Garden Stepping Stones - Quick Tutorial

One of the practical benefits that garden stepping stones provide to an environment is to prevent grass and lawn areas from becoming too compacted. Compaction makes it more difficult for plants to get the oxygen, water, and food that they need to properly grow.

Garden stepping stones, in addition to being a practical element in your garden, can help to beautify it. Placing stepping stones in your garden is the perfect way to personalize it without spending a lot of money. They are also a nice and simple alternative to a brick pathway or concrete walkway. You can usually find stones at your local garden center stores made of all types of materials and in all kinds of shapes.

Making  Your Own Garden Stepping Stones

If you're feeling a bit creative, you'll find that it's fairly easy to create your own garden stepping stones. All you need to start is a cast, some quick-set concrete, and possible some paint.

You start with a cast. The cast can be store bought, home made, or simply one from a common product in your home such as a throwaway baking pan or pie pan. Line the cast with multiple layers of heavy plastic wrap. Mix your quick-set concrete and pour it into your plastic lined cast. Once the concrete has set up, dump it onto the grass, and do the next one. For speed, you can, of course, work with more than one cast. At this point you have your basic stepping stone. You can pretty it up by painting it with concrete paint or with one of the enamel paints that you can find in any hobby store. You can also paint patterns and designs to your liking.

Garden Stepping Stones Kits

If you don't want to make your own stepping stones from scratch, you can give yourself a head start with a kit. With stepping stone kits, your whole family can join in the fun of creating stones for your garden. You can probably find such kits in your local garden or craft store from between $20 and $40.

Laying Your Garden Stepping Stones

When laying your garden stepping stones, you have two choices. The simplest way is to simply lay them on top of the dirt. And if you have a level lawn, this will work just fine. Ideally, however, from an aesthetic standpoint, you'll want to have the top of the stones level with the ground surface.  This requires that, after you lay the tiles on top of the soil at the exact positions that you want them, you then dig beneath each stone, to the depth of the stone, and lay the stone in the just excavated area. Make sure that you fill the hole with enough dirt or sand to prevent the stone from wobbling.

Decorative Garden Stepping Stones

Some people simply don't want people walking through their garden but they do like using stepping stones as a design element. Decorative stones are typically smaller than functional stepping stones. These stones are also perfect for placing over imperfect garden areas such as areas where grass is not growing.

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