In July, I wrote about the Crevice Brush tool I had picked up on Amazon and how we used it to restore the lower patio by our house.
As it has stretched into August, I have had the boys out most mornings working on the other patio areas. Work for an hour or two as the sun rises, before it gets hot. And slowly all the patio parts started looking so much better.
The tool we bought came with two brush heads, and yes, we wore the first down! It did such an amazing job however.
We were starting the upper patio here. It had gotten pretty ugly the past 6.5 years. The moss and weeds we had mostly removed by here.
I removed the chairs that sat here, and instead brought up a long line of potted plants to enjoy. Alpine strawberries, parsley, and 4 basil plants. They get full sun after 11 am.
I moved the chairs over and parked more plants around them. Lavender on the ground, Thyme and Valerian starts on the table.
We kept at it. We brought down the loveseat couch, mini table, and the big table. Moved the Solo Stove to its new home.
The upper patio has a lower patio as well, with two separate sets of stairs. I had the boys work on this side first, so I could put the grills all down on it.
I brought up all the strawberry pots from down on the homestead garden, and put them around the couch.
I had two new blueberry bushes this spring, that were in pots. I had them hauled up, and they sit where they Traeger grill used to be .
It encouraged me to bring up all the pretty pots of flowers that I didn’t get to enjoy in the gardens below.
The hardest part has been the lower patio strip. It’s often shaded, so the moss is very thick. Add in that everything swept off the upper patio has gone to die there for six or more years, and there are many weeds growing up.
The second stairs going down to it.
We kept moving the big grill, so we could cleanthe paverst. Slowly, we got it done.
This morning.
We now have a fire pit area and the ability to cook easily out there. Now the big grill isn’t under the trees, for safety. It needs a new cover, but fall is still awhile away.
The raised bed that circles around the patio still needs work. When we moved in in 2018, I ripped everything out (it had been horribly overgrown) and planted herbs in it. It’s out of control once again. We spent the weekend starting to pull plants out and cutting back all the invasive weeds (so many types of thorny blackberry canes, choking everything out). Still a lot more to do in it, but I am grooming and pruning it.
But at this point I am just so happy. We took a horrible mess and made it usable – and pretty – once again. Now we can use our patios and not feel bad about how they look.
Up next? A new kitchen garden to build this fall, along with deer fencing to keep them out of the lower patio area.
~Sarah