Since posting my concrete patio project last year, I've received many questions about how the creeping thyme looks now. Did it ever fill in? Can you walk on it yet? Do you have to do anything to it? The short answer to all of those questions is yes, yes, and yes.
Yes, it has definitely filled in nicely. Here's how it looked almost a year ago today:
I didn't have to train it, it just sort of found its way around the pavers. I watered it almost daily after I first planted it and now I water it twice a month or so. I am of the opinion that creeping thyme likes dry, sandy soil since that's what's between the pavers and it seems to like it there.
The answer to the next question is, yes, we can totally walk on it.
In fact, we can run, jump, and play basketball on it just fine. However, if we move the chairs and patio furniture around too much, it can break and tear. So we keep the furniture where it is, which is on the pavers and not directly on the thyme—especially the chairs.
And the last answer is, yes, it needs a little (though hardly any) maintenance.
In the beginning of the summer, it was crazily overgrown—purple flowers spilling everywhere. At first I liked it but then it started getting tall and gangly and looking like weeds. The patio was also starting to lose its geometric shape and I didn't like that very much, either. So we used some hand-held trimmers and evenly chopped all of the tops off the thyme and trimmed around the edges of the pavers. It took about an hour and we haven't needed to do it again since.
Overall, it's been a great, low-cost, low-maintenance, highly-durable way to fill in a concrete patio and I would definitely recommend it!
