Brick Planters You Can Build in a Weekend (Even If You’ve Never Laid a Brick)

Two brick boxes are enough to give a plain patio some edges. Here they sit right at the paving, one stepping forward of the other, with a dark pergola behind.

• Bricks laid on their sides finish the top and make a neat ledge.
• Bark mulch covers the soil and keeps the surface tidy.
• Silver lavender, soft grasses, and deep purple foliage share the space.

Build one box first. By the time you start the second, the rhythm comes easy.

Round beats square when you want a soft focal point. These two planters are built from bricks stood on end, stacked in rings, so the walls look like neat pleated drums.

One holds a young citrus tree with a thin watering line running in. The other overflows with purple verbena. Set against a dark fence, the pale brick and the flowers really show.

Curves take more patience than straight walls, so lay the first ring dry before any mortar goes on.

Worn yellow and cream bricks give this planter a lived in look from day one. It runs along a fence like a long bench for plants.

The shape is the easiest of all to build: four straight walls and square corners. Inside, leafy shrubs and big hosta leaves sit low, while purple alliums rise above them on tall stems.

Straight lines forgive beginners. Save the curves for your second project.

Corner looking empty? Build the planter around a tree. This one hugs a white fence in a gentle curve, then steps down in small sections, with an olive tree in the middle and young citrus on either side.

The mixed, weathered bricks have chalky patches and different shades, which hides small slips in your laying. Silvery blue plants and dark mulch keep the bed calm and tidy.

Plants spilling over the edge are the best sign a planter is working. This one is built from soft red and pink toned bricks with pale mortar, and it sits beside a metal grid path.

Herbs, leafy greens, and a red cabbage crowd the top, with purple chive flowers poking through. It looks like a kitchen garden you could snip from on your way inside.

Give roots room. A deep box of soil feeds this kind of full planting.

Lettuce sits right at the corner of this warm orange and cream brick bed, close enough to pick without kneeling. The walls zigzag, which gives you extra planting edge in a small footprint.

Plant it in layers:

1. Low lettuce along the front edge.
2. Feathery fennel in the middle.
3. Big leafy cabbage type greens at the back.

Height decides everything here, so pick it before you buy a single brick.

Beds at different heights make a small yard look planned. Here a cluster of red brick boxes sits against a white wall, with a rosemary bush at one end and tomato type plants filling the front bed.

The rusty metal obelisks do double duty. They give climbers something to grip and they add height to a garden that would otherwise sit flat.

More beds, more variety. Even a tiny plot starts to feel like a real potager.

Young trees need room to spread their roots, and a long brick bed gives them plenty. This one runs along a timber fence beside a brick path, with two small citrus trees in dark, fresh soil and a thin watering line laid across the top.

You have two ways to plant it:

• Trees only, for a clean look and easy care.
• Trees with low herbs underneath, to use every inch.

The reclaimed bricks and rounded top edge match the path, so the whole side of the house feels like one project.