landscape and precedence

What is your plan as far as painting or not, the sides of the rails and ties?  I have not and may never get to the ballasting stage on my layout because its just too much for me to do and I am OK with my painted rail sides and ties and trackside scenic efforts thus far.  But, if I was definitely going to ballast the track after the rail and tie prep, I would do it first just to get it done as it looks like a rather tedious job depending on how much track you have to do.  I have put off the "green scenery" until the winter months and after I have experimented more with making trees and vines and big bushes.  As far as buildings, you no doubt have a plan for locating those and roads before any ground cover proceeds.  Looking forward to your progress and green scenery tips as that is a big challenge for me.

"plan as far as painting"

I neglected to say that i spent the last three months making terrain (plaster of paris same stuff casts are made of) and much of the time spent on painting and trying to create colors by mixing various acrylics available.  i even built up where the track is down

i have 106 or so sq foot of layout

white glue doesnt work with static grass that well. It gets crusty on top unless you do real small area.