As part of the renovation nation we bought a my parents home built in the 1950′s and it had a landscaping problem. The parents wanted something different. To keep the grass and weeds from creeping in from the lawn they decided to put the flowers in stone and concrete beds.

This would give a bed above lawn level and required less upkeep. The first step they took was to build a wooden form the desired length, height and width. The beds were raised about five inches above lawn level. A second form was built three inches smaller to fit inside the first form, and in which the concrete is poured. After the forms were built they used the outside form as a guide to dig a trench about six or seven inches deep by three wide. This trench acted as a form for the foundation and was below the frost line. The forms were then secured above the trench and ready to pour the concrete.

Ready-mixed concrete was used but mixed most of the beds using one part cement to two parts sand and a little lime which gives the beds a white appearance when set.