Our latest project has been adding some raised garden beds. We had done the raised beds a few years ago, but we started adding another one. It's now in place, with a drip irrigation in position, but no dirt yet. We will be adding the dirt when we can, but while waiting, I wanted to "finish" the other raised beds with some pavers. There were weeds growing in between, and it was just plain ugly.
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| First raised garden bed |
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| Middle path |
The result is not bad at all! I'd suggest anyone can do pavers using the following :
- Determine the square footage of area you want to cover. Our little area is 9980 square inches, or about 70 square feet.
- Procure the materials. If you use your blue box or orange box stores (e.g. Lowes or Home Depot), in the garden center, they will have paver materials. They'll usually have a chart showing how much you will need.
- Gravel/"road base" - The rule of thumb is dependent on if you are doing this for a driveway, or a walkway/patio (e.g. weight it will hold). The driveway will need about 4 inches of gravel base, while the patio/walkway only needs 1 inch.
- Paver sand - You will need about 1"
- Pavers
- I suggest a weed mat to slow the growth of nefarious foliage.
- Once ready to start, dig the soil to a level surface about the height of the pavers down plus 2-5 inches (depending on the amount of gravel you will use). Discard the soil you remove.
- Lay down the gravel base to the depth you need.
- Drop the weed mat down. If it's one of those multi-colored mats, the colored side usually goes up, but read the directions on it to make sure.
- Place a 1" layer of paver sand down, and spread it even.
- Install the pavers in the pattern you wish. If you want it to be strong, use an interlaced or woven pattern.
- Place a little paver sand on top, and sweep into the cracks. This is intended to freeze the pavers into place.
