Suggestions what to do with slabs

[seat7a]

Hello!

So in our back garden we have a largeish area of slabs which are pretty ugly looking, especially because the previous owners who laid it left a bigger than normal gap between each slab and filled with concrete. It's that gap that's giving me the headache! Ideally we would lift the slabs and do something else but I worry it would cost too much (either our own time or money to get it done) and for this house we just don't want to spend huge amounts on the garden. Anybody any suggestions as to what we could do to make the best of how it is without lifting slabs? Any ideas or input very much appreciated!

Sorry, I should mention that, in case it's not clear in the picture, that the concrete that fills the area between slabs is lifting in many spots or has shrunk a bit. So in my head if the gaps looked better maybe a powerwash of the slabs would be enough and some pots of plants dotted around. So what I'm really wondering is what to do with the gaps....

Could you jet wash the filler out and then repoint it with filler matched to the colour of the stones? Or replace the filler with fine gravel? I had a little patio years ago that I planted camomile in the cracks, that's another thing you could consider?

If it isn’t too much effort, you could remove one or two slabs and plant them up with low growing creepers, such as thyme, sedums or creeping Phlox.
When we moved here or courtyard was pristine paving, not a plant in sight! Now, not only is it full of planters, but little plants such as Mimulus, lobelia and Erigeron have self seeded and settled into the cracks. At the moment there’s a beautiful viola growing by the French windows. The previous owners would be tearing their hair out if they could see it.

As bee bumble says I would lift up a few , (quite a few!) of the slabs and plant little plants. The soil underneath is probably rubbish, get rid of any old bits of concrete and try and break up the surface. You could improve it a bit or take the opportunity to plant things that don’t mind poor soil but need restricting like grasses or different mints, salvias, thymes or try ladies mantle if you can get it started.If you can get the slabs up in one piece then don’t bin them, raise them up or bricks and put planted up pots on them so you get a variation in height.

If you have some larger pots available I would grow plants like morning glory , black eyed Susan, nasturtiums and sweet peas up sticks to get some height and colour.

I’ve got quite an ugly front path that I’m going to clean and plant chamomile in between the slabs. Some ideas from Pinterest attached OP

Agree with the above and plan to do that too. We have put raised beds on top of some of them too . That works well and feels softer.