A Whole New Yard to Shape

Late Aug. 2015, I moved into this little house in north Lethbridge. It was a big move. New town, new home, new job and new circumstances. I didn't have a lot of time to get to know the yard or do anything to it.
This summer, I discovered the place needs shade! Lots of shade. The grass in back was more weeds than grass and that's not exaggerating.

From the back of the yard - raspberry patch, weed patch and walk

The back of the house faces south west and bakes all afternoon in the sun. On those days when the temp hits 32C, the house heats up like an oven.
The house itself, really isn't worth spending $1,000s on to correct that from the inside, so YARD WORK!


First, I thought I'd just plant some shrubs and perennials. Then I found out that many fruit trees are short and so can go under power lines.
WHOO HOO!

So, I bought some and installed them.

The reason the grass looks dead is because I'm killing it.

Installed shrubs and a plum tree. 

While I knew I had to wait for growth, I began to notice that when we sat outside, we sat on the grass in front of the garage because it was too hot on the patio by the house. That led me to think about how a patio is a heat sink right up against the house too. That may be fine in winter, but not a Lethbridge summer. Also, we were avoiding it, so clearly, it was in the wrong place.
I hired a landscaper to do the heavy lifting and now it looks like this.

 

The bonus here is that the new tree is 1) a cherry tree, 2) in line with the peak of the house and 3) positioned between the wires that go from electric pole to house and house to garage.

The Uh Oh is that I have a whole bunch of open dirt. So, potatoes and squash will be abundant at my house next fall. :) 

Now the backyard has
a plum tree positioned to shade the back door,
a cherry tree positioned to shade the tallest part of the house
a lilac positioned for the wind to blow its scent in the back window

2 high bush cranberry bushes BECAUSE I CAN
the old raspberry patch
the strawberry rhubarb patch
and flower beds taking shape all around the perimeter of the yard.

The front yard got some new plants too. There is a pear tree in the front yard and some shrubs for the same reason. I need the shade and because I can. Mmmmm pears.

The shrubs are a bit hard to see here,
but you can see the squash plants
around their bases.