Step 4 Lay the top course of sleepers ensuring the joints are offset from the course below. No dead men are needed in this course. Use galvanised gang nail plates and nails to nail them to each other and the course below. Step 5 Excavate post holes to 400mm at 1m intervals along the front of the wall using a post hole shovel. Cut sleepers to 800mm lengths, place them in the holes and, using a spirit level to ensure they are vertical, nail them to the sleeper wall flush with the top.
Half fill the hole with water and tip in fast setting concrete.
Completely fill the hole, watering and stirring as you go. Allow to set for 3 hours before resuming work in the area. We built a parterre with bird bath and border garden in the ornamental garden area. Reconstituted sandstone garden borders were used around both. A parterre is the name given to a formal garden usually next to the house.