things are progressing quite nicely here in the back patio
stay with us as we give you a little backyard patio project
update
hello friends welcome to Gardening with Creekside I am Jenny and here we are yet again
in the backyard patio and we have got some fantastic updates to bring you some progress has
been made and it feels like we can actually start to see some of the bones come together in this
patio one thing that you can see behind me we're still not there but y'all know us it's just
right we're doing one thing after another this is in our spare time but we can finally see kind of
the formation of the steps and how they are coming together I told Jerry he's just an absolute genius
for the way that he can just work these things out and take what's in my brain and make it come
to fruition so I am so excited about these um there are three steps already in these are what
you call the risers and we will do a whole video just on the steps so if you need step information
just hang on that will be coming in the coming weeks but we wanted to give you an update on it
but you can see how we've got the three steps in already we're definitely going to have four
maybe even a flat step up at the top we can't quite figure that out yet but you can see they
have a nice arch to them they are just so so pretty you will notice also that we have
these black wires coming out on each of the steps that is we went ahead and laid the electrical
wire down there because we will have some step under lighting or underlining under lighting
underneath the steps, I'll get it right here in a minute so we went ahead and made sure that
those wires were there so it makes it really easy to get those wired as soon as they go in
we're going to have of course they have that curve to them there will be these blocks
that will be on the edge I'll bring them to you Jerry what do we call these
this is the coping so you see it has a nice round edge these will hang over the steps a little bit
but Jerry will determine exactly how much but say that it hangs over like this much so those lights
go right underneath there so it is hidden so these are 12 inches long obviously, our steps are a lot
deeper than that we'll have those running straight across so you have this nice beveled edge on the
edge of the step and then behind that we'll have the pavers the patio pavers cut to fill
in the gaps behind there so that kind of gives you an idea of how everything is going to look
again we're really excited the caps are not on all the way up the steps we'll have these flat pieces
of course, we'll have them cut and they will go up so it has that nice finished look to it we are
using bell guard products I know a couple of you have asked what the products are that we are using
as we do things and as we use the different products we'll make sure that we tell you
what those products are because I know when Jerry and I were first starting
this whole process of picking out pavers it was really important because we would
see that there was one customer John and he was coming to us with um he wanted some help
filling up his AquaPots and he said we have this new patio this is what it looks like
you know the first thing I said was oh my gosh I love your stone what is it so it's nice to
see the products that you're considering to be used in real life so we will tell you all
what they are the specific names of them but they all are Belgard products and they have
been fantastic so the steps are coming along quite nicely now I'm sure you've noticed right away that
there are um containers with plants in the flower beds there is dirt in the flower beds we got that
done at the end of last week I am super excited about that you all know this has been like my
one I just been chomping at the bit to get to so excited about that but there was a process that
I want to go through and explain to you what we did remember these beds are four feet deep
and they're about 24 roughly feet long on each bed we have that retaining wall it is a freestanding
retaining wall but we wanted to make sure that we would have proper drainage in these beds so we put
in remember that nice big white pvc pipe that has the holes in it for the drainage what we basically
did was did like a little mini french drain in the bed so those white pipes are at the base running
along the whole length base of the wall we went ahead and laid landscape fabric underneath it
wrapped the pipe one time and then we laid gravel down on top of the landscape fabric and the pipe
we didn't want to put the gravel straight on top of the pipe because we didn't want to run the risk
of some of that gravel going down into the holes of the pipe and clogging it up so we just did one
wrap of the landscape fabric over the pipe so that water can still filter through but that gravel
then is on top of the landscape fabric we then brought the landscape fabric up the sides
of the retaining walls because and maybe this wouldn't happen but this would just be my luck
and my fear would be that we've done all these great walls we had we'll have the
patio pavers in and so forth and so on and then when it rains or irrigation or you know whatever
happens in the flower beds that all of a sudden you get dirty water seeping through the wall
onto your nice new patio and I did not want that to happen so that landscape fabric as you can
see is one continuous piece it wraps once around the pipe then it comes up to the side of the wall
that gravel is then a nice thick layer of that gravel is laid on there we used what size jerry
we use size 67 gravel on that so again the water just drains right through hits the pipe and
then those pipes are connected to existing black corrugated pipe that we have connected to the beds
and then those are trenched out so they will pop up out in the yard so all that water will collect
and be sent out and just pop up down further into the grass once we got that gravel down then the
fun began of simply filling up the beds with a wonderful soil product that we have there's a
local soil farmer for lack of a better word they create their own blend this is the same blend that
we used in our trial garden our annual trial beds down at the nursery remember how wonderful those
plants did so because we're using such a high quality product as far as the soil goes we're not
going to have to amend this soil at all I'm not this year especially I'm not going to have to use
any kind of compost or soil amendment to this bed because it's already great of course I will use
my Bio-tone and then we will mulch it really well we do have irrigation that will go through here
again we're going to wait though until we get the plants actually in the ground and then we
will run the irrigation into the actual beds but it will be a drip system so that way you won't
even know when you're out here visiting you won't know that there's irrigation in the bed because it
will be completely hidden and underneath the mulch but the infrastructure is there and ready to go
at any moment's notice in fact if you can see over here this um black pipe it looks like a
big old black snake going up and then you can see it kind of coiled over there that is just
the pipe laying there again once we're ready then we can put it where it belongs now plants
you know I'm just really really excited about this and we have some gorgeous plants from both proven
Winners and Southern Living that we're going to go into this bed these beds are four feet deep and
you think oh four feet deep there's so much room well if you don't know me very well by now I
have all these plants that I want to use in these beds and there's just not quite enough room
so I've had to put the plants out here in their pots and kind of sit on it and go is
this how we want to do this or not are these plants going to be the right size
on this side of the bed there's two plants that we know are definitely going to go in here and
they're in their right spot and they're not going to be moved one is this lovely right now
she's not much to look at but she's a nice this is Proven Winners 'White Chiffon' if you remember
we talked about this many times before my beloved Christine gave me this plant almost two years ago
hence it was in like a one-gallon pot already when she gave it to me I knew that we were going
to use it in this project and it was going to go right there obviously it can't sit in a one
gallon container for almost two years so I went ahead and moved it up to just a blank nursery pot
so that's a great little tip if you have plants that you know where they're going to go that
you're going to use them and you don't have a spot for them yet just move them up to a bigger size
container and as long as you're keeping them well watered then they're very happy so Christine's
Rose of Christine as I call her is going to be on this corner because remember she's going to get
really tall like 8 to 10 feet 8 to 10 feet tall 4 feet wide so she will fill up this
entire corner right here kind of hide the downspout and kind of give a blanket you
know like a little privacy screen to going back around there so she is definitely going there
then the other one though that I know is definitely going to be here on each of the
corners of the side the steps are these fantastic gardenias from Southern Living these are brand new
these are columnar gardenias they're not really wide they are definitely more tall
than they are wide it is 'Diamond Spire' it's going to be three to four feet tall and only two feet
wide so I've got one on this side and one on this side so these will kind of be like my columns
right here to really signify the entrance of the steps that's what i know is definitely going to
go in this bed I have three 'Bride' camellias from Southern Living and then I also have three more
of their new a different type of gardenia and Jerry and I've gone back and forth on this and
I don't think they're going to go in this exact spot because as remember we just did a camellia
video and I told you when you're planting your camellias make sure that that is exactly where
you want them to go because they're going to be there for a long time 'Bride' is going to be about
four to five feet tall and about three feet wide part of me thinks that she would do fantastic here
and she would be gorgeous but planting a camellia if we ever needed to get them out of this space
it would be really hard and I'm just not sure that I want to commit them to this space
I think I want to put them out in the landscape within this patio area but that they can just
grow and be happy and that we don't have to worry about it are they going to get too big
same thing with the gardenias I think I'm going to move them just a little bit outside not in these
patio beds but just in the surrounding areas so this is still kind of my issue bed where i'm not
exactly sure I know that I definitely want to do some David Austin roses and I really in my mind
this is where I want to have them is really up close so that we can smell them we can see them
during those summer months when we are out here so I think probably where the camellias are I will do
david alston roses and where the gardenias are i will do proven winter's sprinter boxwoods because
over here I do like how this bed has come together I do have three of the 'Sprinter' boxwoods
I'm gonna line them up in front of each of the white columns the 'Sprinter' boxwoods will be
two to four feet tall and wide but they are a boxwood so you can trim them really easy
keep them the size that you want so I've got the 'Sprinters' in front of each they will be perfectly
lined up in front of each of the columns then between them in the center of that space
are these gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous camellias from Southern Living this is that brand new and it
is the 'White Shi Shi' camellia this is really unique one because she's gorgeous I mean she's just that
pure white double bloom absolutely exquisite but she is shorter she is only like three feet tall
I don't have the exact measurements in front of me like three feet tall but four feet wide
I like the idea of having them here we have gorgeous color all throughout the fall
so the plan is is that they will stay here those three will be here now in the meantime obviously
the shrubs take up you know it takes some time a couple of years for them to reach their mature
size especially the camellias I still have a lot of empty space in there and oh don't you know I
have lots of plans for those because when we did talked about tulips and using the tulip bulbs
I plan come February after my tulips have chilled for an appropriate 10 weeks, I will come and I am
just going to fill these beds down here below with those tulips i believe i have one white tulip and
two different shades of a pale pink tulip so they will go in here from our early, early spring color
and then come summer again that's where the fun shall begin because oh my goodness i could do all
sorts of Proven Winners annuals in here I can do lots of their I could do 'Diamond Snow' euphorbia I
could do some alyssums I could do their petunias I could do like Supertunia Vista White [Snowdrift] it would
be a really nice vigorous grower it would climb over the wall, I don't know that I want to do that
exactly right there i'm thinking more of the mini vista white because it's more tight and compact
there's just the possibilities are positively endless so I have thank goodness all winter to
sit there and ponder on that but all I know is I want to have some year-round structure in this bed
I want my bloom colors to be in those lighter shades whites pale pinks pale yellows because
we are going to be sitting out here especially in the summer it's going to be late late afternoon
into the night because this space really bakes and it's really hot during the summer so we won't
be sitting out here during the day and then of course come this time of year when it's fall
and it's really cool we can sit out here and have surrounded by still evergreens in the wintertime
be around the fire pit and everything like that and just be surrounded by some beautiful things
lots of things are still going on we have got to do obviously we've got to finish up
the steps again we will do a whole video simply on the steps and then we will do a whole video
on planting how I plant exactly when I'm going to plant their placement setting up
the irrigation all of that good stuff we will make sure to keep you updated on that but we
thought that maybe it would be fun for you to see exactly how the patio is coming along
we're moving there in the right direction so what we have the steps as far as to go next
would be one the steps finish these beds and then we're going to be able to come out here
and we're going to put the fire pit in first and then we can go ahead and start laying pavers down
and we will just go from there of course as you know this is a big project and we're just working
on it as we have some free time hopefully now with the holidays coming up and things are slowing down
at the nursery just because of the season we will have a little bit more time to be out here
to get rocking and rolling but these steps have definitely been a challenge and have sucked up
a lot of our time but we are so close to getting them done I cannot wait to see them all finished
hopefully that has answered some of your questions about the patio and things that are going on
of course we'll keep you updated on every step as we go along as always thank you so much for
Gardening with Creekside you all have a great day we'll see you in the next video bye friends