Doing stuff.

I'm so eager to plant the "new" garden up top, but need to leave the ugly black plastic down for a couple  months to kill the Bermuda grass. I'm itching to start! I reminded myself I'm surrounded with weeds and plenty of things that need attention right here. 

One project waiting for me... the stairs in the slope. I had one piece of hammer-in Corten steel edging from EdgeRight. 2' strip, 14" tall curved to a 45° angle. It was a leftover piece from a different project, but talking with Ivan and Sophia we thought hey that might work. I ordered 2 more of the same 2' 45° curved strips, and 3 additional that were not curved and lengthier at 4'.  I put a rock to flatten the 2 new short curved pieces, as they seemed more curved than the original. 

 They are 16 guage steel, so pretty darn thick!

I wanted the steps near the bottom to be wider than at the top, to me that feels more inviting.  I put the 4' flat pieces on this old olive tree trunk and stood on it, to give a little bit of a curve.  *I did move the rake before I stood on the piece of metal.

The ground is soft from watering, so I thought I could use my rubber mallet and pound the metal right in. Nope.  No way.

Instead, I used my handy root slayer and dug down almost to the depth I wanted the metal to set at.

I lovingly moved new growth from Grevillea gaudichaudii to the side so I didn't harm it. 

I hit a difficult spot, and dug up this weird clump of tar?  It's sticky, what the heck is that doing there? 

Got the first riser in.  Ran inside to order a metal non-skid grate for the bottom stair. Coming down the stairs, I felt like I could slip? 

The next day I got 2 more risers placed.  Ivan and Sophia texted around this time that they will visit this weekend.  Ivan offered to help get the last 3 in.  Oh, I'll definitely take him up on that!

  I had one bag of gold fines hanging around. I couldn't wait to "see" what it will kind of look like so filled one stair with the fines. Yeah, I think that's an improvement. 

Of course, I'll soften the edges with some sedums or something? Not sure yet.

I'll pick up 6 more bags of gold fines to finish the project.  Because it is steel, I'm sure it's not a forever solution.  That's fine.  I'll probably need a handrail at some point.  If I need to roll a wheelbarrow or someone can't do steps, the paved fire lane is always an option. 

Hey, I just received an order in the mail from Micro Paradox.  Gerhard of Succulentsandmore recently posted of a field trip he arranged to Micro Paradox.  I couldn't go that day, but when he showed off his plant haul, I was extremely jealous and had to place an order. 

Gorgeous, wow. I don't often go for variegated but am glad I did. The plants were SO wrapped up I needed 2 pairs of scissors!

L-R: Agave collector's shelf #3 what should I call her?, pixie, California glow, half-moon reverse var. Blue glow.

I'm super excited to attend Gerhard and Kyle's sale on Halloween!   Halloween plans?