Oh that is just beautiful, We have been working on making our Veggie Garden both pretty and productive but right now it is filled with weeds to the point that you can't tell where the veggie rows are.
I swear it is always one step forward one step back. We have been gone 3 weeks and it will take us weeks to get the place back to where it was. Did some planting and weeding today. My window & deck boxes are still empty but I will get them planted sooner or later.

I hear ya, Holly! Those weeds grow like crazy in all kinds of conditions! I feel the same way you do ... never any rest for those with dreams and determination! Good luck getting your veggie garden back into shape. I am STILL working on my garden beds and it's been ongoing for 2 years trying to get things back into shape after letting things go while I was taking care of my terminally ill mother until she passed away. Last year I just couldn't take on too much gardening as I was dealing with all of that and this year I am still trying to catch up!

It WILL happen! And I know you are determined to get your veggie garden going again. I know you'll have it looking great again in no time at all!

We were putting a lot of effort into getting the yard looking good for a party we were having and the weather wasn't cooperating so a lot of the annuals couldn't get planted. Then we rushed off to Fl. when Ric's dad went into the hospital. Never expected to be there almost 3 weeks. We had a ton of rain while we were gone and our son took care of the mowing but the beds and veggie garden were left to grow. Given time we will get it back in pretty good shape.

I found my pergola photo with the lights....

Holly - Please show us your photos when you've got the veggie garden going again. I am really interested to see how you design it!

Oh Nicole! That is such a beautiful scene! And I LOVE the swing on your pergola too! PERFECT area to relax and enjoy nature! The lights are the icing on the cake to make it just perfect!!!

It's nothing near as nice as John's. But it is coming along very nicely. We have been slowly rehabbing the area from a neglected weed patch into a productive Veggie Garden.
Nicole, That is just lovely, I have lights on the Arbor by my front walk but I don't know if I would have though of putting them on the big Pergola we have planned for around the side of the house.

I only strings them on every other bar, otherwise it would be too bright. In the early fall when the heat and the mosquitoes are better, we sit out there and enjoy the jasmine scents. My sis-in-law visited from Maryland last year in August and we would have a cup of coffee out there every morning. I'd have to wrap myself up in blanket so the mosquitoes wouldn't eat me alive. They are so attracted to me.

Yeah ... I hear ya about the mosquitoes, Nicole. They are really bad here, too!

So that no one misses this, I am posting a link to Gordon's very inexpensive foam outdoor sectional that he built:
http://cubits.org/gardenrooms/... I love it!

John, I absolutely LOVE your rooms!!! Would love to do that here, now to talk hubby into letting me do it!

Wonderful ideas!

Just realized that I have a very old pic of my Gazebo area posted here. It has had some improvements over the years The brick floor has been put down and we were very pleased with the look here are a couple of pics from last year.




Earlier this spring I got a great deal on a new table and chairs. Then just a few days ago we replaced the old gazebo with a new one after some storm damage did in the canopy. I really liked the curtained look of the old gazebo and have been looking for some reasonably priced curtains to add to this one.

Holly - I love that brick patio under the Gazebo! I do agree with you about the curtains for the gazebo. Really nice to have those curtains instead of being wide open all the time. I would close the curtains at night to keep the mosquitoes away.

Have you posted any photos of the new arbor-bench you and your dh built or of the new brick walkway and greenhouse? If not, you should definitely post some photos here of them too! Another beautiful garden room in your yard!

I was thinking of posting a few of that area as well. On Tuesday we can start the staining process of the GH floor. The Arbor and walkway are completely done once the GH floor finishes it's 30 day cure period we will stain it and start putting up the GH that will be next week.

Holly are you staining cement? if so, what type of stain are you using? DH and I wanna stain our cement steps to match or at least kind of match our redwood painted deck area...

Yes Anjl, We had wanted to add the stain at the time we poured the slab but couldn't come up with colors we liked at the last minute. So we opted to stain it after it cured. We had to wait 30 days for the new concrete to cure Then it is a 2 day process. you do an acid wash then the next day do the stain. There is another product which is a high gloss sealer to do after the staining is done. Haven't looked at that real well yet and am wondering how slippy that could be when wet and how necessary is it to seal the stain. We wanted a nice dark color that will look nice with the brick center and help absorb heat. Both HD and Lowes have products for the staining. We are using a Quikrete product from Lowes.
Here is the slab we are staining. It is an insulated concrete slab with a brick center. The brick center will provide drainage and access to the water hydrant if we would ever need to replace or fix it for some reason. The layer of foam insulation under the concrete slab and dark stain will add more solar gain to the GH.

Holly - Wow! A lot of thought went into that slab for the greenhouse. Foam underneath the slab for insulation? Where did you get the information about doing that? It all looks really nice! I can't wait to see the greenhouse added. Please share photos when it's done! I am so interested in what y'all are doing! Very, very nice!

We have a passive solar house with an insulated concrete slab. So we just adapted the idea to the GH floor. Don't know how much solar gain it will give us till we put in benches and all but every little bit helps. You can see the pipe in one of the pics that is the conduit for the electric line when we are ready to tun power out to the GH. RIc has done a great job planing it. I will post more pics and probably put together a thread on the whole project.

wow! I wish I had some flat ground here to do a greenhouse but then again, the hillside keeps me from adding too many plants which = too much upkeep

We were looking at the same stain at Lowes. I recently visited a Tree Farm here where they do weddings, 2 yrs ago he added large concrete slab steps and walkway and added the stain to the cement mix. All of the stain leached out of the cement. He is going to try the Lowes stain as well. I too wondered about the slipperiness of the high gloss sealer. We get snow and ice here in the winter. Our concrete steps have a brushed finish to them for that exact reason...do you think we will still need to do the acid wash first? Or can we get away with just pressure washing?

I was surprised that we needed to do the acid wash as we have a new slab that is pretty clean with no stains or greasy spots. But they are telling us to do it.