Chapter 5: Enhancing Your Landscape

All of the outdoor uses of stone — from building a patio or a barbecue pit to adding stone steps or pathways in your garden — do as much or more than having a professional landscaper come in with bags of mulch and plants. Most of these outdoor accents are easy for the first-time stonemason and are relatively inexpensive.

Basic Stone Planter

Stone planters can be a huge boulder carved out to form a basin in which to put plantings or rectangular stones mortared together to form a long, boxy shape. For the beginner, building a stone planter with rectangular brick or stone is the easiest project to take on, but one large stone carved out and placed in a prominent position in your garden is quite impressive.

Materials you will need:

Tools you will need:

Instructions:

1. Begin by planning the length and width of your planter. To eliminate the need to break your stone or brick, try to make it work out evenly by planning the width first and the length second.

2. Dig a trench, also called a footing ditch, as wide and as long as you want your planter. Four inches should be deep enough for the foundation, but you may want to dig below the frost line (about 6 inches). Note: You can find your frost line by checking with your local building inspector.

3. Fill with crushed gravel, within 2 inches of the top.

4. Mix the mortar using nine shovels of sand, two of cement, and one of lime, plus water.

5. Begin laying your brick or stone, creating a base of one brick, mortared with other bricks on the sides. You will need ¼ inch to ½ inch of mortar between each stone but no more.

6. Begin creating the second level by overlapping the brick or stone where the joints are on the first level. This gives the planter strength and prevents cracking at the mortared seams. Continue until you have reached the desired height.

7. As always, allow to cure for approximately two days and then dry. Fill with earth and plant.

Carved Stone Planter

If you have a large boulder of any type of rock already in place in your landscape, you can easily create a planter with a cutting blade. Depending on the region of the country you live in, it may be made of limestone, granite, or sandstone. If you do not have a large boulder in your existing landscape, you can have a local stone yard deliver one. Make sure you know exactly where you want the boulder so you do not have to move it once it is in place, before or after you have shaped and carved it.

Materials you will need:

Tools you will need:

Instructions:

1. Begin by planning how wide and deep you want the basin. Using a charcoal pencil, sketch the rounded shape on the flattest part of the rock. It is best if the carved basin within the stone is at least 12 inches wide.

2. Using your stone chisel and hammer or your mason’s hammer, score the center of the outline as deeply as you want the planter. Scoring means creating parallel lines in the rock that will ease the carving process by cracking the surface of the rock. Begin scoring outward just as deeply as the center mark. If you want to use the boulder as a water basin for birds or other wildlife, you need to keep the basin shallow — no more than 3 inches deep.

3. When you have completed the initial scoring, begin to cross-cut with the cutting blade, creating small squares of rock. This should allow you to then chisel out these small squares until you have a quasi-circular shape within the stone. Once you have used the grinding tool to fully round out the basin, you will begin to see the circle take shape.

4. Keeping a firm grip on the grinding tool, grind the interior of the basin as smoothly as possible. Remember to wear goggles, a dust mask, and earplugs because you will generate a significant amount of stone dust and noise. Keep your garden hose handy to cut down the stone dust residue and to cool your grinding blade.

Stone Benches

Essentially, a simple stone seat is nothing more than a large, horizontal slab of stone set on two other large, vertical stones, set at angles to prevent tipping. The slight angle keeps the top slab in place using counterbalance, and as the stones settle into place, the seat naturally becomes more level. It only takes three stones to make a bench, and you will not need cement or mortar. The biggest issues you will encounter when making a bench will be the weight of the sitting stone and moving it into place.

Materials you will need:

Tools you will need:

Instructions:

1. First dig a 6- to 8-inch deep trench, also called a footing ditch, where the leg stones will sit approximately 24 inches apart from each other.

2. Set each leg stone in the foundation, and secure by backfilling.

3. Set the large stone on top of the two leg stones. You will need help to do this because a slab large enough for a stone seat will be very heavy.

4. If necessary, you may have to use small stone shims or wedges to make the sitting slab level. Try to choose the smoothest side of the slab so it does not have too many rough edges or pockets that will hold water or be uncomfortable to sit on.

CASE STUDY

Pablo Solomon, artist, designer, and stone sculptor

musee-solomon

7075 W. FM 580

Lampasas, Texas 76550

www.pablosolomon.com

musee-solomon@earthlink.net

(512) 564-1012

“Stones have spirits. If you listen, they tell you what wonders they have seen and what lessons they have learned. The stone has waited countless centuries to show the world the beauty hidden within. Like a surfer riding a wave, I never fight the stone. I allow the flow of the stone to guide me. I never remove any more material than the stone wants me to.” — Pablo Solomon

Pablo Solomon is an internationally recognized artist, renowned for his fine art in sketching, mixed media, and design. It wasn’t until he turned 50 that he took on the challenges of working with stone.

“I was right at 50 when I decided to try sculpting. Beverly (his wife, muse, and creative director) and I had just visited Italy and seen Michelangelo’s series of sculptures in Florence, which he started but never finished. They also had a display of his tools. Because his sculptures were in various stages of completion, I could see what he did and how,” Solomon said. “When I returned home, I did a relief sculpture in limestone. Just as I had finished it, a visitor to my gallery (musee-solomon) bought it on the spot.”

Solomon still prefers to work with the same tools people have used for thousands of years: a hammer, a pointing tool, a chisel, and a smoothing chisel. “The only machine tools I use are a power drill and an angle grinder with a rock cutting blade as these save a lot of rough-out time.”

Solomon prefers to work with a local limestone from Texas, a hard, durable stone that takes a great polish; yet, it is not as hard as granite or marble. He also uses a local quartzite/sandstone because it finishes out to a beautiful grained mahogany. “I’ve also done work in other local stones, among them serpentine and marble.”

Solomon has restored stone walls and rebuilt some entire stone buildings on his 43-acre property he calls his “piece of paradise.”

When asked about the best words of advice he could give beginning stone sculptors, Solomon said, “The biggest mistake that I made was over doing it. You really must pay careful attention to the stress you are putting on your body. Also, it is important to know stone. Study the amazing skill of the best stone workers. I am still in awe at what a skilled stonemason can do.”

Stone Steps

Building simple stone steps, such as mortared porch steps or terraced steps used in landscaping, are attractive and sturdy. Mortared steps are simply rows of stone or brick held in place with mortar, while terraced steps are held in place by earth. When making mortared steps, you need to remember that the base step will need to be the largest step so it can provide a surface for the final step. In terraced steps, the steps are inserted into the ground, and they use the natural slope of the ground to provide the height.

Mortared steps (three steps, 48 inches wide)

Materials you will need:

Tools you will need:

Note: All of the above measurements are approximate as to how many stones you will need. These instructions are basic. The riser height, the face of each step, is determined by how many steps you need. Risers generally should be no more than 6 to 7 inches.

Instructions:

1. Dig a rectangular-shaped trench 48 inches out from the patio, porch, or other area you are building the steps for. The trench should be approximately 6 inches deep or below the frost line in areas with cold climates. Note: You can find your frost line by checking with your local building inspector.

2. You will need approximately six wheelbarrow loads of cement for the footing. Mix using the standard recipe: two shovels of cement, four of sand, six of gravel, and water.

3. Mix your dry ingredients together, with the exception of the gravel, in a mortar pan. Add water until the mixture is the consistency of thick pancake batter, and then add the gravel and mix again.

4. Pour the mixture into the footing ditch to ground level. Allow the cement to cure for at least two days. Note: You can also use concrete block instead of pouring a footing ditch to speed the process along.

5. Lay the first step using flat-sided stones, sloping them slightly to the front as you lay them to prevent water from settling on the steps. Lay the stones, allowing for no more than ¼-inch wide mortar joints. Lay a complete box of stone, approximately 48 inches wide.

6. Lay the next step on top of the box of stone you created, overlapping the first step by 1 or 2 inches.

7. Repeat this procedure for the third step.

Check your building codes by calling your city licensing and permitting department because in some states, porches that have a height of 30 inches or more must have a railing. Building codes for each state can also be located by accessing Reed Construction Data online at www.reedconstructiondata.com/building-codes. You can order a metal railing or build one yourself from wood. You can find easy, free instructions on simple porch railings at eHow.com (www.ehow.com).

Terraced steps

Stones used for terracing are normally large, naturally flat stones, such as thick-cut flagstones. They must be supported by earth, not by concrete or mortar, and should not be thin, or they will crack and split. Your stones will need to be 4 to 6 inches thick. If you do not live in a hilly area, you must have enough soil delivered to create a berm for terracing these steps. A landscape berm is mounded soil, typically 1 to 3 feet

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Terraced limestone steps.

tall and approximately four times as long as its height. It is added to flat landscapes to add interest and dimension. When you have a berm added to your landscape, you can add terraced steps to the back or front walkways, even if you do not live in a hilly area.

Materials you will need:

Tools you will need:

These steps are the easiest to build because all the project requires is digging earth and inserting stones. However, it is labor intense so you should prepare for the amount of time and effort you will put into this project. Digging into a hill of earth requires digging into the soil and inserting the stones, placing the earth back as a support for each stone. It can take weeks to properly build terraced steps, but the effort will be worth it when you see how lovely your garden area looks with the added interest of a natural walkway.

Instructions:

1. Dig an insertion trench to place the stones in at least 12 inches into the mounded earth.

2. Insert the first stone step, packing in the earth and bracing the step by tightly packing the earth underneath the stone. Try to make at least 16 inches of step available to walk on. Anything less than a 16-inch tread is hard to negotiate for most people when climbing up or down steps. You must pack the earth tightly underneath each step so the steps are solid.

3. Dig another insertion trench for the second stone, about 2 to 3 inches above the first stone, following the natural slope of the terrace. Again, pack with earth.

4. Continue using the stones to overlap one another until the terraced steps are complete.

Using Stone as Garden and Pond Edging

Stones add an additional natural element to your landscaping, and using stones as edging helps keep things tidy. Edging contains your landscaping and provides a visual border from the lawn to the plantings. Bordering flower beds, pathways, and ponds provide the simplest projects you can try using fieldstone or chiseled stone. Any stone will work, but choose stone colors and shapes that enhance your landscape and complement your home. For example, if you live in Vermont, natural granite and greenstone perfectly complement garden areas, and these types of stones are readily available at local stone yards. If your home is built from sandstone, use sandstone pavers to edge your landscaped areas.

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Field stones were used to create a small retaining wall around this pine tree.

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Here recycled concrete was dry stacked to create a small wall. Photo courtesy of Douglas R. Brown.

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A stone mason is creating a retaining wall at a winery in Sonoma, California using fieldstone. Photo courtesy of Douglas R. Brown.

Stone edging

Materials you will need:

Quick tip: To measure a round or circular garden area, use a 75-foot garden hose to lay out the dimensions of where you want your edging. As you set the hose, drive small stakes in to indicate where you need to lay the edging. Using a hose as opposed to using mason string will allow you to bend around the landscaping easily and not have to tie string to separate posts. You can move the hose around and change the dimensions without pulling stakes.

Tools you will need:

Instructions:

1. Lay out the garden hose in a circular fashion around the garden areas. Drive small stakes in the ground where the garden hose is, and continue to do this, moving the hose as you go, until you establish the entire boundary of your garden edging.

2. Dig a trench around the planted landscaping, removing weeds or grass and making it about 2 to 3 inches wide and approximately 2 inches deep.

3. Begin digging into the trench and setting the rock. Pack the earth around the front and back of the stone. Lay another rock as close as possible to the first one. As they age and weather, the earth around the rock will encourage the growth of moss and lichen.

4. Wet the entire edging with a garden hose to settle the earth.

These steps are for a single rock-height edging. For a higher edging, you will need to use mortar to place additional stone on top of the single stone edging. You can also add a waterfall made from the same rock, which will be covered in Chapter 7.

To mimic a natural pond edging, you will need to place larger rocks around the direct edge and gradually decrease the size toward the outside of the pond itself. You can add spaces to leave room for native plants that will begin to grow and create a more natural landscape. For more information on building backyard pools and gardens, see Chapter 7.

Paths

A path with stepping stones is relatively easy to install and complements any landscape pattern. This path can easily become a permanent part of your landscape, and the amount of rock you will need depends on the length and width of your path. Use the following directions to make a path that is 3 feet wide by 35 feet long.

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A stepping stone pathway.

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Slate pathway.

Materials you will need:

Tools you will need:

Instructions:

1. Plan out the pathway’s positioning, and remember pathways that meander around curves are always more aesthetically appealing than straight paths. Plan for the path to curve around trees, stone groupings, or garden plantings. You can make a quick sketch of your yard, drawing it from above, and this will help you visualize where the pathway should go, or you can drive stakes into the ground where you want the pathway to go.

2. Dig a trench approximately 2 to 3 inches deep for the path’s edging. As you go along, even out any rough places in the landscaping. Set your border stones, fieldstones, along the exterior edges of the trench, pushing in soil around the stones to set them.

3. Dig out a level base for the interior stones that will make up the actual walkway itself. This should be approximately the width of the flagstone, plus 1 inch for the base of pea gravel. Fill in the trench with the pea gravel to about 1 inch below the ground level. Lay your stones in place on the gravel, leaving approximately 2 inches between each stone. Add additional gravel in between the stones to level the height. Using a garden hose, soak the pathway to help the soil and gravel settle. Adding water will help compact the gravel and soil naturally. Leave the path unused until it dries, which will take about two days. As the stones settle even more with use, which should take about a week, add more gravel to fill in any sunken areas.

Chapter 6 will explore building stone walls in your landscape. The most common wall used in landscaping is known as a dry stone wall and involves stacking stones in such a manner that they remain sturdy and solid. Although it takes years to master the professional techniques of dry stacking, this book will give you the instructions on how to build a simple dry stone wall that will add beauty and privacy to your landscape. This wall, when built properly, will last for hundreds of years.

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