We've been working on the Patio on and off for almost exactly 8 weeks now. The first two photos are from our first day of work on the house, 21 March. The rest of the photos are more or less chronological... 
The cement tiles on the patio were so uneven that you couldn't push back your chair without hooking a leg on an edge and toppling over backwards. This is how they looked after we cleared away all the dandelions growing up between the tiles.
Lots of weeds, including stinging nettles, but also some strawberries. Woo hoo weeding!
The rock wall was seriously falling apart and even though the weeds were gone their roots were sending up new little weed-lets that were just as difficult to pull out. Something had to be done...
...so while Morten worked on re-setting all the tiles I dug up all the dirt in the flower bed, sifted out all the weeds on a tarp, rebuilt the rock wall, and replaced the dirt.
There were also quite a few strawberries growing between the cracks of the tiles so we re-planted them in the cracks of the rock wall.
Look at how smooth and even those tiles are! Go Morten!!!
Here we are after phase one of Project Patio. Not finished yet but it certainly is a good start. (P.S. Ven would like to know if anyone would like to play soccer with him?) (P.P.S. Should that last sentence have a period or a question mark? I'm looking at you Sara and Laura.)
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To celebrate, we had our first outdoor barbeque party with some friends. Best of all, nobody flipped their chair over backwards. Those level tiles are really lovely.
We put up some bamboo steaks and string to encourage Ven to use the stairs rather than walk straight through the newly planted herb garden. The next morning, this is how the fence looked.
"Who, me? I am innocent! I would never...
Since finishing phase one we have been slowly making progress on phase two and here is how it looks today, several more weeks later. 
The cement tiles on the patio were so uneven that you couldn't push back your chair without hooking a leg on an edge and toppling over backwards. This is how they looked after we cleared away all the dandelions growing up between the tiles.
Lots of weeds, including stinging nettles, but also some strawberries. Woo hoo weeding!
The rock wall was seriously falling apart and even though the weeds were gone their roots were sending up new little weed-lets that were just as difficult to pull out. Something had to be done...
...so while Morten worked on re-setting all the tiles I dug up all the dirt in the flower bed, sifted out all the weeds on a tarp, rebuilt the rock wall, and replaced the dirt.
There were also quite a few strawberries growing between the cracks of the tiles so we re-planted them in the cracks of the rock wall.
Look at how smooth and even those tiles are! Go Morten!!!
Here we are after phase one of Project Patio. Not finished yet but it certainly is a good start. (P.S. Ven would like to know if anyone would like to play soccer with him?) (P.P.S. Should that last sentence have a period or a question mark? I'm looking at you Sara and Laura.) .
Back to the main topic: The rock wall is rebuilt from the stairs around to the water spigot and all the dirt behind the rock wall is weed (and root) free. We even planted out first herb, an Oregano plant which was a house warming gift from Maj-Britt (Morten's Aunt), in the corner next to the metal bucket.
To celebrate, we had our first outdoor barbeque party with some friends. Best of all, nobody flipped their chair over backwards. Those level tiles are really lovely.
We put up some bamboo steaks and string to encourage Ven to use the stairs rather than walk straight through the newly planted herb garden. The next morning, this is how the fence looked.
"Who, me? I am innocent! I would never...Look at how cute I am...
Do you want to play soccer?"
Since finishing phase one we have been slowly making progress on phase two and here is how it looks today, several more weeks later. .
The strawberry plants all survived and we already have quite a few berries set. We've planted a lot more herb plants, mostly gifts from Jette (Morten's Aunt) and clients who have been generous enough to donate from their own garden. As you can see we've also begun digging up and de-rooting the lower half of the beds.
I am now getting a (very late) start planting some vegetables. I had planned to get the seeds in the ground on Sunday but it rained buckets all day so instead I just organized all my seeds on the dining room table.
The patio looks great! Love it.
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