The best teacher of the mechanics of stonemasonry will be time you spend laying up a dry stacked wall. Many say stonemasnory is an art form. Yes, I can agree with that, but you must understand the laws of physics where gravity wants to pull everything down right now, and you want your wall to stand for many years.

We will start out with this example of a low retaining wall which will be about 12" in height. Holding back the mulch from that gorgeous raised rose bed, it will also be a focal point during the non blooming season.

Many landscape supply dealers have stone for these type of projucts stacked and wired on skids of about 3,000 lbs. Their cost is somewhere in the area of $100 to $175 per skip. Depending on the stone and how it is laid up you may be able to do a 20' section with this amount.

You will be going directly along the walkway, so the layout is very simple. Just follow the walkway. I love it when things are this easy. With a low wall like this, just removing the sod should be adequate.