Save on Stylish Cement Stepping Stones

By June F. Krambule
Published on May 1, 1980
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Finished cement stepping stones set amid surrounding foliage.
Finished cement stepping stones set amid surrounding foliage.
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LEFT: Interlocking garden edging is formed into a ring, placed in a shallow flat-bottomed hole and braced with a banking of soil. A square of chicken wire set inside the mold will strengthen the final stone. RIGHT: The rim is removed after the cement dries, and the attractive stepping stones await your landscaping artistry!
LEFT: Interlocking garden edging is formed into a ring, placed in a shallow flat-bottomed hole and braced with a banking of soil. A square of chicken wire set inside the mold will strengthen the final stone. RIGHT: The rim is removed after the cement dries, and the attractive stepping stones await your landscaping artistry!

With a little leftover cement, a few cents’ worth of chicken wire, and some easy-to-make forms (which can later serve to edge flower beds) . . . you can add beauty — and firm, mud-free footing — to your garden.

Homemade flagstones are ideal by-products of most any large or small concrete project because chances are–whether you pour a foundation, driveway, patio, or retaining wall — you’ll have a little material left over. (The drivers of mixing trucks are often delighted to pour such surplus into your wheelbarrow, rather than cart it to some distant dumping site.)

Furthermore, even if you have no such extensive projects planned, you can still stir up a walkway-sized batch of concrete . . . using the ready-mix found at hardware and building supply stores.

A Few Simple Steps

For each stepping stone, link together a 50-inch section of interlocking metal garden edging (you can use either galvanized steel or aluminum strips) to form a ring about 15 1/2 inches in diameter. Then, place the form in a flat-bottomed, shallow hole in an unused section of your yard . . . press it gently into the ground … and push soil against the outer walls to add strength (put a little extra earthen reinforcement where the hoop is fastened together).

Then, to strengthen your stones-to-be, put a square of chicken wire inside the circle and tuck the corners under to hold the “grillwork” about an inch off the ground.

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