I used large chunks of broken concrete salvaged from a nearby highway project (most were about 6" thick and sized at least 2 feet by ten or more inches) to build steps on my clay slope. I dug a level patch the width and three times the depth of my bottom stairstep into the base of the hill. The concrete pieces I set here became the landing (the outer third) and the foundation for the first step (the remaining 2/3). When these were all level I shoveled about three inches of the local clay onto the inner 2/3 and pounded it firm before adding the next layer of concrete chunks, the first actual step and the foundation for the step above. I repeated this for each riser, so there is concrete support in the hillside for each successive riser. It took five steps to mount the hill -- the top step is twice the depth of the rest, to make a smooth transition to the paver pathway at the top of the hill. Best of all, the whole thing was FREE! I am less than five feet tall; I took a hint from another gardenweb post and used a tripod with a pulley attached at the top to maneuver these chunks, all of which were far too big for me to lift. Does this make sense? Lynn

Yes, you have posted in the correct forum. Also, welcome to GardenWeb! It seems like what you are proposing is a good solution. If you had a wider area I might suggest a path with a little curve to it. With only 9 ft to work with, I wonder if it might make more sense to move the path out toward your property line so that you would have a 5' or 6' bed along your house to work with. Hopefully somebody with more knowledge on this topic will chime in. With all the houses on narrow lots and walk-out basements, it seems like this would be a pretty common situation. - Brent

julespa, you should go to the hillside gardening forum. A few months back I explained how I hand terraced my 45 degree slope of a garden, right on a stone hill. I really hope to put some pictures up, but search for terracing on the hillside forum and you should get some answers to start with. Batya

It looks like you are using the fence pieces to make mini retaining walls/terraces. This appears to be working for you as a temporary measure but I don't think this will work as a permanent measure. Some sort of deeply rooting plant might be able to hold your soil in place if established before the fence pieces give out or rot. Or you could try something a little heavier and less likely to decompose and less likely to fail under the pressure of the soil and moisture behind your wall (stone, treated landscape timbers, etc.). One of the trickier aspects to this is to have a system that retains soil but lets water escape so that you don't have too large a build up of water which can blow out a wall. Another poster mentioned he might try gabions for a project. I have not used gabions yet but they seem like they could be a viable option for your project and gabions can themselves be planted.