Kerb Block For Flower Bed

John Electrician33

Hi All. I intend to lay approx 80 kerb blocks (from roadstone) to make a flower bed in back garden. Going to try and do it myself.

1- Do I just dig a small trench and lay concrete and sit kerbs on it?

2- Would I need to put concrete between blocks?

Any advice , tips, videos, pictures would be appreciated

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The Continental Op

If I was doing the job I probably wouldn't use kerb blocks. The reason is they are fairly crap in areas between grass and beds (imo). There isn't enough at the bottom to get the mower over to suck up the grass so you still need to edge off with a strimmer. I prefer plain flat concrete or brick pavers either end to end or side by side. If your convinced you'll not be moving them then dig out about twice the depth of the block and lay them on dry mix of sand and cement (depending on soil condition you might want to go deeper). Use cheap plasterers sand and about on shovel of cement dry mixed with 8 of sand. Lay the blocks so the top edge on the grass side is at the soil level or just below. Either do it dead level or follow the level of the grass. The cement will go off (over time it should go off stronger than a wet mix) but with a weak mix you'll be able to get the blocks up easily if needed.

Roadstone paving bricks do a better job than the kerb stones. I didn't bother using cement and just laid them on a bed of level mortar sand, used a good rubber mallet to level and filled the gaps with jointing sand and it has worked really well with no movement in two years.

John Electrician33

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Thanks for your replies.

The reason I went for kerb block was they have depth of approx 15cm so would only need one layer - with bricks i would need two layers to get the same height - want to do a new flower bed and put good quality compost in. Will it still work ok?

I have about 18 metres to do in back garden (80 bricks). Can i just dig a small trench and lay on top of mortar sand - I want them as high as possible but secure. Thanks

looksee

I don't know the exact answer but ask yourself - if you are kneeling at the edge of the border, weeding, and you knelt on a block would it shift? If you got a trowel in just beside the kerbing to get out a weed would the block move if you put pressure on it? If small children came into your garden and decided that running along the tops of the blocks would be great fun, would they move?

I suspect the answer to all three questions would be yes, as the blocks are not wide or heavy enough to hold themselves in place.

Paving bricks would only work on flat and as one course without cement.