10 pointers for building outdoor steps

There are many ways to integrate an outdoor staircase or path into a landscape.

• Use honeycombed concrete paving stones on the treads and fill in the spaces with soil.
• Plant creeping thyme, bentgrass, creeping phlox or moss to add beauty and stability to the steps. Maintain the plants by hand trimming.
• You can find or create pockets of earth on other types of steps, allowing you to plant perennial flowers, such as periwinkles, saxifrage, cranesbills or lavender.

Start at the bottom when you are building steps, so each tread can rest upon the riser of the step beneath it.

Soften the edges of stairways that appear too wide by planting fast-growing, sprawling plants along the edges.

• Ivy, lavender, nasturtiums and other plants with attractive foliage and blossoms are good choices.
• Blooming vines, such as clematis, wisteria and honeysuckle can be trained to grow along treads and handrails.

If your slope is gradual, plan for landings every seven or eight steps. They should be at least three times the width of the treads.

Lay a five by 25-centimetre piece of lumber along the tops of shallow steps to create a ramp for a wheelbarrow.

• Reduce wear and tear in heavily trafficked areas of your lawn, grass path or garden by laying a few flat paving stones at one-step intervals.
• Set them deep enough that a mower can pass over them easily.

• Plan a stepping-stone path by walking along the path with normal strides and marking your footfalls with sand or sticks.
• Lay the stones in place and walk across them to double-check the spacing, before setting them permanently.

Place stepping stones in flower beds to keep your feet clean and dry and minimize soil compaction when you're working in the garden.

Tuck plants in among the stones and turn a stepping stone or gravel path into a miniature flower bed.

• Use ground-hugging specimens that will appreciate the radiant heat and fill in quickly, such as aubrieta, alyssum, thyme, bellflower, creeping phlox and ajuga.

Unusual, eye-catching stones make lovely natural ornaments. Select a few for their unique size, shape or colour and place them among plants or alongside a bench or path.

• A row of fieldstones makes attractive and effective bed edging.
• Install flat stones in beds to stand on when watering, weeding or spraying.
• Instead of trying to move big stones, use them as natural centrepieces for creeping, sprawling or trailing plants.
• Create a standing stone by digging a shallow hole and planting the bottom third of a large upright stone. Fill in around it with plants.
• Prevent weeds and mower damage by putting attractive stones on top of a layer of landscape cloth around the base of a favourite tree.