Raised bed from bricks?

[curly_kate]

Well, my pack rat husband picked up the pavers that a friend had leftover after finishing his patio. I'm terrible at estimation, so I can't really say how many there are, but it's a pretty big pile. So I was thinking about making some raised beds from them. Do you know if pavers would work for a raised bed? Also, I guess we'd need to get cement to stick them together - will that work with paver brick? Didn't know how much different they were from regular bricks.

 

[setter4]

I have pavers around part of mine and they aren't even "stuck" together. lol Works fine.

 

[bid]

Nice scrounge! Any extras you could make into stepping stones.

 

[nightshade]

I not cement them together I would just stack them in rows and back fill them. That way if you ever need or want to move them you can.

 

[patandchickens]

If you make them real low raised beds, they will work fine. however the higher your beds are, the more the weight of the soil will gradually push the bricks outwards as time goes by. As long as you don't mind saying Oh, Phooey and shovelling the dirt away from them and rebuilding the whole wall at some point in the future, that is not a terrible problem.

I wouldn't mortar them together though. It won't do very much to resist bowing out from soil pressure, but it will make it extremely difficult to fix once it starts happening. Also a lot of extra work. Also frost may crack it (for the bowing reason, again).

Pat

 

[curly_kate]

Thanks for the tips! You don't think that just having the dirt on one side will push the bricks out right away? I'd like to make it at least a foot deep because it's in the wet part of the backyard, so I want to raise stuff out of the damp. I'm thinking of putting my early season stuff in it, and using some old windows we have to make cold frames.

DH will like the idea of it not being permanent - he's always thinking about when we sell the house, even though that's not happening any time soon.

 

[patandchickens]

Thanks for the tips! You don't think that just having the dirt on one side will push the bricks out right away? I'd like to make it at least a foot deep because it's in the wet part of the backyard, so I want to raise stuff out of the damp.

Well, shorter would be a lot better (tho I do understand why you want that depth), but 1' does not sound utterly impossible to me. Bank the brick walls back a bit towards the bed, that will help a little. That is, instead of making a totally vertical outer face to the wall, make it stairstep back into the bed a bit, you know?

If you really want it to last longer, you could use the brick to just disguise a board being used to retain the soil, at least along the long side of the bed (and you could use a stake, or stakes, to keep the board from bowing out if it will be a long bed).

If it's in a wet spot, the whole thing will get a bit funky-lookin' over the year anyhow, as wet-dry-freeze-thaw cycles heave different parts up/down differently. I would not expect it to be a long-enduring thing, at least not in its original neat and tidy looking state. (And wouldn't be even with mortar)

I guess to me it just sort of depends how you feel about moving that many pavers around for something you know will be basically nonpermanent. If that seems ok, then go for it

Have fun, good luck,

Pat

 

[homesteadmom]

I have my asparagus bed made out of the patio edgers we were given a few yrs ago & they work great!!! I did not mortar them either & no problems with bowing either. The only problem is the water sometimes runs out the sides, but otherwise a great use for them. I also have raised beds made out of retaining wall blocks(circles) which are great too as they give you a ledge to sit on & take care of the bed from.

 

[curly_kate]

Well, if nothing else, it won't cost me anything to give it a try! Thanks!!!

 

[vfem]

I suggest you go DOWN with the bricks first. Dig a shallow trench to get some extra stabbility to them before you stack, and back fill a little as you go in layers. This is what they do for retaining walls... just imagine you are building a retaining wall that needs to hold stuff up, not so much hold dirt in. We've done this before, and my husband's friend is a mason so with both together it looked fabulous, and no grout was used.

BTW I have a TON of bricks left over from our projects so far... at least 100 if anyone wants them. I'm done with paths this year... I swear it!!!

(P.s. - DON'T use cement, its not the same as mortar... if you chose to use mortar use a heavily sand based one for a project like this. It will keep them from sliding and doing what you need... but those pavers don't need to hold up to heavy traffic like if you were putting brick steps!)