How to Landscape With Bricks

Whether you're trying to save cash, enjoy attempting new do-it-yourself methods, or have an idea spurred on by a home decorating show, you couldn't find a more satisfying project than landscaping with brick. Bricklaying isn't complicated, is a great way to ease life's stresses---and the results of your labor can often be seen in just hours. Choose a simple project and follow basic bricklaying procedures. Prepare yourself for the flood of compliments sure to come your way when you show off your finished masterpiece.

Layout

Bricks

Garden tools

Commit your design to paper. Measure the area of the yard you'll fill and rough out a pattern to scale, using 1 inch per 1 foot measurements to keep your sketch in perspective. Alternately, try this computer trick: Open a word processing or drawing program page. Create a boundary that matches your project area. Drag one text box that approximates a brick (e.g., 4 inches by 8 inches) and add a frame. Duplicate the box, making enough to fill your template. Use this rule of thumb for walkway widths: make yours between 32 inches and 36 inches.

Secure your bricks. There are many types from which to choose: traditional, square, fancy shapes, interlocking brick sections---even crushed brick. Ask professionals at DIY stores, nurseries and brickyards for help choosing brick for your project as you gather price quotes. Add 5 percent to the number of bricks you think you'll use; you can always come up with projects for the surplus if you have leftovers.

Dig a trench that's 2 inches deeper than that of the brick you'll use for the project. Even out the ground to avoid future slipping and sliding of bricks on an unstable base. Fill the trench with sand and tamp it down. Consider the merits of adding plastic sheeting to keep weeds at bay, but if you like a natural look and don't mind weeding---or if you have ecological concerns about the use of plastic in landscaping---skip this step and go straight to the bricklaying process.

Arrange the bricks into the sand trench into any pattern you prefer. Use a level to keep things uniform. Fill in your brick landscape feature with additional sand so everything is securely compacted into place. Grab the garden hose and, employing a light spray, irrigate the sand to locate air pockets and areas in need of more sand. Once the ground dries, use a broom to sweep and redistribute sand into nooks and crannies, a process you'll want to repeat from time to time to keep your brick feature tidy.

Feed your imagination now that you've mastered your first brick landscaping experience. Use brick to build flowerbed walls, decorative curbing, a patio, terraced garden or another clever project. Brick is a versatile material to work with, so you're sure to come up with a bounty of creative projects over time.

The fancier/more engineered the brick you choose, the higher the tab you'll run up for your project. Your design may look just as great using plain brick.