How to Putt down grass and ballast

That has been covered a lot in the past here.  If you use the search function or just scan back several months on this particular forum you will find a lot about those topics.

I strongly suggest painting the entire area you are doing with gray (near the track where ballast will be) or brown (for dirt) or gray-tan-red (for stone) flat latex paint first.

Eric Siegel's video on ballasting track is the best I have seen.  I did it exactly this way.  Used a small planet hand finger-pump sprayer for the alcohol and a plastic squeeze bottle as for mustard or ketchup at a diner for the 50/50 white glue/water mixture.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhBhA_4LLg0

As to the grass.  I use cheap "chip" brushes from the paint store to paint yellow or white glue onto where I want the grass, then sprinkle in on thick.  After wwaiting several hours, I use s shop vac, with a clean, empty bin, to suck up all the excess: then pour that back in the container.  

I'll kick it off with the ballast spreader I use. Easy to use and does a great job.

A quick search here will give you tons of options for gluing ballast.

Gilly