After carefully designing and planning your crevice garden, it’s time to get cracking with construction. While there is generally a great deal more work involved in creating a crevice garden than your standard garden, they are quite a bit easier to maintain; never mind the amazing texture and personality that they will add to your yard.

Construction of your crevice garden begins with the dirt mound. Pile the dirt, according to your plan, in the appropriate place in your yard. A crevice garden can be as high as you like; however, it should be no shorter than 70 cm. One slope of the wall should have a more gradual decline, the dominant side. In order to allow for the best flow of water through the structure, neither of the sides should be any less than 22º or greater than 45º. Once all of the dirt is properly in position, firm it up a bit with a few whacks of the business side of your shovel.

For some fantastic examples of professional rock gardens, check out this clip of the Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington, Ontario

Now that the mound is in place, get to work on the dominant side of the garden. Start positioning rocks, flat side down, beginning from the bottom of the structure. The rocks should be touching at points so as to bolster the structure but make sure that there are spaces of between 5 cm and 15 cm here and there so as to allow for eventual planting. As you work your way to the top, you’ll want to remember to keep the peak exposed to allow space for the stones on the steeper side of the structure. As you are putting the rocks into place, play around with their location and positioning in order to create the most ideal look.

Once all of the rocks are in position on the dominant side, get to work on the steep side. The look that this side should have is that of a ledge or outcropping of rocks. This look is accomplished by actually digging into the mound under the rocks so that about 33% of the rock is actually in the mound. The rocks should flow up with the incline of the slope and at the same angle as the rocks on the dominant side so as to create an appealing symmetry. In order to best create this symmetry, we begin placing the stones on the top of the mound and continue working across as opposed to straight down.

After all the rocks are in place and you are happy with the look of the entire structure all that is left to do is fill in any spaces that you feel require it and get planting. You can also pick up some gravel or mulch and add it is a final touch.