What to do with all those bricks

A lady in town who is doing a major renovation of her house and garden contacted me through a friend (who is her neighbor) and asked if I would like to have some bricks. I rarely turn down such an offer and she told me that I could have them if I would pick them up. My friend told that there weren't too many so I headed out one morning thinking I might possibly get them all in one load, maybe two. Ha! I think there were enough bricks there to cover a small house. A few weeks later and about five or six trips, I had a good supply of brick - now, what to do with them?

My first plan was to redo my vegetable/herb garden area. This tiny area is enclosed in hedges and I have raised beds along the perimeter. A dogwood sits in the middle and I know, I know - who grows vegetables under a tree? Well, me - I will not cut down that tree - it was one of the few trees on the property when we moved here and despite limited sunlight, I am able to grow a few tomatoes, peppers and herbs.

The floor area had been covered with pine straw and a narrow circular brick path around the dogwood that had become overgrown and weedy. I decided to use the bricks and create a floor over the entire area. I also needed more space for herbs and I ended up creating a raised bed around the trunk of the dogwood in a wheel design.

I added a layer of gravel and used a rubber mallet to place the bricks, then added a layer of sand and brushed it down the cracks to fill in. The following photos were taken shortly after I completed the project (about 6 weeks ago) so the sand was not settled by then.

I'm pleased with the results and I still have more bricks left!