[catllar]

[
[/quote]     I am not sure that a rod would work as the soil isn't that hard? What does rebarred mean? Are you fixing each sleeper to the one below and not one bar going through all of them? Thanks JB [/quote]

Sorry, rebar is what we call reinforcing rod - the stuff you put into concrete to stabilise, for example   concrete pillars.  We buy it from Point P or any builders merchant. The first set of bars are drilled into the ground, the following ones go through the sleeper and the one below - can't gt a drill bit long enough to go through them all. The Geotextile (also from Pont P) is important as the soil will wash through the gaps  (speaking from experience here)- we put ours in and then backfilled the soil.

[catllar]

Just read what I've written - you don't have Point P in England do you?? dooohhh!!

[tode]

How long have you been over here Cattlar 

[catllar]

Hello Tode, We've lived here in Catllar for 6 years and before that we were in the Dordogne for 10 years ( we left partly because the winter weather there was awful)- how about you?

[tode]

Hi Catllar, been over here for 35 years now (starting to take root  ). In a village called St Remy des Monts, between Alençon and Le Mans. Not spectacular countryside, but very pleasant. Are you in the mountains? -- my daughter went twice to La Preste -- terrific thunder-storms that echoed round the peaks!
Best wishes Tony

[catllar]

Hi Tony,  I know sort of where you are , kind of in the direction for driving back to Blighty from here.We're not nearly as high, nor as remote, as La Preste -go to Perpignan, turn on the Andorra road and we're about 40 k inland nr Prades. Not really mountains -  we're at 350m altitude - 40 mins from  sea and 40 mins from ski-stuff and an hour from spain with two airports in spitting distance - Perpignan and Girona - great - only problem from a garden POV is acute lack of water! Still can't have it all, can you?  Because its August we have the thunderstorm syndrome now as I write, lots of noise but no b....y rain. However, it is 38C ! TOOOOOOO HOT!  nice to talk to you - Jan

[tode]

Sounds like a great area to live: plenty of interesting things to visit round there.
Here, the sky went black today, wind, then rain. Great !!  Lasted about 20 seconds.
If the cracks in what we laughingly call the lawn get any wider, we'll be losing the cats down them.
We've had a hose-pipe ban for quite a while, now we're not even allowed to take water from the river. 
Sounds a bit silly to complain about good weather, but a couple of days of rain would certainly be welcome.
Best regards, Tony

[catllar]

I know what you mean - We  had a water ban in place last year from Feb to November but this year so far no  ban  as there is almost always snow melt coming down somewhere into the canal system, but our archaic local regs mean that we can't use this free supply because our house and land is above the irrigation canal and not below it - this despite the fact that the irrigation canal forms one of our boundaries. Grrr!! We would therefore be obliged to use a (whisper the word - ) pump and not rely on a gravity-fed delivery. We could, therefore theoretically bypass the strict watering timetable put in place by the local regie for each area in the village. Makes my blood boil when I see neighbours "below the water" merrily watering their plots (including lawn - which we don't have, by the way - we're all gravel and stones and rocks)  whilst I'm obliged to make do..... sorry!  ranting there. As I'm sitting here in the shade (cooler today - a mere 32 shade) with a cold drink and my feet in the pool I'm thinking that our fellow bloggers back in UK must be feeling really sorry for us (NOT) and wondering how on earth we get by! Well, we struggle on ..teehee

[tode]

You weren't supposed to let on !
I keep saying what a hard time we have here: now you've blown it 

[Foxy]

I dont know if this helps, we have just finished a project where we have built a terrace of 8ft long sleepers (300ft long) laid horizontally 4 or 5 deep in some places, with RSGs (steel) vertically sunk in concrete holding the sleepers in place, our soil is heavy clay so we sunk the RSGs about 3 foot down to secure them. Behind the sleepers is an 8foot wide pathway which we had leveled, and backfilled with topsoil on top of the clay. We them seeded and now is a beautiful green pathway! On top of the pathway is a open green area where we have literally just "pinned" turf on to stabilse the top, this has now taken root and has worked a treat! hard work but well worth the backache! Still a way to go though as achieved on a shoe string.

[tode]

Sounds like you've done a good job 
300feet long ! You must have had some hot afternoons 

[catllar]

You weren't supposed to let on !
I keep saying what a hard time we have here: now you've blown it 

Ooops!

[Will1983]

how about researching into gabion stone walls?
essentially you make some boxes about 3'x3'x3' out of chicken wire, position it where ever you want it and then fill it with stones.

these stone blocks could even be lined with geotextile and soil used inside. the visible side could be covered with turf to form a type of living wall effect.

[mobilekat]

One thing to remember with what ever system you use to terrace, make sure the steps that you will be going up and down are not too high, and are even sizes.
Our garden is terraced, which was done by the previous owner of the house, and I am pretty sure his legs were twice as long as mine 
It doesn't sound too much of an issue until you spend a few hours going up and down the garden (and up and down and up and down)- big uneven steeps will wreck your knees!
Mind you I have learnt to be more efficent in my tasks around the garden than I was on a flat garden!

Also make sure the bit of the step you stand on isn't going to get slippy- I nearly came the whole way down the garden on my posterior last night after a drop of rain 
Our steps are made of 8 inch stakes sunk into the ground, secured with concrete and back filled with gravel- look quite good, but as they have aged the wood has got slippy.

Good Luck!!