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dry stack stone

RogueSpecters

New member
Joined
Mar 27, 2025
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1
City & State/Province
Illinois
I am trying to build a raised flower bed out of stone. I want it 2ft tall and plan to dry stack the stone. The inside will be 4x8ft and i will make the stone wall around it 1.5ft thick so the whole thing ends up about 7x11ft.

how much of the wall should I bury? seen videos saying to bury one third of a retaining wall's height but is that needed for a raised flower bed? I dont want to use backfill because I dont want to mess with the plant roots. So if the wall is 2ft tall with no backfill can it work or will it fall apart? If 2ft is too high what height could I use instead??
 
If the wall is 2ft tall and there is no backfill it will probably end up collapsing. to avoid that, try to reduce the height to 1-1.5 ft. That way it'll be stable enough without burying the stone.
 
I am trying to build a raised flower bed out of stone. I want it 2ft tall and plan to dry stack the stone. The inside will be 4x8ft and i will make the stone wall around it 1.5ft thick so the whole thing ends up about 7x11ft.

how much of the wall should I bury? seen videos saying to bury one third of a retaining wall's height but is that needed for a raised flower bed? I dont want to use backfill because I dont want to mess with the plant roots. So if the wall is 2ft tall with no backfill can it work or will it fall apart? If 2ft is too high what height could I use instead??
burying about 6 to 8 inches of the wall will help stability, even without backfill. A height of 1 to 1.5 feet should be fine, but 1 foot is safer if you're concerned about it toppling
 
I am trying to build a raised flower bed out of stone. I want it 2ft tall and plan to dry stack the stone. The inside will be 4x8ft and i will make the stone wall around it 1.5ft thick so the whole thing ends up about 7x11ft.

how much of the wall should I bury? seen videos saying to bury one third of a retaining wall's height but is that needed for a raised flower bed? I dont want to use backfill because I dont want to mess with the plant roots. So if the wall is 2ft tall with no backfill can it work or will it fall apart? If 2ft is too high what height could I use instead??
You can skip the backfill. They already responded to you for the other questions but then again I wanna respond to this specific part. You'll need to level and compact the base soil underneath the wall if you are planning not to do the backfill. Also make sure to stagger joints and overlap flat/heavy stones on the bottom layer.
 
Apologies for joining late. If you're building a small, dry-stacked stone wall that's 2 feet tall, it's a good idea to bury about 6 inches of it in the ground. This helps keep it sturdy. If you don't add any soil behind it, a 2-foot wall might be too high and could fall over. You might want to make it shorter, like 1.5 feet. That way, it'll be more stable and less likely to collapse without backfill
 
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