Post-Spring Cleaning: Ready the Patio for Summer

You may have already kicked off your backyard grilling with a patio party on Memorial Day, but maybe you could use a few more tips on making sure it’s spruced up for your next summer-soiree. Here are a few of our favorite tips for kicking it up a notch on the patio.

• Replant! If your winter and spring annuals are waning in the heat, dig them up for compost and replant with a summer-worthy crop. We love the bright colors of sweet potato vines and flowering succulents, like purslane, for summer. To get the most bang for your patio garden buck, though, try planting a fresh crop of culinary herbs like rosemary, basil, and mint. They’ll be happy in containers and look pretty to boot.

• Spruce up your seating by brushing off chairs and tables to get rid of cobwebs, bird poop, and dried leaves. Then give the furniture a good bath to make it shine like new. If it needs a little more help,

• If you’re looking to redecorate, see what items you have already might be repurposed. Turn a metal planter upside-down as a side table, for instance, or see if you’ve got a bench inside that might look more at home outside.

• Keep the bugs away with citronella candles and torches; maybe make a few of your own with recycled glass bottles.

• Get rid of weeds or grass in the cracks of your patio by using the hot water method, and then fill in those cracks with cornmeal to keep weeds from growing there.

Have more patio-readying tips for our eco-minded readers? Do share.

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• 27 Household Uses for Citrus Fruit

Photos: Cottage Living (Via Apartment Therapy Chicago)