How to Add Finishing Touches to a Patio
You have finally gotten that patio you wanted installed but now it just looks like a blank wasteland. The finishing touches, such as collections of containers and pergolas, can turn a patio from a hard, flat and rather uninteresting area into a spot where you can enjoy relaxing. Does this Spark an idea?
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Instructions
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Establish permanent plants. Most people fill the space in their patio with plant containers, partly for convenience, but planting directly into the ground makes watering less of a chore. Permanent plants such as shrubs and small trees are best grown in the ground whenever possible. Some manufacturers make paving slabs that are designed to form a series of planting holes.
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Build raised planting beds. Building a raised bed, either against the house wall, or to form the patio boundary, enables you to bring far more plants into the patio area, especially useful in very small plots, where the patio is the garden. Build the bed from bricks, concrete blocks or old railway sleepers, but be sure to provide a solid foundation. Place a layer of rubble then one of gravel in the bed, to provide good drainage, and then fill with suitable potting compost (soil mix), depending on the plants you want to grow.
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Install built in seating. Built-in seats not only save space, they also give the patio a well designed, sophisticated look. A few bright cushions give hard bench seats comfort and color.
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Install a built-in grill. A built-in barbecue blends with the garden in a way that a free-standing one cannot, and it will probably be used more often. Build it from bricks or blocks, depending on the material used in nearby buildings; include a sheet of mild steel on which to burn the charcoal and a grill on which to place the food.
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Build a pergola. The overhead beams of a pergola help to give the patio an enclosed, integrated appearance that effectively extends the home. They provide excellent support for climbers that can bring useful shade as well as beauty. Avoid covering the whole patio with a thick canopy of climbers, however, as you will be searching for the sun, and spattered in drips after a summer shower.
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Plant climbers for drama and shading. English ivy for lush greenness or wisteria for floral drama, planted on a trellis or pergola will instantly make the space seem less empty. Grape vines are good climbers for an overhead support, particularly as they lose their leaves in autumn, so you will get full winter sun.
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Tips & Warnings
Always carefully consider the placement of permanent structures.
- Photo Credit Public Domain
