Retaining Wall Rock Garden

        In order to keep with the natural forest look, even outside of the actual 'forest', we decided to put a rock garden in the front of the house. When we first moved here ten years ago, we put a flower garden in that exact spot. But flowers really aren't the look we're going for, plus they didn't grow so well in our awful soil. So after letting nature reclaim that section of yard for years, late last fall we made it a rock garden. Then the weeds took over before it was even finished. This year's goal was to build a retaining wall around it using flat stones that match the walkway.

       When building a retaining wall with stones, your best bet is to stick with flat ones. It is possible to do with rounded rocks but much trickier to get them to stack properly. With flat rocks you can obviously layer them without much difficulty. But, this doesn't means it's easy.

      The first step, well aside from figuring out where your retaining wall is going to go, is to actually find your flat stones. Seems easy, that is until you go out there and try to find enough to complete your project. As always, get more than you think you'll need. The fatter the better. Remember, you want some height here because over time your wall will sink into the ground so grab the thickest flat stones you can find. Get all sizes but lean more towards the larger ones. How large, as large as you can carry.

      Once you have enough rocks, you don't, go get more. Start with the biggest rocks you have, both in length, width and height, and lay them in their proper places. These are the base stones and need to be sturdy in order to make your wall stable. Most of the rocks I used for the base stack were roughly 4 inches thick, some even thicker. This will give the rest of your wall more support. (Note: I started on the right and worked my way to the left, doing all three layers at once, rather than laying the base stack first. However, I don't recommend doing it this way. It was easier for us because of the rocks that were in our way from the pre-existing setup.)

      Now that your base layer is in place, you're going to want to put your longer rocks down next. Bridge them across the gaps in the first layer, much like a brick wall. This will make it sturdy whereas putting them directly on top of your first layer without off setting them over their neighbors will make your wall much more susceptible to toppling over.

Where necessary, slide small flat rocks under your main rocks to keep them from wiggling. Odds are your flat stones are not completely flat, at least not all of them, and sometimes they need a little boost. And then sometimes they'll need to be trimmed down, a hammer or large solid rock will come in handy here. But always try to exhaust all your options before adding or taking away, this is why we got so many rocks to begin with. It's a trial and error process and eventually one of your stones will fit perfectly, you just have to turn and flip them a lot. Don't worry, rocks don't get dizzy. At least I don't think they do.

      Two or three layers should complete your wall. Anything taller might require two rows for each layer and some much larger rocks. So if you need to go higher, keep in mind that you'll need larger stones for your lower layers and making the wall sturdier becomes a necessity. Make sure none of your rocks are wiggling at all, on shorter walls a little wiggling isn't the end of the world. It's not like you're going to be walking on it. Unless you are, in which case you will need some super flat and thick rocks. But the average retaining wall is great for sitting on if you've constructed it correctly.

      Here's where our paths may diverge, depending on what your wall is for. Mine is for more rocks to go inside, the wall is simply to keep them from spilling over into the yard. So I start with flat rocks for the base layer inside, see, those extra rocks are really coming in handy now. Cover as much of the ground with flat rocks as possible, the more layers like this the better, it'll stop the weeds from bursting through. Then throw a bunch of other rocks over your flat ones, preferably ugly ones you don't mind burying. I don't want my pile of rocks inside to come up to the top of the wall so I'll use just a few inches of stones, topped off by the prettier ones I want to be seen. I'll even throw some big ones on top to be prominently displayed. And your retaining wall is complete.