Back Yard Landscaping Project

When we moved into the house on this rather large city lot, the back yard was pretty much the way Mother Nature had left it - a stand of lodgepole pines and willows. Not bad if you wanted a campground setting. But not what we had in mind for a yard that would meet our passion for gardening.


We had already cleared the left side of the lot and built a greenhouse/shed combination. With the short summers, we wanted to be able to start bedding plants in the greenhouse early - during April - but be able to move them into a warmer place during the nights when there was still frost. So, the insulated shed is separated from the greenhouse by a set of sliding glass patio doors. Both sides have wire racks to hold the trays of bedding plants. We can accommodate about 45 trays on the racks.



Now to the yard! Here's the work that was done during the summer of 2007, after our return from Europe.

You can see in this photo, taken from the roof of the house, that we start with a clean slate. Almost all of the trees have been cut down, leaving only a couple of spruces and some willows. The one willow, near the door to the shed, has been cut down and the new growth trimmed into a rounded form.

In this shot the stumps of the trees are removed with a bobcat.

Note also the addition to the shed. We found that with the existing shed serving as a place to accommodate the bedding plants on cold nights, there was no place to store our gardening equipment.

While we had the bobcat available, three truckloads of roadmix crushed gravel were brought in to shape the raised beds. Then we laid down a central patio and walkways with 24" X 30" patio stones (back-breakers).

Here's a better shot of the central patio and the walkways leading to the shed (front) and the house (right).

Now comes the laborious task of placing and fitting the rocks against the edges of the raised beds. Kevin became quite adept at picking out the flat-faced rocks to lay against the walkway edge, and I then fitted the other rocks.

Here's the result. Once the stones were fitted, an 8" deep layer of topsoil was added to the beds. The back bed still remains to be fitted up with rocks, but it's a great start!!

Here's a cool low-angle shot looking up the walkway to the patio. We've added a few flower pots to add a bit of color. And solar-powered patio lights were installed.

Fast-forward to the spring of 2008. We have planted some trees and shrubs, including a few flowering crab trees, and a Norland apple tree.