PNW Our Place

We finally moved into our new home. Bardhwood.

5 acres, hilly mostly forest narrow lot. Totally worth it. I have attached a picture of the house and the only cleared areas that get sunlight on the property.

The kitchen garden is going to go in between the house and the garage, in the blue area. The yellow area has some overgrown trees that we are going to remove to increase sunlight. Phase 1 is the kitchen garden since we both have full-time jobs and all of the garden beds are going to need to be raised. The soil is so freaking rocky. Like, I am gonna have all the rock I need to line paths with cause woah. The raised route seems the easiest given all of the stone. I started gathering all the leaves I can find, to compost in the areas that I am going to put the beds in.

The garage in the picture is around 37 feet long and the house is 29 feet long. Nothing is at right angles but those dimensions are close.

Before I get to into my planning phase any thoughts and ideas? This is a very different property than what we were going to build on so I wiped the planning board clean.

My advice:


Don't be afraid or guilty about thinning some Doug fir from the property. It's planted absolutely everywhere and many other plants can replace it that are useful for food and pollinators

If you're going to cut the Douglas fir, try to find a local mill that you can sell it to.
John S
PDX OR

Thank you for the advice about not feeling bad. I hate cutting down trees but man they are growing like weeds in the few areas that get direct sun and I need that area in the garden for annuals short term and perennials long-term. In the phase 2 area, the fir trees are strangling the apple trees we have.

The trees in the kitchen garden area are all super small except for the old cherry tree.

I think we are gonna need someone to do the tree cutting work on that since it is too close to the house and my tree cutting experience is with much much smaller trees.

The other property we own has several giant trees that were cut down for the driveway and house before we had to pause the job. How does one find a mill to buy the trees? We have several nice oaks and cedars that are just sitting on the other property at the moment. They are too big for us to use as is.

I would start with using your search engine to seek mills or wood mills in your area. Then ask around, like at hardware and builders' supply stores. Talk to an old crochety guy like me. Be nice to him or he won't help you.

John S
PDX OR