Log and Timber Home Living April/May 2024

More than five years ago, when I first joined the team here at Log & Timber Home Living, part of the agreement was that I’d relocate to our Boulder, Colorado, office. Years into the job, I’d learn that my team had actually felt a little guilty asking me to move more than 1,000 miles from my hometown. I assured them there was no need — one look at the snowcapped skyline that’s the muse for so many songs, poems and works of art, and I considered the location to be a job perk. Today, it only feels natural to write this welcome letter for our Great Outdoors issue with those same views of the Rocky Mountains in the distance. As I hike and ski my way across the state, I catch…

NEED A LITTLE EXTRA SPACE? Be inspired by the ways to design an accessory dwelling unit on page 24, then head to loghome.com/adu-history to learn about the multicultural and multigenerational origins of these structures. ARTIFICIAL FENCES don’t have to conflict with your landscaping. Visit timberhomeliving.com/living-fences to see how a living fence of trees and shrubs can enhance privacy while maintaining a natural look. SPRING’S HERE, and for many that means it’s time to start opening up the cabin! If you have a cabin that you close up for long periods, check out our guide at cabinlife.com/cabin-check to learn how often you should check in on it throughout the year. Connect with us on social media and sign up for our newsletters! @logandtimberhomeliving Subscribe to Log & Timber Home Living’s YouTube…

Perched on a hillside in Pine, Arizona, interior designer and real estate agent James Judge’s “Ridge Trail Ranch” is a 1,864-square-foot study in the power of potential. Here’s how he took his cozy cabin from practically condemned to completely charming. James: This was a pandemic project. I was going through emails, bored out of my mind, and I thought I should clean up my junk email because when else am I ever going to take the time to do that? There’s this email that says, “Beautiful Rim Views!” (in Arizona we call the mountains the “rim,” FYI), and I was interested. Sure enough, the views really were great. I sent it to my husband, and he sent me back a screenshot from the listing, which looked like bloody handprints on…

In my vegetable garden, succession planting is the secret to a nonstop harvest. It allows me to maximize productivity in my raised beds and harvest year-round, even though I live in a cold climate. In addition to the extended harvest that I enjoy, there are so many other benefits to succession planting: It allows you to grow more food in a small space, and it reduces weeding and watering. Bare soil is an open invitation to weeds, so replacing spent vegetables with new crops keeps the soil covered, therefore reducing weed growth and conserving moisture. Succession planting is a technique that works for every size space and type of garden. Even patio gardeners who grow vegetables in containers can practice it by seeding new pots every few weeks. Succession planting…

PLANT ONE CROP AFTER ANOTHER. This is the most common technique for succession planting, and it’s also very easy to do. As one crop matures and is harvested, it’s followed by another planting. Depending on your growing season and the types of vegetables you choose to grow, you can likely enjoy two to four harvests from a single garden space during the main growing season. PLANT THE SAME TYPE OF CROP, BUT VARIETIES THAT MATURE AT DIFFERENT TIMES. You may have noticed that varieties of vegetables mature at different times. There are early, mid-season and late-maturing varieties of tomatoes, potatoes, cabbage, broccoli and peas. By choosing to plant two or more varieties with different maturity dates, you’ll have a long harvest season without the need for a second planting. Planted:…

You can grow a lot of food in a single 4-by-8-foot raised bed. This planting plan that shows the parade of vegetables planted from midspring to late summer with the harvest for most lasting until frost. The carrots, lettuce and parsley are cool-weather tolerant and can be harvested about a month past the first frost, longer if protected with a mini hoop tunnel. Learn more about the plants (and the days to harvest from transplanting) in the lists here. A ‘Sugar Snap’ peas [Pisum sativum] Sweet, crisp pods that are produced in abundance in early summer. Trellising is necessary as the plants grow about 6 feet tall. (58 days) B ‘Yaya’ carrots [Daucus carota sativus] An early maturing carrot ideal for spring, summer and autumn harvesting. The roots grow about 6 inches long…