Walkway is done

Quilting has not been high on my priority list… It isn’t that quilting has lost its importance, it is just that my focus has been averted for a while.  Walkway, patio and gardening are in the forefront at this time.  Walkway is done, patio is looking really good, and garden is on the horizon.

In a previous post I showed the sart of my walkway out front.  I have finished that walkway.  It turned out pretty nice.  I have had several Esperanzas in the flowerbed  for a couple years already.  After I finished the walkway I decided I would try putting some other plants in between.  I put in some tomato and banana pepper plants that produced lots of good eating.  I also planted some basil and a few other miscellaneous plants.

Everything did really well except the summer squash.  It seems that my soil is lacking something the squash needs, but by the time I figured this out, it was too late to fix it for this season of squash… but I will know next time. Right now the Esperanzas are up higher than the railing on the deck… and that is after being cut back in January, almost to the ground. I have to tell you how much I really, really like Esperanzas. 

I talked my husband into buying a pallet of patio blocks so I could start our patio out back.  I got over the thought of making my own patio blocks after my experience with the walkway out front.  Not that it was a bad idea, just that it is a lot of work no matter how you look at it.  We had the pallet delivered on April 28^th.  Sunday was an odd delivery day, but that was when the truck was coming down to our neighborhood.  I chose red patio blocks as a contrast to the gray blocks that I had previously used for the clothesline pad.  I had kind of leveled the ground when I put the blocks down for the clothesline, but I didn’t get fancy.  I didn’t put anything in between to stop weeds from growing up, so it was a continuous task to keep the clothesline pad free of weeds.

It was a challenge to convince my husband that it was a worthwhile project to consider a patio out back.  His comment was that there is nothing pretty about the back yard, why would you want a patio out there.  I had thought of a few different areas to put the patio, but the one that made the most sense was just off the steps from the deck.  Turns out that was a good choice.

I have been continually working at this patio for more than two months now, and it always seems like there is something new I come up with to do… but I’m really enjoying this patio.

I'm going to limit the length my post at this point.  I have lots of pictures to share, but I need to keep this within reason.  I will be posting more.  Just thought this was a good place to start up posting again.  The key element here is the before picture above of the patio area.  I enjoy looking back at it now and then to remind myself how far I have come.