Hello, I was thinking about making a short retaining wall for a flower bed in front of my house. We like the way Tumbled Bluestone looks and I was looking for any pointers anyone may have with laying such a material. It wouldn't be very high - i'm guessing a foot and half at the highest. Also, any experience in cutting the stone? I'm assuming at some point I'll have to do some cuts on it to get it all to lay right. My thoughts are to do three tiers, the bottom one driveway level up a foot and half or so, the next one about a foot and half above that one and then the top one which is the same height of the walkway to the house. Not looking to do a patio with it (yet).

I have a good amount of a brand name mortar mix that has been in dry storage and is in excellent condition. I need to add a strip of concrete to an existing concrete exterior door sill. The size would be about 1 3/4 inches high by 2 inches wide by 36 inches long. Do you think I could use this mortar mix as is for this job or do I need to add small gravel to it? Or should I use something else completely? I was going to brush on a thin concrete coat first to help adhesion and install about 6 stainleess screws into the existing concrete to keep it in place. Thanks for any advice.