5 Tips for a Summer Ready Backyard in One Weekend! #LoveYourLawn

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Now that the weather is warming up, we are ready to get outside and start entertaining! I thought I had been maintaining my backyard in the winter but when I went out there last weekend to get barbecuing, well, things were not looking so great. Just a few hours later and we had a spiffy summer ready backyard thanks to these 5 tips and Scotts® Turf Builder® Weed & Feed.

Want to learn how to make your backyard summer ready? I'm sharing 5 tips in this post to help you make your outdoor space perfect for summer in just one weekend!

1. Give Patio Furniture a fresh coat of paint

One of the best ways to spruce up the backyard is to paint any lawn furniture you have. We have both wood and metal patio furniture and you'll want to paint both differently.

Clean the surface of the wood or metal to remove dirt, pet hair, and so on. Then gently sand to prepare the surface for painting. Wipe the surface again to remove dust from sanding. Use a drop cloth to cover the ground and either spray paint or brush paint the furniture. We used brush paint on our wood furniture because it gives the finished piece a more home-like feel but spray paint will work on both metal and wood and is faster than brush painting. We repaint our patio furniture every other year to keep it looking fresh and fabulous! Add varnish to further protect the finish if you like.

RELATED POST: How to make a gravel patio

2. Transplant succulents to larger pots

Every year I fill pots on the patio with succulents and flowers. The succulents continue growing throughout the winter so in spring, it's a good time to check if they need to be re-potted to larger pots. Prepare larger pots by filling them 1/4 of the way with gravel for drainage, then about 3/4 with potting soil. Gently dig around the succulents in the pot to loosen the dirt around them, taking care not to disturb the roots. Plant one succulent in each new pot, adding more potting soil the cover the roots if desired. If you live in a dry area, cover the exposed dirt in the pot with rocks or bark to help keep the moisture in on hot days.

This year when I went to replant, I noticed the succulents in one pot grew so large that they split the terra cotta pot in half! I probably planted too many plants in the one pot … but they looked so pretty all mushed together! Lesson learned, lesson learned.

RELATED POST: Thrift shop succulent planter

3. Give old plant pots new life with spray paint!

Did you know you can spray paint your old, washed out plant pots? I had an assortment of mis-matched pots that I wanted to put along a shelf under my kitchen window. This year my backyard is all about color so I decided to paint these pots a bright cyan blue. I picked up one can of spray paint at the hardware store, painted the pots, and planted flowers in them within 2 hours.

Tip: If your dog decides to lay on the wet pots and cover them in dig hair, you can remove the hair by waiting for the pots to dry, sanding off the painted areas, and then spray painting the pots again. Let's not go into details about the dog but I will say he has blue streaks in back hair now.

RELATED POST: Another way to add life to your pots is to stencil words and designs onto the. See how I stenciled my terra cotta pots HERE. Or watch this video:

4. Plant new flowers in pots and beds

A little color by way of flowers makes everything feel brighter, happier, and cleaner in your backyard! After painting the pots, I added flowers to them as well as to other pots around my yard. If you have flower beds, add a few annuals in between your existing plants to add a pop of color. In less than 30 minutes you can have a totally fresh looking yard for very little money.

Tip: Save the pots the plants come in – most lawn & garden stores now offer return policies for live plants if they happen to die within a certain amount of time. Check with the retailer you bought your plants at to see how long to save the pots. The pots are also handy for starting seeds for the vegetable garden.

Get our FREE ebook with 9 DIYs to make your backyard spiffy for summer! CLICK HERE

5. Repair your patchy lawn with Scotts® Turf Builder® Weed & Feed

Create a lush backyard paradise with Scotts® Turf Builder® Weed & Feed! I picked up a bag of Scotts® Turf Builder® Weed & Feed at Walmart, right around the corner from my house. It's super easy to find in the Lawn & Garden section of your local Walmart store.

We applied the Scotts® Turf Builder® Weed & Feed to the grass using gardening gloves right after a good rain. Make sure to apply Scotts® Turf Builder® Weed & Feed to a wet lawn – if it hasn't rained, use the sprinkler to thoroughly wet the lawn before applying. Keep your pets and kids inside while applying this product to your lawn.

Look at the new lush lawn coming in after we applied Scotts® Turf Builder® Weed & Feed just a few weeks ago! Scotts® Turf Builder® Weed & Feed helps rid your lawn of weeds you see and thickens your grass to crowd out the weeds you don't see – it has really helped reduce our dandelion problem.

Got a big lawn? No problem! One bag of Scotts® Turf Builder® Weed & Feed covers up to 5,000 square feet!

Get our FREE eBOOK for 9 DIY ideas to help you get a summer ready backyard in minutes! CLICK HERE to download…

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Are you working on your backyard for spring and summer right now? Let me know what you're doing in the comments: