{Tots 100 Homebase Challenge} The Garden

This month’s Tots 100 - Homebase challenge was the garden – hurray!  My hayfever is now over and I can finally get back out there and give my poor neglected garden some love.  But for this challenge I decided to concentrate on the patio which was looking a bit rough and as it’s closest to the house it’s also the the most visible part of the garden. Our patio is old, grey, prone to weeds and frankly not like you’d see in a magazine.  I’m forever out there trying to kill the grass that comes up between the cracks, and pulling weeds out.

There used to be pea shingle around the edges but the birds used to throw it around everywhere so I’ve replaced that with heavier slate stones and that’s worked pretty well. It doesn’t go everywhere and looks better next to the grey patio slabs.

I was looking for a quick fix solution for the patio – you’ll see why when I post about my bathroom at the end of the week!.  So I decided to ‘dress’ the patio to brighten it up, rather than do major work.  Armed with my £100 voucher from Homebase and gardening obsessed daughter we headed off to Homebase and bought garden wood paint in Cuprinol Willow for the bench to give it another coat, some solar lights, a bird bath (Miss L thought they needed one) and lots of pots and plants to ‘dress’ the patio with.  We also grabbed some pillows from inside and some bunting from Miss L’s room to make a pretty seating area.

I went for a pink/purple/white palette as I thought it would tie in nicely with the green of the bench and the pretty duck egg pots I found in Homebase. If it had been earlier in the season I would have bought some veggies and herbs for the pots but the growing season is pretty much over for them now, so we only bought some Swiss Chard which will be a nice autumn/winter veg and it’s still something for Miss L to grow.

I’m really pleased with how it’s turned out, it feels quite tranquil out there now and looks a lot better from the dining room window. Amazing the difference a few pots and some greenery make.  If you’d like some more inspiration about how to make a quite change to your home pop over to the Homebase Facebook Page

Tagged as: Homebase, Tots 100 Home Club