I don't like most of the concrete fake brick interlocking walls--they don't look right with my 20s era brick house. There is some irregular slate in the garden and I wouldn't mind using more of it, but I suspect dry stacking stone requires skills I lack.

Any suggestions? Even if I find some interlocking concrete bricks I don't hate, how would you deal with the interface between the sidewalk and the wall? Would it be best to just set the wall back several inches and grow a ground cover in the gap? It's a shame I missed the tearing out of whatever it was that go torn out about 50 years ago--there are dozens of yards neaby that were terraced with old concrete. They look pretty nice!

Love to hear some ideas! Thanks!

Since your wall is not that big, I suspect you could tackle a dry stacked wall yourself, especially if you could get you hands on some slate like you already have in your garden as slate tends to have nice flat surfaces which are easier for beginners to work with. As to the specific instructions, there are many good books on the subject that you can buy or borrow from your local library. The keys to remember are 1) build on a solid base (well-compacted subsoil, or packed gravel or something like that); 2) always slope the wall slightly into the earth it will be holding back (the back of each stone should be tilted downward ever so slightly, and each row should step back slightly from the one underneath it); 3) always stagger your joints (like brickwork); and 4) the pieces on the top row, called capstones, should be as large as possible so as to have fewer joints for water to seep down into the wall and because they are naturally most vulnerable to shifting since they do not have the weight of other stones on top of them.

If this seems like a lot, don't be intimidated. I built an L-shaped wall in my front yard (30' by 20' by 2' feet high at its highest point) to deal with a similar sloping issue that you have and it has come through several winters with no problems. This year I built a 50' long wall in the back yard that is 2' high for about half the length and then slopes up to about 4' and arcs around the patio, then turns a corner to finish at the lot line. I've had no training; I just read about the basics and jumped in. You'll decide early on if you have a feel for working with stone.

As for the placement of your wall, I would position it back from the sidewalk and fill in the space in between with a groundcover as you suggest. First, using natural stone you are going to have little gaps between the wall and sidewalk which will no doubt fill with weeds and it probably easier to manage a somewhat larger space with a groundcover. And second, you do not want to have your wall destroyed if the sidewalk is ever dug up to be redone. If your wall is right up against the sidewalk, I suspect it would be impossible for the city to work on it without destroying your wall.

Good luck. I'd love to hear what you decide on.

Thank you much! The ol' spouse is going to freak out about this one muhahahhahahaha!

I'll have trouble ending a wall because on one end it will either have to meet a perpendicular concrete wall that slopes down to meet the sidewalk or end sort of abruptly before that spot. It's sort of tricky to describe...

We don't have alot of stone laying about here like in much of New England--it's mostly imported and the big chunks aren't as easy to get a hold of as the smaller ones, but I'm definitely getting some good ideas from y'all!

I put one up in my front yard not too long ago and it looks great. I saved several thousand dollars doing it myself.