Stone Edged Flowerbed

Identify and clear an area for your new stone-edged flower bed or retaining wall. We used a reciprocating saw to remove a large bush and make way for our flower bed. Use a shovel to level the area where the flower bed will be placed.

Begin laying down a perimeter for your flower bed with stone blocks. For our flower bed we created two separate tiers. The shorter first tier had a perimeter stacked two block rows high while the taller tier behind it had a perimeter stacked four block rows high. Our heavy-duty stone blocks were 5" x 15" x 8.5". During the process of laying each row, occasionally use a level to verify that the blocks are aligned properly. You may choose to continue the stone edging from your flower bed and connect it to other nearby garden landmarks as we decided to do with a nearby tree.

Tip: There are many ways to approach this project. Determining which approach works best for your application will depend on several factors including the height of your desired edging/retaining wall, the type of blocks you choose to use, and the degree of water drainage desired. Note that some approaches may include the use of construction adhesives, landscape fabric, gravel, or even interlocking block systems. 

While laying out the stone block perimeter, you may encounter a gap between blocks that is less size of a full block. If so, cut one to fit snuggly in the gap using the Dremel Ultra-Saw. Mount the US540 Diamond Tile Cutting Wheel onto your Ultra-Saw. Measure the size of the gap and mark it onto an available stone block. Start the tool and score the block on all four sides along this mark. If the stone block is thick and scoring it with the Ultra-Saw did not split it into two pieces, use a sledgehammer to encourage the stone to break along the scored area. Place the newly cut block section into the gap. Now that the stone perimeter has been created, place waterproof insulating foam along the seams of the blocks on the side that will be touching the soil. Allow time for the foam to dry as required by its instructions.

Place top soil into the flowerbed and plant flowers as desired.