My veggie patch!

This time last year our garden was under a few feet of snow. This year that isn't the case. With a month of unseasonable weather (60F and dry) all the snow has melted away and I am ready to get my gardening on. We didn't manage to do too much in the garden last year as our focus was on finishing the inside and exterior of the house. So this Spring we needed to plan out our veggie plot and get digging and weeding. The far end of the garden gets the most sunshine so it was an easy choice. With a little hard graft and a handy husband its starting to come together nicely.

As we could potentially still get snow and certainly frost through till June I'm hoping a cold frame will protect the seedlings and extend the growing season. We had saved several old windows and a glass door when we were remodeling, and we have plenty of scrap wood left from our numerous projects. So Chris whipped together a couple of cold frames. I just need to attach some plastic sheet to the sides of the frame and they will be like a cozy mini greenhouse for my plants. As well as a protector from deer and maybe bears? 

I've planted some seeds inside and intend to start planting outside beginning of May. Its going to be an experiment and I'm optimistic/hopeful I'll get a good yield of veggies this summer!!!!!

The selected location for my vegetable patch

Chris got his DIY on and built a couple of cold frames. 

I started digging and weeding the area where I want the cold frames to go

Chris worked on removing an old barbed wire fence. 

It all got too much and he needed to take a little break with URL.

Helen weeding away!

Two little sections. The right side has been weeded and is ready for some compost.
The left side still needs weeding. I'll move the cold frames around as needed. 

Stucco

The outside of the house has been a complete wreck for quite sometime. Where the old house met the new foundation - quite a few patches appeared in the stucco. Plus adding and removing windows played a little havoc with the exterior. So we hired Sergio to fix it. The outcome was average. However with a nice new paint job, the house looks much brighter and cleaner than before. We plan to add trim around the doors and windows and paint them all blue. Should look nice!!!

Patchy and snowy

The outside had this black paper up over the winter - which kept it waterproof - but ugly.

New stucco going around the old stucco - pulling the old down and starting with a completely clean canvas would have been the ideal situation, but unfortunatley not in our price range!

Not a big fan of the texture!

New paint - starting to look better!

I spy Chris fixing the venting

Looking clean and fresh with the new paint - just need to get a garage door!

View from the back of the house - hazy background is smoke from the wildfires in AZ - its been like it all weekend!

Minturn Clean-up Day

On May 14th, Minturn had its annual 'clean-up' day. The town provided the community with big dumpsters, burly men to assist and pick-ups if needed, plus plenty of encouragement to rid our houses and gardens of trash and unslightly waste, in preparation for the Summer ahead. We were notified of the event on several occasions - by several different Town of Minturn workers - who were keen for us to clean up the front of our house, and understandably so! We had already filled three, 40 yard dumpsters with remodel waste last Fall, but once the snow came - we were no longer allowed to leave the dumpster along the side of the road, as the plough needed to get by. So the remainder of the remodel waste was left at the front of the house, in the garage and partially in our neighbours driveway, to be covered in snow and forgotten about. As the snow melted - the eyesore got worse!

So, we rose early, and started to load the trusty Jeep with the rubbish. At the other end- the burly man including Chris unloaded. We made 5 trips. For the big pieces a neighbour came by twice, and filled up his pick-up! The following day we made two more trips to get rid off the 'trash' in the garage. All in all a productive weekend,, and it certainly saved us a lot of money (we spent over $1500 last year on dumpster fees!!). We also started to level the soil at the back of the house. So the landscaping has started, however as it has been on again, off again snowing since then - we are on stand still with that. Hopefully Winter will be over soon and we'll have a few weeks/months of Summer to get the garden looking good,  before the snow begins again!

The rubbish is piled up  - and this was taken after we had already made two runs to the dumpster!

You can see why the Town of Minturn were keen for us to get rid of the ghastly mess in front of the house!!

The mess is gone, and the garage can now open! The stucco guys start this week (if the weather co-operates) -so we almost have a nice looking house! Not a hodge podge of chicken wire, plaster and plywood!!

Chris - very proud of his handy 'garage door' making skills - and the fact it lasted the winter and still opens!

Decluttered garage - and new wheel-barrow!!

The trusty Jeep - still smells a little fousty after all the rubbish it had in it - but we'll have the soft top on soon so that will ventilate it well enough - I hope!!

A little more respectible - still needs a little work!!

Chris leveling the back garden.

I was also helping - believe it or not!

Somewhat level - extremely wet. Eventually want to move the retaining wall (left) back a few metres to allow for a wee 'patio' space!

Kira and Url were extremely tired after the productive weekend.

Stepping outside

With the new foundation, the back door somehow ended up below ground level. Not a great predicament when the snow starts to melt - draining into the house. It also meant we would have to clamber up a 2 foot ledge to get into the back garden. Luckily Eduardo was on it, and framed some lovely steps, installed a drain, and cemented it in place.

Steps outside back door framed

      Cemented. Drain is covered with duct tape (which will be removed) - on the bottom step. Hopefully it will stop our house from being a pond in april!!

Productive Saturday

If we thought October 2nd would be a cool, autumnal day - we would be very wrong. It was mid 70's, super sunny, and I got a sun burn! We were therefore very fortunate to have Sue and Hans in town to help us with some heavy labour, without them I think we would have had heat exhaustion. Lifting tonnes of wood, construction debris and rubbish into a 8 foot high dumpster was no easy task. But after a solid 5 hours of work - we had filled the 40 foot roll off dumpster - and had the garden and house looking pretty respectable.

The two spectators - Url and Kira

Disembling the metal shed

Hans and Chris getting the job done!

Sue and Chris filling the dumpster

Dumpster was full to the brim at the end of the day!

Fall Views and Sheep!

Some beautiful Fall views from the back and front of our house - and just a few sheep!

Taken Sunday 19th September. View of Meadow Mountain (from the front of the house)



Meadow Mountain

Lionshead Rock from the back garden

Taken Thursday 23rd September. Meadow Mountain

Early morning view of the rock - with some low hanging clouds.

The Rock!

Sheep being herded infront of the house - there were literally thousands of them - Url was extremely excited.

Fall is in the air

 

View from the back garden showing some of the foliage just starting to turn.
Before we know it this will be covered in snow!

The Garden

Whilst we waited for permits and planning permission to start the biggest aspect of the house - the foundation (that will be a whole seperate post) - we decided to start work on the back garden (July 23rd).

View from the back door

View from the end of the garden - shed will go once we get a dumpster!

There certainly was a lot more foliage out back then when we first bought the house - the wet Spring certainly agreed with the weeds and grass! Luckily for us we got a chain saw as a wedding gift and picked up a cool little weed wacker at our new favorite store - Home Depot. We were all set to tackle the back yard!

Helen raking or posing!

Chris with his new chain saw - his favorite wedding gift - thanks GAV !!

Chris weed wacking! Starting to look a little tidier!