The New Yard- Before and After

We started talking about moving about a year ago, it was right around this time of year. We had just finished harvesting the summer veggies and canning loads of pickles, tomatoes, dehydrating garlic, drying herbs... reaping what we had sown. Autumn was in the air, garden and yard clean up on the go, garlic sales and orders being prepped.

My words to hubby were 'I just don't think I have it in me to do it all over again. We have done this so many times that I have zero ideas or dreams left to put into yet another home renovation and yard revamp.'

We had just finished the last phase of the acreage renovation the year before and were finally at the maintenance and small tweaks stage of the game. I loved the interior of the house, we had just put on a brand-new 50-year roof, the yard had all my zones - food, flowers, fruits, wildlife, pollinator, plus a greenhouse and my wee little shop... it was all pretty much perfect, and I loved it all so much.

Of course, that is not how real-life works. The practicality is that it was all getting to be too much for both of us, but mostly me. If we going to make changes, this was the time to do it. So, we started on our quest to find house number seven, the perfect house for this next chapter of our lives.

We found a wonderful new house and yard and it just so happens that I do still have a few ideas left up my sleeve. I think both hubby and I are still surprised that this chapter took us off the island, but you just never know how things are going to go, eh?

Ps, my momma really loved these turret windows- sure wish she could see the house.

This was the picture that sold us on the house. Isn't it the cutest? A big, long, wide, beautiful, east-facing deck along almost the entire back of the house. Love the deck so much!

Now, keep in mind, I am no designer, cannot envision the finished product in my head for the life of me (If your brain works like that, I am so jelly!) but that is okay because I absolutely know what I want, I know what I like, and I know how to pull it all together.

Here are some of the before and after pics, what we have been working on all summer long.

When we bought this new-to-us house (sight unseen, just pictures, a video from the realtor, a house inspection, and my brother's thoughts), we knew that we loved it, we knew that it had great potential to be what we wanted it to be, we knew that we were going to do a lot of work to it, both inside and out. This shed! So pretty!

Growing our own organic food is always going to be our main priority, what with all that is going on in the world, and feeding the pollinators is also super important to us.

So, building raised beds, in ground beds, planting fruit trees and shrubs in order to grow as much food as possible, adding perennial and annual flowers for the pollinators, plus building a fancy she-shed to double as a heated quasi-greenhouse were all on the agenda. New zones for everything, including some room for the dogs to play, just like on the acreage, but on a much smaller scale.

If you are going through this process right now, too, you want to make a list of what you need the yard to do for you, watch where the sun hits your yard, and remember that everything is changeable! If you need help, reach out to me, I will help you figure out your yard for growing food and flowers. I love Garden Coaching.

The BEFORE... I loved the cosiness of it all. What a wonderful space. However, that tree was huge, the patio was small, there was a pond taking up a whole lot of space, the bridge was rotting, the stairs and cobbles were very uneven, and the stairs were a bit wonky. I so loved this dry riverbed, you guys!

Oh, and those bushes along the back were lilacs that were suckering everywhere (see all those little shrubs on the right) as they had been super hard pruned. There were no precious plants in this area worth saving, just orange daylilies and lots of lilac suckers.

The AFTER - the fresh new green grass is where the tree was, the beds are where the dry riverbed and bridge were. The patio is huge! and we have gardens along the back to plant food and flowers all together. Looks so much bigger without that tree, eh?

We replaced the fence with a solid one, put in a huge patio for family and entertaining, raised beds, of course. We have room for me to grow food and flowers, plus for the dogs to play. They love this new grass. I miss the cosiness and the privacy but will build up new cosy places and moments.

The BEFORE - The stairs, patio, pond, and back fence. I think you can see from here how uneven and scary some of the pavers and stairs were.

I have story about this back fence! I have been admiring this framed wire fence as long as it has been here, 25 years, or so. Whenever hubby would ask my what kind of a fence I wanted, I would say... you know that fence in Innisfail, by the school?

I never did get this fence on any of my other properties... and now that I actually owned the fence, it had to come down because it was old and see-through fences do not work for the doggies. Isn't that something? I now own the yard with the fence that I have been admiring my entire adult life.

The AFTER - The patio is huge, we love it. Is level so not a tripping hazard for my unbalanced self. We have planted some blue perennials and a hydrangea in the bed on the left, but other than that, this is a blank slate for now.

I am picturing perennials in blues, pinks, and whites, plus dahlias and other annuals to feed the pollinators, attract the beneficials, add interest and colour to this area. Something with fragrance, as well, that gently wafts over as we sit out here. I don't have the plants all worked out yet, will see what spring brings.

We have purchased a lovely big table with lots of chairs for this great patio that we will fill with family all summer long.... and lights! It will have string lights : )

The BEFORE - As the tree was coming down, you can see the arbour in the back, the cute shed, and the overgrown lilacs all along the fence line. You can also see the rot on the deck posts from here, they were disintegrating.

The AFTER - I brightened up the shed with light blue, we pulled out all the ferns by the back fence and replaced them with raspberries, took the benches off of the arbour, made room for dogs to play and momma to play in the garden, too. There are dogs and dog toys in every picture. I pick them up, Berkeley thinks it is a fun game and pulls them all out again.

We kept anything worth keeping, the yummy Saskatoon berry was moved to the southeast side of the house (in a heatwave), moved a few lupins, monkshoods, and one balloon flower to this far back corner, behind the pergola. This is my favourite area of the yard with a carpet of wooly and creeping thyme!

The north side of the house had a bit of shade plants alongside the house and a big chokecherry tree that we took down as it is a messy tree, and we needed some evening sun ... to build this.

This greenhouse was not planned, not at all. Was not in my plans, nor budgeted for, as I did not think we had enough room or a place for one. As I sat and watched the sunshine in the yard though, I realised that we could keep the trees streetside and still get a good 8 plus hours of sunshine. Perfect for growing absolutely anything.

I will be growing tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers in here, plus spinach and stuff in late summer. This is a real bonus as we did not think we would be growing much on this side of the house, except greens.

Generally, one would not ever put a greenhouse on the northside of a house. I know, sounds crazy, eh? You really have to be watching the sun to see how it works for you, in your yard. You want 8 hours in total, but it does not have to be all at once. Turns out we get the sun in this greenhouse from 11am till 9 pm. We miss out on the early hours because of that big spruce tree but were able to keep the tree and instead capture the evening sun when it comes around the front of the house. Think outside the box... and get a greenhouse : )

BEFORE - this is the south side of the house, along the fence. That brown thing you see through the arbour is the Saskatoon that we moved in the heatwave. It looks terrible but it is alive! The berries are huge and so sweet, so happy that it made it. Will see how it fares this winter, did it have enough time to root in?

In spring, we will be planting our fruit tree orchard down this side of the yard, along the fence. Will be putting in a micro-dwarf apple, a pear, and peach here, as this is the most protected area in our yard.

If you have tender plants, something slightly out of zone, you want to plant them on the southeast side of your house. That side is (usually) always less windy and very sheltered, perfect for out-of-zone plants. This is where our grape (probably Beta or Valiant) is and we will be adding one more, as well. I read about a red, seedless table grape called Somerset that I decided that I simply must have.

Want to see what other ideas I have for this garden? Plants and other bits? Check out that Pinterest page here.

The arbour and pathway are moving over by 4 feet, closer towards the house, to make room for the fruit tree run and a low raised bed all the way down the side (big enough for next year's garlic).

AFTER - The southeast side of the house is next year's project, so there is no after picture yet. I do, however, have this update of the wee shed. The shed is really big so fits a lot of stuff. The interior is very basic, not pretty (yet), but I painted out the red and made it fit better for me with this pale blue hue.

BEFORE - We cleaned everything out of this garden bed except the two big trees. If you really look at it, there are tons of lilacs but not much else. We saved the few perennials and moved them to different beds. Right beside that purple Chokecherry tree is the arbour, (just outside the picture).

AFTER - All the plants have been removed from that bed between the trees. The new 12"x16' She-Shed/Greenhouse is going to come out, on an angle, from between those trees, where the lawn is very, very brown.

It is going to be a 4-season garden cottage with lots of windows to make as bright as we can, while still being able to keep it warm enough in winter to start seeds and plants. Whenever we are able to get that started, I will fill you in on the progress. We have the plans done up, now to get a builder ; )

BEFORE - Not much of anything here... We took out all those lilacs in the garden bed. The raised beds start right about where those yellow flags were.

AFTER - Three gorgeous 2' tall, raised beds that are 4'x12'. We left the garden bed be, brought in 7 yards of amended garden soil and will be planting tomatoes behind the beds. Those posts will become a pergola in spring, that we can use to grow the indeterminate tomatoes up strings.

BEFORE - behind the apple tree was this bed of ferns and one raspberry plant.

AFTER - the ferns are all gone, the raspberry was a keeper (we kept all food crops) and gave her some new friends.

Raspberry plants are super pricey here, even on sale, so will see if I can get a couple more from my brother's patch. If not, they will fill in over the next couple of years.

BEFORE- The stairs and deck railing. Both were in rough shape and needed replacing. The steps were different heights, and the stones were a bit wobbly in parts. The posts on the railing were rotten. The big tree that we took down was in that bed of rocks and went all the way over to the bridge.

AFTER - The new railing and stairs, plus a privacy screen for a bit of shade where the tree used to be. We now have a beautiful big patio area for entertaining and summer bbq's. We asked for wider stairs, but I think her forgot, gave us 4' wide ones instead of the 5's. It is what it is. They are sturdy and nice.

Putting it all together.... the finale.

BEFORE - The south side of the property. How it looked before, minus the huge spruce tree. That kidney garden bed had nothing in it except one lone peony. I do not miss any of this... but my grandson misses that bridge.

AFTER - The garden area on the left for momma to grow food, the dog's play area on the right. I love how it turned out. The bones are all in place, next year we start making it prettier, planting it up.

BEFORE - The north side of the property. This was all really hard for me to walk on with my balance issues. with the uneven cobblestones, pond, wonky stairs. The bridge was very rotten but oh, so cute! I do not miss any bits of this area either, except the feeling of cosines that it had. A cosy little oasis.

AFTER - The new raised beds, big, open patio with no tripping hazards, room for dogs to play, and mom to grow food. The greenhouse tucked into the corner. New safe fence, railing and stairs.

Cannot wait to get this all growing next year. The bones of the garden are in place, now to start adding the pretty stuff that makes it special.

When starting a new landscaping project, start with the bones of the yard, all the 'framework'. Buildings, pathways, patios, gazebos, raised beds, pergolas, arbours... Once you have that done, you can play around with the rest. Getting it done in fall is perfect, you can dig right in and start growing come springtime. No waiting around.

I hope you enjoyed the poke about the yard. Let me know if you have any questions.

Sorry about all the dry, brown grass. It has been a really long, dry, hot summer.

The grass is still brown today!

Happy Gardening ~ Tanja