Utah Home, Then and Now

 As we're getting ready to move to Oregon (by the way, we're moving to Oregon!), I thought it would be fun to do the same Before and After series that I did for our Pullman home. 

When we moved in, everything was brown, dead, and dry. There were very few flowers, and a lot more fruit trees. Our outbuildings have changed quite a bit. Are you ready? Here we go!

Front of House

THEN

NOW

Not a huge difference, except the lawn and the little maple tree are both alive and green.

For those with very sharp eyes, you may notice that the swamp cooler is also no longer on the roof--we switched to central air!

Front Flowerbeds

NOW

Admittedly, this bed is chock full of bindweed.

I should have taken a picture after the last time we weeded it!

It has a couple of rose bushes, a peony, some irises, and lots of spring bulbs.

                                        

I do enjoy this front corner bed. It's got all kinds of things in it these days: sedum, daylilies, asters, roses, peonies, irises, scabiosa. It makes me happy all summer long.

We also added these front flowerbeds all the way down the fence on either side.

I still feel like I was just getting started with those, but what's in there is pretty.

Front Shade Beds

THEN

NOW

A little more greenery in there. 

I meant to put matching hydrangeas on each side, but ended up only getting the left side planted with those. I also added lady's mantle, feverfew, heuchera, and hostas.

Back Yard

THEN

Garden spot, orchard, and the woodshed there on the right.

Woodshed, fire pit, garden shed

Looking back towards the house.

Far back corner

NOW

Garden with greenhouse

A much more sparse orchard, unfortunately.

Chicken Palace in the background.

Our fruit trees have died off like crazy!

Our new fire pit area, and the shed we put in.

Woodshed and garden tool storage add-ons to the shed.

The inside essentially became my husband's workshop.

Garden area, from the back deck.

Looking back at the house. New deck.

Toward the far corner.

Back Flowerbeds

THEN

NOW

This bed doesn't look all that different than before, but the surroundings are much nicer! :) 

We did finally get this corner flowerbed put in.

This is another flowerbed full of good stuff, and also full of bindweed.

It has been a losing fight on my end with the bindweed here.

This bed also holds 5 peonies, coreopsis, yarrow, daisies, a couple of sickly rosebushes, and several spring bulbs.

Oval Flowerbed

THEN

NOW

Well, this is not the glamour shot by any means!

Also, I had this bed completely weeded a month ago and now it's full of grass and bindweed again.

Sigh. 

So from 6 lonely rose bushes, it now has a pie cherry tree, several roses, a peony, lots of spring bulbs, 2 ninebark bushes, bachelor's buttons, asters, phlox, and coreopsis.

Here was this bed back in May:

A little better representation of the goodness!

I am proud of what we accomplished in the 3 years we've been here. 

Now we're headed off to a rental home, with a tiny little yard, and no landscaping duties at all.

I wonder what we're going to do with our time? 

Greenhouse is finished!

I am very happy to tell you that the greenhouse is finished!!

Okay, okay, it's been a couple of months now. 

We were going to do actually glass or PVC something or other, but then looking up more information, we realized that 90% of the farmers we saw just used the 6 mil. plastic sheeting.

It's not nearly as durable as glass, but apparently does a pretty comparable job when it comes to heating the place in the sun.

Also it's WAY cheaper! A couple hundred dollars vs. thousands.

So even if we end up having to replace it as some point, it will still be much cheaper.

On the inside are these shelves made of hardware cloth, so the dirt can drop through (and water).

The floor is gravel/pebbles.

I haven't had much growing in here yet, since it was finished right at the end of the growing season.

However, I have spent some very pleasant hours, potting, dividing, and re-potting various plants and houseplants, including the amaryllis I'm selling right now.

When it's 40 degrees outside, it's probably in the 60's inside the greenhouse, as long as the sun is shining! I need to get an actual thermometer for it. Anyway--coat weather outside = sweatshirt weather inside. I love it! 

Another advantage to using the plastic: the long sides can roll up.

The white you see along the bottom is a plastic pipe holding that side down.

To get a breeze, you just pop out the pipe, roll up the plastic, then hang it on some handy little hooks just under the roof.

I am so excited to have this space to grow in next year!

I've already got plans to put my crates in there as soon as new growth starts popping through, so the deer don't get the tulips and lilies. I'll probably line the bottom shelves with them.

I also plan to get my dahlias started early, and get the seed starting in full swing!

It is unheated, so as long as we're still freezing at night, I may have to add extra protection out there for anything that shouldn't freeze. 

I'm sure I have a lot to learn about greenhouse propagation.

Bring it on!  

Greenhouse in Progress

Guess what?

I'm going to have a greenhouse!

I'm so excited!

My husband is building it for me.

He figured out when he took down the shed that he could re-use most of the frame (including the trusses) to make a greenhouse.

Foundation dug out: Aug. 8, 2017

Partially framed in: Aug. 30, 2017

Roof trusses up: Nov. 2, 2017

These have been done for awhile, actually.

I loved how the birds were perching on each one!

Benches/shelves done; everything stained/waterproofed: Nov. 15, 2017.

My two older kids helped their dad with the staining.

This may be how we leave it until spring.

My husband would still like to get the new chicken coop built before winter settles in to stay, and as long as we get the polycarbonate up by March/April, I should be able to use it this year.

I can hardly wait to start using this space!

It's going to be especially nice for lengthening out my growing season on either end.

Oh, the things I will grow!