Patios

There are a number of ways to make the patio look a lot more interesting than rows of concrete slabs.

DECKING: An old patio often makes an excellent base for a new deck, provided there is enough room beneath the door sills.

BRICKS: Take up groups of say 3, 4 or 5 slabs randomly throughout the patio, and replace with paviours or bricks (house bricks will break up in frosty weather).

To complete the picture, add a brick edging to the patio. This idea works especially well with brick houses, or houses where perhaps the bottom few courses of bricks show beneath a rendered finish higher up. Try to get bricks which match those on your house, and the patio will look as though it really belongs.

GRAVEL OR CHIPPINGS: The same thing can be done with decorative aggregates (gravel/chippings). Aim to replace about 30% of the slabs with gravel - these slabs can then be added to the edge to increase the paved area.

If your patio looks exceptionally awful, and is at least 15 cm below the damp proof course, then you could cover the whole of it with gravel, provided you created an edge at the front, perhaps with bricks, in order to retain the stones.

However, bear in mind that it's not easy to use chairs around a table on gravel, since you can't push them back when you stand up.

Also, if the patio is surrounded by trees, don't forget that you can't sweep gravel, which means that fallen leaves can be a problem unless you have a garden vacuum (which isn't so powerful that it picks up the gravel as well as the leaves!)

STAGGERED EDGE: If one of the reasons your patio looks dull is that it has a straight edge next to the grass, then consider removing slabs randomly across this edge, to create a staggered effect.

In other words, in some places you would remove slabs from just the first row, in others going back two or three rows, so that the edge is no longer straight.

If you used the removed slabs to add to the edge in other places, continuing the staggered effect, you can re-use the turf to fill in the gaps.

Slabs nearest the edge need to be firmly laid, since they are the ones most likely to rock - slabs should ideally be laid on at least 10 cm hardcore and stonedust, and should be fixed down with 5 blobs of mortar and levelled before the mortar sets.

CURVED EDGE: If you've always wanted a curved edge to your patio, lay a 'soldier course' (row of bricks laid side to side) in a curve, outside the existing patio edge, and fill in the gap with gravel.

Strip off the turf until you have created the desired curve, and dig a shallow trench for the bricks.

Fill with 2.5 cm sand and then 5 cm concrete before carefully adding and levelling the bricks, which should fan out around curves.

When set, add mortar between the bricks. Ideally, the brick edge should be laid just below the level of the lawn, which makes mowing the lawn easier.

Of course, this will depend on the level of the existing patio. If you feel the gravel between brick edge and slabs looks out of place, take up some more slabs randomly across the patio and replace with gravel to make it look as though it belongs.

You could continue this soldier course of bricks all the way around the lawn to create a mowing edge, which looks great and makes mowing easier, provided the bricks are laid just below turf level.

PLANTED GAPS: If you like the idea of sitting amongst low-growing plants growing out of gaps in the paving, think about lifting the worst slabs, removing any hardcore or other rubbish and planting into the gap. Creeping Thyme or Chamomile, for example, don't mind being walked on, and smell nice when they are.

Lady's Mantle (Alchemilla mollis) looks great amongst paving, if you don't mind it seeding itself about the place, or perhaps you'd like to go spiky and use New Zealand Flax (Phormium tenax) and create a Mediterranean or tropical feel.

Scatter gravel around the plants to finish off the display.

POTS: If your pots look odd because you're having to put different-sized supports under each side to even them up, then position them in groups and scatter pebbles around them to hide the bottoms.

CLEANING: Give the patio slabs a good clean in the spring to remove dirt and algae. Power hoses do the job well, but sometimes seem to result in you having to clean more often! Perhaps it's because you remember how good it looked just after it was done!

Lighting | Seating | Wicker Obelisk