Patio Reborn !
I just completed a fun project that I’ll share with you today. I have a regular client that expressed a desire to bring his patio back to its former glory. I offered him help in achieving that goal – and he said yes!
My clients’ friend (C.C.) wanted to be a part of the project so she was kind enough to go shopping for flowers and bulbs to use in the finished landscape. C.C. also provided a much-needed second pair of hands on the day we implemented our ‘plan’.
My basic premise was to utilize supplies that were already there and to accomplish what I call a ‘quick put together’ for an area that could conceivably have been a larger, more expensive project.
As you can see from picture 1 the patio was overgrown with weeds and beneath those weeds ( as we found out) a flowerbed did exist!
On the ‘quick put together’ (which ended up taking approximately 6 hours on a lovely day and a bit more than $100 in materials) my goal was to remove as many weeds as I could then weed eat the remainder to the ground.
The larger, more expensive project would have entailed digging out the flowerbed since the weed roots were established in the ground a good 3 inches and continuous. Then it would be necessary to replace all the soil and start from scratch.
By doing the ‘quick put together’ we still accomplish the same result but…we use crab grass preventer (pre-emergent – used before the weed germinates under the soil) and regular spot spraying of Round-Up or white vinegar (my ‘green’ solution to Round-up) for controlling any weeds the crab grass preventer might miss.
Once that was done the flowers and bulbs were planted and the flowerbed mulched.
Reusing many of the original flowerpots saved money. Flowerpots can give you the spot of color you need within your landscape. See picture 2.
The patio will be low maintenance on its upkeep assuming weekly ‘touch ups’ with weed killer and simple watering every few days for potted plants.
Hope the last two blogs have gotten you motivated to work in your own yard. Spring is here!
