A Nice Weekend

I just posted some photos from the new patio furniture we were able to purchase thanks to a gift card from Sara & Austin. We were in desperate need of patio furniture, or at least in desperate need of a patio makeover. I think we successfully accomplished this!

The first thing we had to do was treat the weeds that were growing up through the bricks. Brick patios are lovely, but they do require some upkeep. After doing a bit of research online, I decided to go with a natural solution of vinegar and salt instead of a chemical product like Round-up. I sprinkled plain old table salt all over the patio and hit the particularly henious weeds with cider vinegar. We got a bit of rain yesterday afternoon which helped the salt soak in and poison the weeds. It hasn't been 24 hours and they're already dieing. Yippee!

Once that was taken care, I headed off to the garden center at Lowe's and picked up some new flower boxes as well as a variety of blooming annuals. I got some great deals with some of the annuals on clearance for just $1 each (and they are supposed to continue blooming through the first hard frost)! I also stopped at a local landscaping greenhouse and picked up a couple other varieties that they didn't have at Lowe's. Finally, it was off to Target to use the gift card on the patio furniture that I wanted. Four chairs later, we were ready to roll!

I spent the rest of the afternoon potting the new flower boxes and transferring some other plants from one box to another. I'm happy to have hanging baskets on my front porch and to be using the flower box and decorative wheel barrow my dad made for me. Both have flowers in them.

As a final touch, I grabbed the Tiki torches that had been stuffed in the garage for a few years, filled them tiki oil, and placed them around the yard. There are two on the patio, one on the far corner of the veggie garden and one out at the tree line. It is really pleasant out there and the only thing we need now is a pergola (or some sort of shade structure) to keep it a bit cooler during the day. Perhaps next summer.

Regardless, with the cool temps we've had this week, we decided to have dinner out there last night. After that, it was so nice that we played cards until 11pm. Dave would be pleased that you all know that he gave me a severe thrashing at cribbage. :)