English Garden Patio Update

I have all these little areas in my yard that have their own particular names.  We have the patio, the fairy cove, the cutest flower bed, mailbox bed, front beds, back beds, fence bed… lots of beds.  Well today we are going to talk about the English Garden brick patio.  You know, the one formerly known as the swing patio?  Well, since the swing is no more, I’ve taken to calling this the brick patio.  It’s not even big enough to be considered a patio, really, but what are you gonna do? 

Anyway, back in April when we mulched the English garden, my Mama and I decided to level the brick patio.  Little did I know that this reveal would be so delayed.  I promised to show it to you when the swing was hung back up… well that didn’t happen. :)  Ooops!

Now that we have had a chance to landscape behind the patio as planned, I am back to show you the whole before and after scenario!  Here we go!

First things first, we took up all the bricks.  They are actually brick pavers with no holes in them and they are way cool.  They must be old or reclaimed pavers because they are irregular in shape and size, plus they have neat-o moss growing on them, so we were careful not to disturb it too much while we were rearranging them.  After clearing the space, we raked it all level.  It is mostly sand down here from the original installation so that part was easy.  Then we pulled a string to create a straight line for ourselves to work from. 

Then we proceeded to put all the pavers back evenly spaced in the same layout that they were before.  Because I liked it that way. :)

I find it is helpful to employ your puppy-dog digger, too, if you need any digging done.  Riley is a great digger and she has to be laying right where you are working so she can supervise effectively. :)

She is checking out our handiwork after all the pavers are down.

All finished.  Now it needs rock dust to fill in all the cracks.

We just dumped the rock dust on top and swept it into the cracks with a broom.  Then after a couple of good rains, I swept off the top of the bricks.  It also helps that the yellow bushes in back leafed out and we planted two rhododendrons on the right.

Now, for the landscaping!

We added a continuing row of liriope in a sort of curving design behind the patio and three more hostas to fill in the space. 

And now for that before and after comparison.  Before (from 2011) where you can see the patio caving off to the right:

And After, now it is all level and surrounded by beautiful plants!  I am a little ashamed that this seemingly simple project has taken me so long to check off my list.  But at last, it is done!

Now I just need a garden bench (like this one) to make this space useful! :)  I do have a little something else planned for the English Garden this Summer.  But, it’s been rainy so I haven’t had a chance to spray paint it yet. :)  Stay tuned!