My 'evening' patio

The result may not be the most professional in the world but it's mine and I done it all by myself and I'm well pleased.

I had loads of stone lying round my garden, mixture of flat and walling and of york and sandstone. I wanted a seating area at the bottom of my garden, for somewhere to sit to catch the last of the evening rays.

To combine the two was my project with a proviso to spend as little as possible.

didn't think to take photos before I started but it was roughish cleared ground with a steady slope that I first dug out as level as I could a quadrant with a radius of about 12'.
I then spent hours over a couple of weeks breaking up an old concrete and tile fire place; old roof tiles and old bricks for the hardcore base





The next bit had to cost a bit as I got 2 tonne of 40 - 1 for the next level. This all had to be barrowed down my garden.



Then the stone had to be gathered from here there and everywhere - One or two really big heavy pieces that I could barely manoeuvre on to the barrow. A few of reasonable size and lots of bits. Small dry stone wall and crazy paving; much juggling of pieces ensued.





Decided that the triangular coping stones should be placed with the long edge sloping away from the patio to provide a good edge and to deter people from using it to stand on




Also dug the border over at this stage and decided that needed edging all round with stone as well

Since these pictures were taken have finished digging and edging the border and have moved a couple of plants in.

Will take some more photos tomorrow to show the result so far.

The patio is pretty uneven as the flat stones were not very flat and are different thicknesses. My intention is to leave it to settle for a while (Couldn't afford to hire a leveller so just used a garden roller). Lift the clearly lower stones and pack them underneath and then fill the gaps with small pebbles. It will never be totally level but it does have it's own charm. And not bad for a first attempt.

I want the border of it to be colourful or at least interesting all year round and to be 'smelly' if possible too. I'm looking at purples and yellows mainly for a visual hit as it will usually be evening when I (hopefully) sit down there with a glass of red and contemplate how wonderful the world is. Any ideas for plants to fulfill this gratefully received but it will be mostly pretty random as it will be whatever I can take cutting off :D

 

It looks to fit in, would look brilliant if you planted the gaps, thyme, daisy or simlar

 

looks very nice indeed:thumb: well done

 

Nice Inter, Its Brilliant :thumb: Well Worth all the Blood sweat and tears Hec, oh and the backache.. Looking forward to to seeing your pics tomorrow... Dee..

 

That looks lovely! Good idea recycling materials in place to build something nice and new, well done indeed. I agree with progard, thime in the cracks would be gorgeous and so nice to smell everytime you pass. Makes the ralxing time even better!

 

Looks good waiting for the next installment

 

Hi Hec.

That's a fantastic job. Your barrow looks like it's had a hard ol' life! :D

Ant.

 

Thanks all

Will Thyme and or Chamomile thrive without soil - There is about 4" of hardcore and then a couple of inches of the compacted 40/1 under the stone.

What would be the best way of getting the result something like level. I'm thinking in terms of lifting the thinner stones one by one and packing sand under to bring them level with their neighbours?

 

Some pics taken this morning








The wooden chairs are Ebay specials. £5.00 each collected locally, one brand new, the other probably 1 yr old. The archway was sitting in my garage from when I bought it for £2.00 2 years ago (Wilkinsons). The lighting was good old Woolies sale Spear & Jackson, stainless steel solar lights down to £14 from £80.

 

I think it looks stunning, all the different colours in the stone along with the shapes make it look perfect. I just love this kind of gardening,in no time at all it will look like it has always been there. I wanted just the same thing in my garden but was overruled by family, a compromise of random paving slabs was decided on, but I would have much preferred yours.


Well done, it is one of the most pleasing looking patios I have seen.

 

Indeed!

I would think that you need to set the stones with nice rich brown soil if you want creeping thyme and such growing in between. Once they are established they will probably do with very little though.

 

Thank you

I am surprised at how quickly the wall looks as though it has always been there.

The stones I still keep moving around a bit to try and end up with the smallest gaps and stones of similar height next to each other. It is very uneven and would never be suitable for anyone who was a bit unsteady (I won't be taking my parents down there) but I have managed to get the chairs so that they don't rock much so it can't be that bad.

I think once I have done the levelling I want and got the gaps filled in it will be pretty well perfect (for me) Oh and filled the bed up a bit too!

If someone had told me last year that I was capable of achieving something like this I would have laughed at them - wouldn't have thought I could even have dug it out so I am doubly pleased with it. And I've got a veg patch this year which I have never had before.

 

Well done u. Could u not lay a layer of sand down then position the stones on top and then level them out more? They your parents and me could visit :D

 

Hi Hec,

the problem with that is that once you start it won`t ever stop, perhaps condiser planting around some of the stones that you wouldn`t ordinarily walk on and swapping the more level ones for the less level ones -ha ha , not as difficult as making sense of what I say though fortunately. Anything else that is still uneven you could chuck some sand and gravel down under thIose and raise them a bit. You will need a little non conformity of level to retain the always been there factor.


Keep us posted won`t you?