Depending on the type of paving stone, you have different options for this. You can see the stones
- as a single or multiple series
- flat or upright
- perpendicular or oblique
- curved or in a straight line
embarrassed. Paving stones placed on edge look particularly attractive as bed borders if you do not set them straight in the ground. Instead, they can also be slightly offset at an angle, either in a row or in opposite directions as a pattern. Furthermore, paving stones are very suitable for framing irregular or round shaped beds. Here, too, a substructure, as described in the instructions for the bed edging made of concrete blocks, is advisable.
Upcycling: bricks and clapboards
Also interesting ideas for an attractive bed border can be realized with the help of old bricks or shingles. For the bricks, you can use clay bricks, bricks or clinker that are left over from construction work or because you have removed the old garden shed. Roof shingles – no matter what material they are made of – are also very suitable for this purpose. While the bricks and bricks are laid like paving stones, it is best to stick the shingles upright into the ground. So that they hold up better (and don’t fall over when the soil is wet), you should enclose them in a concrete bed.
