It's been thirteen years since we perched a new house on a ridge overlooking the west branch of the Octoraro Creek. From day one the daylight basement cried for a patio. So did my wife. Immediately, I used landscape timbers to shore up the bank and even built a series of wooden steps toward the needed patio.

But then activity stopped until about a year ago. I guess I was busy building greenhouses and was short on both time and money to tackle the patio project.

The now finished project consists of a 15 by 60-foot cobblestone patio, 35 feet of waist high retaining wall and 16 steps to reach the grade of the main floor of the house. I'm not a certified "do it yourselfer", and while time and money was an issue, I was just plain scared to tackle such a project.

My intention now is to spend a few paragraphs explaining my process to accomplish this significant improvement to my landscape and to suggest that if I can do it, you can, too.

I started by visiting several local venders and studying the information they supplied. Next, I attended a dealer demonstration where they built a small section of a patio. That was confidence building, but I still wasn't ready to proceed.

Next, my wife and I traveled to New Jersey to observe another, more complicated, demonstration. This one involved a walk with a step or two. In addition to watching their procedures I began to carefully study their work. Close up it wasn't perfect.

Finally, I was in Quarryville and paused to study a new brick building. From ten feet it looked great. From ten inches it looked pretty bad. At that point I realized that one would view the whole project and not study it for the small flaws. I was ready.

Given the size of the project and the amount of dirt that needed to be moved, I hired an excavator to move dirt, place the six inches of stone dust base and roll it. That was in late October. I immediately started with the wall. When I got to the right turn for the steps I realized that I should have started there so I tore the wall down and started over. That was my only disaster.

I spent last Thanksgiving morning working on the steps but quit a few minutes before the extended family arrived for dinner. My brother-in-law studied my work and was amazed that a contractor would leave and let his tools lying around. That was a confidence builder.

The wall and steps were nearly finished by the end of December. Fortunately, the first week in January was warm and my wife and I laid the 15 by 60-foot patio in four days working hours appropriate for our age. We used half-inch pipe and a two by four to level the layer of sand ahead of laying the cobblestones.

Unfortunately, winter then set in, and given our busy springs we did not get back to the project until a month or so ago. The finishing touches included cutting a few blocks to fit since our patio and wall are at a slight angle. We also needed to level the edges with topsoil and plant a bit of shrubbery.

At ten feet, it looks great. Thanks to a helpful vender and a helpful and patient wife, I'm happy. I can't wait to start my next project.