Fixing up: Flowers, Firepits, and Flagstone

Last Fall I developed three new flower beds, transplanting day lilies, columbine, yarrow, marigold maximus, Russian sage, and zebra grass.  I also planted about 100 bulbs in those areas east and south of the garage and along the east fence line. They are beautiful this spring, and almost everything lived through the winter, even the plants I bought in October from Four Corners Nursery. I got them for 75% off: peonies, herbs, succulents, and clemantis.

 Last year Anthony cleaned out the Choke cherry trees, so that section looks better too.  The pansies did beautifully as well, blooming in the late fall and again this spring.  I need to remember to do that in the future! The evergreens I had buried didn't root, (as seen next to garage) so I pulled those out this week and transplanted forsythia there.   Steve had trimmed back the lilacs severely so it was easier to side the garage, but they are leafing out well, and we'll have beautiful bushes by next year again.

 I moved several heavy cement dividers to edge the south bed, and then Steve helped me haul rock from the reservoir to line the other two beds.
Our next project was deciding how to develop and design the area south of our new patio, with an area for a fire pit and horse shoes. (Deciding is no small task for us!)

First Steve trimmed back the Rose of Sharon, and built a new set of stairs, and then put in a raised planter where he hopes to raise some tomatoes on trellises. This also entailed downsizing the original terraced planter beds he built some years ago, and attaching a new side wall and removing the irrigation pipes.  We planted our early crops there this year: radishes, lettuce, spinach, kale, and some herbs.

Steve leveled the ground, which sloped quite a bit, and then we used a hose to outline the edge, though I think this hose is watering strawberries!

 I was able to find a pallet of flagstone (via Blanding's 24/7 FB garage sale) out at Bert Jackson's, so that became the backbone for our pathway across the top of the garden.  I finally convinced Steve to use gravel around it, though that wasn't his preference.  It was a major breakthrough when he ordered a whole truckload of gravel and had it delivered to our barnyard.  That was a great birthday present.  I was so excited when it came, I could hardly sleep that night, anticipating all the fun of putting it in.

We bought bricks from Tri-Hurst for .62 cents each.  Steve leveled the walk way, and put the edging down, meandering it across the top of the new strawberry and raspberry patch.  Once he had the edging in, I put down the heavy gauge plastic, and we placed the flagstone.  Then we began hauling gravel.  This shows phase #1.

When we took the old green pickup out to Jacksons to get the rocks, we got it all loaded, and then it wouldn't start, so Brother Pincock was kind enough to tow us home, and there the green mean machine sat for two weeks, until we learned our lesson, and then one day it started up just fine, and Steve moved it back into the barn yard!

We were thankful again for the riding lawmower/tractor the kids got Steve when he retired, as he used it and a little dump trailer to haul the heavy rocks, as well as the gravel to our work site.

Next we tackled the fire pit.  We moved in the benches to help us decide the right distance for placement.  We got long joined bricks for the framework around the metal pit.  (We also keep one in it when not in use, so it doesn't blow away!  Hope we don't ever have a tornado, and end up with a brick in our window!)  This section took longer to do, as we had to experiment with laying the flagstone in some sort of a pattern, with the larger pieces by the benches.  These pieces were dang heavy and it took both of us to lift and  position them

I don't know how many loads of gravel we shoveled, but we had 4 cubic yards of gravel delivered, and only have about a wheelbarrow load left.  That was our weight lifting exercise for a week!

 Dad bought over 125 bricks and used all but four on the edging. 
This is how the first two-thirds looked when we got the first big section done.  I really love it, especially when I think about how trashy that corner has looked for three decades.

The last part entailed wrapping around the apple tree, and the long walk way to the chicken coop.  I'm glad we did that too, as it looks much more finished and clean.  I think we can better irrigate the apple tree too, as we've never gotten a good crop off of it.  We put porous netting under the gravel there instead of the heavy gauge plastic.  (We did get a much better crop this fall because of the increased water.)


 
 Another decorative garage sale find with a little water fountain.





 One of our neighbor's cats posed by the lilacs, which have been so beautiful this spring. 






Love our flowering crab apple. How can a person be crabby with that in their yard?

Double Tulips!

Patio: Before and After

We spent 20 or so years of wishing our outdoor entertaining area was not only more attractive, but less dangerous,  Finally we went ahead this year and hired Dave Moore, a friend of Rob's, to do phase #1 of the rennovation.

We had done several improvements in the past.  When we moved to this house in 1973 there were two big elm trees in the back yard. We debarked them, so we could get rid of  the source of all the little seedlings they send out in the garden and flower beds.  Ringing or debarking kills the food source to trees, and eventually they die. This picture also shows a wire fence around the little Maple tree which Pete and Charlotte Black had planted shortly before we bought this home from them.  It is now a large tree.

There was also a big elm tree on the north side that we debarked as well.  On the north was a larger maple tree which the Blacks had also planted.  The south lawn was planted in grass.   I can remember having a sleep out on the south side with the kids a couple of times, and facing TV to the window and opening the panes, so we could watch a movie outside. 

One Sunday before we took the elm trees out, Aaron was sick and had stayed home.  He was probably 7 or 8 at the time and a big wind storm came in and blew the tree over; fortunately it blew into the closeline and not the house.  We were so thankful that it didn't break the window or hurt Aaron in some way.  It was scary enough for him as it was.

At one time Steve built a three- tiered strawberry bed about where the pond is now, but it was too shady for the plants to do well.

About 1983 there was a flash flood which washed away the wooden decking out at a marina UNDC was building, and Silvia Stubbs and I went down to the UNDC lumberyard and bought some of the plankings which you can see in the picture above.   We used these as  "temporary" sidewalks and part of the patio on the south side, and so it remained until this year. 
    Rob helped me put the flagstone the fall of 2000 prior to Autumn's wedding.  Steve put the fishpond in about 2003 before Andrew's reception.
Here is what the patio looked like prior to its face lift the summer or 2011.  Pretty hodgepodge.

 A few years ago, Steve and I added sand to paint, hoping to create a stucco texture to the west wall of the garage.  It looked great for about 2 years, but then it started to flake off as you can see in the picture above.  In this year's refurbishing of the patio we also added siding to the garage.

During the two weeks I was in Northern Utah helping the kids, Dave and Virgil Steve did most of the concrete and siding work.  Here is what it's like now.

Where once we had wooden walkways we now have a nice red stamped cement sidewalk, which wraps around the corner.

I plan on painting the rest of the back porch cement on the west, to match the side walk.  But that may not happen until next spring.  They also took out and then repoured the section of the side walk that was jutting up on the south; it had been such a hazzard.

This is how the cement looks now in the patio.  As you can see in the picture, they also poured a nice wall on the south where the grill will go.   The empty space on the garage wall is for a painting which Steve will do.  We're still looking for the perfect scene for him to paint, so if you find a good one, let us know!

The garage looks lots better now, though was taken before the flashing went up on the eaves.  We don't have a new window in yet.













                                                     Looking west on the Patio.

Our other project this summer included a tiled entry way. We bought the time last December in Farmington, but evidently that the guy who helped us at Home Depot in Dec. didn't compute enough tile for the pattern I wanted.  I tried, several plan "B" patterns in the process of trying to make what we had work, but I didn't like any of them.

In July when Anthony and Ashley made a quick visit, we made a flying trip to Corez to try and find some matching tile.  At House of Carpets we found lots of free tile in their boneyard, and hauled home about 25 pieces.  I did end up using some of them, but the light colors didn't match, so Steve and I made a 2nd trip to Cortez in September, and got a totally different center color, which he liked better.  It had more red in it. 

Next I got my free tile pieces out and kept moving the them around, and experimenting until, I was able to come up with  a Navajo type design, which Virgil was able to replicate.

I think Virgil Steve did an excellent job on it. I'm so happy with the design and color.  The center blue tiles were the ones we found in Cortez on the first trip.