Wow... in a much shorter time than expected due to the efforts of my father in law, the bulk of the wall is finished! He did the stone laying, and my wife and I were the pack-mules that delivered the stones, rocks, digging, and soil. Phew... it was hard work keeping up with him! Once he got going, he was going slowly but steadily... and we both still had to juggle the children and working part of things!

... but the bulk of it is done, there is a smaller section that will need to be done as well, but this is amazing that it was able to progress this quickly! It is likely that we will put some sort of stone or paving veneer on the stairs as well instead of leaving them as this bare concrete.

But the job isn't quite finished for the rock and soil haulers... we still need to level off the bed area and fill in the drainage gravel sections behind the wall. Then after the levelling of the bed, we will spray it with organic herbicide to kill off any remaining cooch grass, and then put down a weed mat (probably double layer), then add a couple of centimetres of rock mulching.. then we will be ready to put the raised garden beds with a watering system on top of it... hopefully in time for the spring veggie growing season!

... and as a novice gardener and labourer... it is surprising that there are really well adapted tools for each task! I've learnt so much in the last year or so about the various different building and gardening tools! And just recently, I've learnt that there are decent landscaping gloves that are DIFFERENT to the gardening gloves... and it is unbelievable how much of a difference it makes! Better grip and protection for the hands... which helps lift rocks and bricks, and better for using the shovels... less chafing due to loose and thinner gloves... and they are better for the hands, which, given my day job... I sort of need my hands relatively undamaged!

At some point, I will need to degrass and deweed the section up here in the corner... and then level the soil and then put some levelling material and pavers down in preparation for a lockable garden shed. After losing so many garden power tools in the last month, we are determined not to make it quite so easy for opportunistic thieves. So, we currently have a flatpacked metal shed in the living room waiting for the moment that I managed to get this done...

... meanwhile, my father in law has already moved onto the next stage in the project... slicing the large containers into half in preparation for building out the watering system and then the soil. Eeeepp... we need to stay ahead of him and level, weed, and mulch the area!

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