Ideas for a Backyard Landscape With Cinder Blocks

• Cinderblocks can be incorporated into backyard landscaping in a number of ways.mason, brick image by Greg Pickens from Fotolia.com
  
  Cinder blocks are useful construction materials for major structures yet are used in a rather liberal way when landscaping the gardens and yard behind your house. Incorporate cinder blocks into your backyard landscaping through a number of different methods which are subtle, useful and attractive.
  
  

Cinder Block Garden Planters

• Cinder blocks are known as large rectangular cement blocks with two square openings in them, equally spaced apart. Turn these blocks on their sides and group them together to form little planters using the squares as small dirt-filled pots for small plants and herbs. Cinder blocks can also create the border around the edge of a larger garden to hold bigger plants, bushes or even trees, with these smaller holes still used as planters, creating a sort of ring of herbs and other small planters around the edge of each garden bed.
  
  

Cinder Block Steps

• If your backyard has different levels to it, add steps to get from one level of the ground to the next using cinder blocks. Use these precast blocks, which are almost always entirely uniform in shape, to make this process of building steps in your yard much easier. The best way to do this is to dig out a section of the part of your backyard where the rise exists, and stack your cinder blocks like stairs. Pack them closely together, fill them in with both sand and dirt and water it a little to ensure the blocks are packed into the earth tightly. Observe these steps after it rains and over time to make sure they aren't falling apart or sliding down the rise in the backyard.
  
  

Cinder Block Walkways

• Dig out a path through your backyard or through gardens or trees within your backyard, and use cinder blocks instead of rocks or gravel for people to walk on. By laying the cinder blocks down so their squares point upwards, an attractive pattern is made on this landscaped backyard trail. Add sand or gravel within each square to give the rock trail some color and also keep weeds from growing within it. The width and depth of these trails are simple to measure before digging, as they are the dimensions of however many cinder blocks you want to line up beside each other.