How to Build a Brick Raised Garden Bed: A Complete Step-by-Step Guide

Building a brick raised bed is a rewarding project that adds a permanent, attractive feature to your landscape. While bricklaying takes practice, a well-built wall can support a planting bed up to two feet high; taller beds require a double-brick wall. Expect to spend a couple of weekends mastering the basics, but the results are well worth the effort.

Before You Start

Choose bricks rated for continual wet conditions—common brick may not hold up. Provide your supplier with the wall’s length and height. If your bricks have holes, purchase special cap bricks for the top course. Have the bricks delivered on a sturdy pallet near the work site.

Consult your building supplier for the correct mortar mix (cement, lime, and sand) or buy a pre-mixed mortar. You’ll need a mortar board (a 3-foot square of plywood on two 2x4s works), a wheelbarrow or large mixing container, a mortar hoe, a brick-set chisel, a mason’s line with line blocks, a pointing trowel, a joint raking tool, and a joint pointer (convex or V-shaped).

Make a story pole—a 1x2 with evenly spaced lines marking each course height. Install a level concrete footing: a 12-inch-deep, reinforced, concrete-filled trench twice the wall’s width, with concrete footings every 4 feet extending below the frost line.

Fill your finished bed with high-quality soil; learn the basics of soil preparation here.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Step 1: Lay Out the Wall

Chalk a guideline to center the bricks on the footing. Do a dry run: lay bricks without mortar, spacing them evenly. This reveals whether you’ll need a short brick at the end. Adjust spacing to avoid tiny pieces. Mark the positions of the first and last brick.

Step 2: Set the First Bricks

Mix a small batch of mortar. Set the first two bricks, one at each end, on a 1-inch-thick mortar bed. Check for level in both directions, tapping gently with the trowel handle to adjust. String a mason’s line to mark the level of the first course, held in place with bricks.

Step 3: Lay the First Course

Load your trowel fully. With the trowel face up, set its tip at the start of the line. As you pull back, rotate the trowel to lay a 1-inch-thick mortar bed nearly as wide as the brick and about three bricks long. Furrow the mortar by gently running the trowel tip face-down along the center—a technique bricklayers call “throwing.”

Step 4: Build the Corners (Leads)

Construct the lead—the starting point for courses—six courses high, each course half a brick shorter than the one below (remember a brick is half as wide as it is long). Level and plumb each course, checking height with the story pole. Lay mortar and add the first course. Butter the end of each brick where it abuts another by swiping mortar along all four edges of each face.

Step 5: Fill Each Course

Duplicate the lead at the other end. String a mason’s line as a course guide, using line blocks to hold it flush with the brick faces. Using the line as a guide, fill in each course, remembering to throw, furrow, and butter. Cut bricks by scoring a line around the brick, then cracking it with a mallet and brick set.

Step 6: Check Level and Finish Joints

Continually adjust for level and straight courses, tapping gently with a mallet and 2x4. Scrape off excess mortar with your trowel, avoiding smears. Periodically press the mortar with your thumb; when it feels firm and the impression holds, the joints are ready to finish.

Using a pointing tool, smooth vertical joints first, then horizontals. Brush away excess as you work. Wash any smeared spots with a damp rag—once mortar sets, it’s difficult to remove.