Building a Tree Ring

The rocks around the pine tree in our front yard just weren't cutting it when it came to separating the crushed granite and soil at the base of the tree. So we decided to build a tree ring to give it a cleaner look.

1. First we moved the large river rocks and raked back the crushed granite surrounding the tree. We then pulled up all the crab grass and weeds at the base of the tree.

2. Next we dug up the soil and compacted it into a level surface.

3. Now it's time to lay the stones! We created a circle with the wall block we selected, facing the wider edge to the outside of the ring. You may need to move or shift the blocks to get all the stones in place. It you would like to build a wall, add more rows of stone, staggering the joints so there are no continuous vertical seams.

4. We then wrapped the ring with a plastic edge restraint and secured it with 10" spikes to keep the blocks in place.

5. Cover the edge restraint with soil and push the crushed granite back over the soil.

That's it! It was a quick one hour project that really polished off our front yard, and makes it much easier to control that crazy crab grass growing around the tree!