Scesnick,
Yes, you will need to pour a concret footing. Sorry, I was sort of vague on all the details on how I'd do it. I was just trying to get across the main point of digging the hole and filling it with concrete with rebar going throght the middle of the block.
Step one will be to drill your holes. The trick here is to make sure they line up with your block. You can bend and fudge the rebar a little, but idealy, you want it in the middle of the block. One piece of half inch rebar is plenty for such a short wall.
Next, you will need to build your forms to give you a level footing for the block to sit on. 2x4 are plenty thick enough for this.
Run a stick of rebar down the middle of the form and tie it to each piece of rebar that you have in the holes that are sticking up.
Two ways to make this stronger is you want, but at three feet, it's not all that big of a wall, so it's your call.
First is to decrease the distance between your holes and vertical rebar spacings. The closer together they are, the stronger it will be.
Second is to lay a stick of 3/8 rebar along the top of your second row of block the length of the wall and tie it to the vertical pieces of half inch rebar.
Run a string along the top edge of your block as you're laying them to keep it straight and level. If you go slow and only mix small quantities of morter, you can do a great job. It's when you try to do too much, or go too fast that you end up with a crooked or sloping wall. Brick and block are miserable things to work with to get a nice finish, but the results can be amazing if you just go slow and make sure each one is perfect before moving on to the next.
Hope this helps,
Eddie
