How to Build a Stone Flower Bed Border (5 Quick Steps)

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Establishing a stone border for your flower bed is a very nice way to give your landscaping style and function.

A well-built and constructed stone flower bed border can go a long way in adding beauty to your front yard landscaping, as well as serving as a stumbling block against weeds. However, the puzzle remains about how to build a stone flower bed border!

Well, it is easier than it seems! First, pick the stones of your choice to build a good stone flower bed border, then dig a 3-5inch trench around your garden. Lay a landscape fabric in the trench to prevent weeds, then stack the stones neatly and tamp them into place after watering them.

How to Build a Stone Flower Bed Border

How to Build a Stone Flower Bed Border

Building an efficient stone flower bed border requires certain significant steps. But first of all, you start with a certain plan or design of your choice, then consider how many feet of the border you plan to lay.

After that, you can decide whether to lay one layer of stones or stack them into a small wall.

The above decisions will allow you to know the amount and kind of materials you require. Then, you are good to go.

The following are the detailed steps you require in building a stone flower bed border:

1. Pick your Choice of Stones

Before you began with the building, you have first to choose your stones, and while doing that, ensure you are selecting the ones that suit your plan.

If you’re laying just one row of stones pressed into the dirt to build a flower bed border, we recommend rounded river rocks for you.

But, if you’re going for a smaller flower bed wall of stacked stones, then flat stones like slates, flagstones, or fieldstones are required.

2. Digging Your Border Trench

After making your choice of stones or rocks, the next step is to excavate a trench that’s about 3-5inches deep by the side of your flower bed edge, using a shovel.

Ensure the trench is spacious enough to contain the stones you want to lay, and the floor of the trench is level to make the next steps easier.

3. Laying a Barrier

You don’t need to be told what disaster that weeds can cause, especially when it grows in-between rocks, it can be hard to kill; hence, while laying a barrier, try to use a type that is a deterrent to weeds, by first lining the trench with water-permeable landscape fabric.

After that, you cover the fabric with 1-inch mulch, which helps to protect it from being punctured by rocks.

Meanwhile, ensure you use the best landscape fabric materials, as using the wrong ones invites mosquitoes and other pests.

4. Laying Your Stones

Having lined a weed-stopping landscape fabric, the next thing to do is to lay your stones or rocks. There’re various ways you can choose to place your stones.

You can decide to either lay them in one layer, or arrange them in a particular pattern or style, or stack them to establish a low wall.

While choosing your preferred method, try to create a continuous border without space to keep mulch in your flower bed and keep weeds out.

5. Never Allow Your Border to Become Dislodged

The next step is to ensure that your border remains unmovable by creating a partway into the soil. By so doing, you have prevented your border from dislodging and causing any disaster on your border. You can begin by watering your border area using a hose. 

Ensure the water is enough to dampen the soil but not turn it into the mud. Then, using your tamper, gently tap stones into the soil deep enough that they are solidly in good shape.

Finally, be careful about how you strike the stones to avoid breaking them or destroying the landscape fabric underneath.

Immediately, you have positioned the stones firmly in their required space, give the soil time to dry, and study your stone borders. Stones that are in their required shape and place, when you touch them, become well arranged. 

If you notice anyone that shakes easily, then it needs to be watered again and repositioned into its place. Immediately, all your stones are back into the soil; then, you have successfully built a stone flower bed border.

How to Arrange Stones for a Flower Bed Border

It is very important to know how you can stack your stones before proceeding with the building of your flower bed border.

The following are what you should do when planning to build an arrange or stacked stone wall;

  • Excavate or dig a level trench
  • Shape any oversized stones to ensure it’s suitable for arrangement
  • Lay the stones properly in the form of an overlapping pattern to make them lock together.
  • Backfill stone wall with dirt and mulch to allow for stability

Final Thoughts

Hopefully, you’ve mastered how to build a stone flower bed border. It is quite necessary to consider arranging your stones when building a stone flower bed border, as it helps transform your garden’s look. Stone borders can be a beautiful sight to behold, easy to maintain, and functional.

It helps to keep mulch inside your garden and prevents weeds from encroaching with less difficulty into your flower bed. Therefore, following due protocols to ensure the protection and well arrangement of your flower bed is mandatory.

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