We had our first snow yesterday, and so there is nothing blooming in the garden today or for the bleak months of winter ahead. November is a time when we have in the past – still squeezed in a few landscaping projects. This picture was taken today, but we actually did this project last year. I do apologize for the straggly grass though. I tried to quickly whippersnip the edges before I took the picture, but it seems the whippersnipper doesn’t like the cold!

This simple project was something that was painful – in that the stones were heavy – but not difficult. We have a very odd drop-off in our yard which leads to the back of our house and a small strip of backyard. The drop-off is at least 6 feet in height, and we have planted grass to hold the ground, and an herb garden/rockery further over. We previously had some wooden steps which were falling apart and slippery, so we pulled them up and replaced them with stone steps. The stones were purchased from a local supplier of pavers and landscaping stones/ We measured approximately the slope that we wanted, and purchased 7 natural looking stones – longer than our big foot sizes! We also purchased some limestone screenings. We cut out the stone path with a shovel – on a cold day when the ground was solid and dry. I think that this would be a harder task if our ground was not so tightly compacted. Then we placed and levelled some limestone screenings at the base, followed by placing the bottom stone. We just worked bottom up, making sure the stones were stable, level and spaced a comfortable step above each other.

I say we, but my husband did all of the work, with my providing constant advice and testing and levelling by walking on them! My husband didn’t think he could do this project at first, but we are both very happy with the outcome. In the spring, we seeded with more grass seed and voila, it serves it’s purpose while blending into our historic home’s yard and garden.