Once grading was complete, setting the bed edging revealed another little miscalculation. I'd planned on using nominal two inch thick by twelve inch wide (5.08 x 30.48 cm) flagstones on edge, burying half their "height" for stability. This would make a six inch (15.24 cm) high bed...I thought. But, I soon discovered that if you start out with a six inch high edge at the high end, it's going to be much higher at the low end, since the grade falls from end to end.
The result was that, from about halfway down the length of the garden, the bed edging is buried less and less until at the end of the center bed, the edging is nearly nine inches (22.8 cm) high. Since the edging needed to be level, there really wasn't an option at this point.
After two years, it's holding, but the end joints have separated at the corners of the center bed a bit, leaking the bed contents, and I know it won't take any internal pressure from digging. If you opt for this kind of edging, don't make the same mistake I did!
I managed to get the stonedust hauled, spread and leveled and the beds framed in; the sand bed and one wall bed filled and planted and about half of the paving done before winter set in. The rest of the walk paving had to wait until the following year.
When you have a plan on paper, laying flagstone paving doesn't require a great deal of creative effort, but it is heavy work. Large flagstones are heavy and unforgiving - you have to think about every move so you don't mash a finger.
The flagstones were delivered on big pallets and set in the parking area about sixty feet (18 m) from the work area. The smaller ones could be moved via cart, but the larger ones had to be worked out of the stack and "walked" to their final resting place since I couldn't carry them and they were too large for the cart.
Trial and error disclosed that it is possible to "walk" them on edge by swinging them, using the corners as fulcrums - slow, but it saves the back. Inevitably, when you are laying them in place, you have to lift each stone at least three or four times to get it set properly. No matter how carefully you level the stonedust, there's either too much or too little stonedust under the stone for it to level.
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